Planespotting Peru (many photos!!)

[N75715]

Just a handful of shots from last week's excursion south of the Equator. Most were taken at Cusco's Alejandro Velasco Astete International Airport (IATA: CUZ, ICAO: SPZO). The airfield is located in the city of Cusco, in southeastern Peru. Cusco, a principal tourist attraction in Latin America, receives various domestic flights as well as some international flights. LAN, Peruvian, Star Peru, and TACA are frequent visitors. Field elevation is 10,800 MSL. (check the altimeter of the LAN A319 below) The single runway (10/28) is paved and is 3400 meters (11,155 feet) long and 45 meters (148 feet) wide. There are currently two taxiways; A and B. C is under construction, and once complete, will eliminate the need to back-taxi the runway for departures. Operations are strictly VFR, due to the extreme terrain. PAPI (R) provide glideslope guidance. Airport operations are between 600 and 1800. Typically, aircraft here will land 28 using a left hand pattern abeam the numbers about 2 miles south of the field and depart 10 straight out, making this unique for spotters; one does not need to move to capture BOTH takeoffs and landings up close!

Now, finding that location was a challenge... The airport is surrounded by a 10' or so high wall. (does it really matter... I cannot see over it of through it. 'nuff said). I took a cab from my hotel to the aeropuerto, and got dropped off at the terminal curbside. Having received absolutely zero guidance from the rather cold airport security personnel and employees, decided to exit the terminal area and walk eastward. Lo and behold, I discovered that that wall ends at the PetroPeru fuel terminal, located south of the runway, and approximately 800 meters east of the terminal building, which sits pretty much midfield. A chain link fence continues the function of static border patrol from the fuel terminal all the way to the 28 threshold. All that was necessary was to walk through a residential neighborhood to the end of a dead-end street somewhat abeam the touchdown markings of rwy 28, and perch myself atop the banks of a creek that surrounds the airport to the south. My vantage point was now above the barbed wires atop the fence. Several attempts at very broken Spanish convinced the locals that I worked for the airport, and I was free to enjoy the morning's activities without arousing any suspicion. The only caveat was a construction zone directly in front of me, which did obstruct the runway. (but not the activity). A look about 30 degrees to my left saw rotation, and 40 degrees to my right saw tires burning. If couldn't get better than that. From the aerial photos, you can see the round white fuel tanks I was talking about. They sit right at the point where the creek turns to flow parallel with the runway. Well, enjoy!
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nice road, huh?
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[JZ1]

Great to see you venture out into a completely strange env and find a excellent spot. Well done.

[SengaB]

Wow that 737-200 is really beautiful!
Nice shots :)


Senga

[N75715]

thanks guys! Peruvian Airlines is one of the newest carriers there, about a year old. Probably wet leased that bird from ILFC or somewhere, painted her up to look like new. She was a joy to listen to when she took off!

[hiss srq]

AVRO'S!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :borat: :borat: :borat: :borat: :borat:

[Mayi757]

Wow that 737-200 is really beautiful!
Nice shots :)


Senga

Thou speaketh the truth brother Senga B. Probably the best livery in all of Latin America right now if you ask me. Wish it went international so we could see it up here, Peruvian is a recent start up and still a very small airline. From what a friend told me they started up with a temporary domestic permit, hopefully that nice of a paintscheme will stick around.

Interesting views of the area, cool shots. Love the description, reading it felt like I was there too. Adventure is what's all about baby!

[jerslice]

Some great shots there and really great background scenery!

[hiss srq]

Speaking of scenery... Got any shots of the live variatey down ther worth posting? :borat: 8)

[N75715]

the live variety??? such as.........

this was in cloudy Lima
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[hiss srq]

The walking, talking suck your bank account dry type.

[threeholerglory]

The walking, talking suck your bank account dry type.

and by "bank account", I get the feeling you don't mean bank account.

[Delta777LR]

nice stuff Roman, the 732s have been becoming more rare...

[Iberia A340-600]

Nice shots! I spent six weeks in Cusco a few summers back and spent a day spotting from various spots around the airport. We hired a taxi for the day to take us around and lucked out with a very friendly driver. There are some pretty nasty trash dumps around the airport that make for decent spots. At one point I found myself standing on a dead dog. :shock: While I was spotting the German Air Force A310 made a surprised landing for a thirty minute fuel stop.

[Mayi757]

What an awesome photo of the domestic airline lineup at LIM, much more interesting than the invading LAN and TACA boredness. Unfortunately I heard that's pretty common weather for LIMA is this true?

The exotic Antonov tails in the back especially caught my eye, I can only identify Star Peru, wonder what the other 3 are.

[N75715]

Lima gets sun during THEIR summer - December through March. The rest of the year, typically, is gloomy, cloudy, and 3-5 miles vis. Half the time, you don't even see the pacific ocean from the cliffs above the coastline. It hardly rains, but feels like it will, any minute.

As to part 2 of your question - I wonder what the other 3 are also... they were boarding my flight, 3 gates away, while i was wandering around the terminal in LIM looking at local traffic. I was sitting in 6A on that flight, and couldn't see the domestic ramp as we taxiied past. However, I will show you just how bad the visibility was on the runway that day in LIM. Once at about 2,000' AGL, it was a whole different world. The mountains hold the clouds on the coast, similar to the smog in SoCal. but the LAN planes are spotless.. i mean spotless! leather seats, and the legroom on a scarebus A319 was like nothing I ever experienced before.

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Here are the clouds almost trapped by the mountain range. about 40 miles east of Lima, was perfectly clear.
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[Mayi757]

That was great man, once again great photos and I really appreciate your detailed response.

The other Peruvian 737 on the ramp is actually painted differently. More old school, I've seen a photo of it somewhere before, thought it was a total beauty. The Star Peru Antonov you see on the back might be the one that's painted all blue. All those aircraft are total jewels. I'm definitely jealous.

Wonder if the Boeing 707s of Aeronaves del Peru at LIM are still extant or if have been broken up. Either way they were barely recognizable mostly covered by that yellow dust.