Chile 2010 (the route to the FIDAE and FIDAE)

[Marco]

Hi Hans,
I had absolutely no problems at the aeroparque. There were even some locals waving to their families. As off 15:00hrs it became very busy with locals.

yes indeed too impatient you have been. No ops pics but only preserved aircafts. We were only allowed to take pics of a preserved P-3C because otherwise we would picture the buildings (while now we had radar antenna's on the background).


illegally taken and cropped, but still nice.

the last one was taken outside.

The last day of our journey we spend at Santiago.

















We had planned a visit at Rancagua for the afternoon. A base visit was requested, but due to the earth quakes we were not allowed. However 2 members of the Scramble editorial team were trying to get on base as they were writing an article. They tried a few times, but everytime the Ejercito came up with an excuse. So on the last day 1 person left and the other one tried it again. He succeeded to enter base and informed us to come over and try to get in while he would stall his contact person in order for us to get there to join up the base visit. We arrived on time at the base and were gained access. So after some talks we were allowed to see the base. However our guide did not have a plenty of time due to the earth quake and a crash just happened. So of we went, he showed us the barracks of the students. When we finally came to the ramps, 2 helo's came in and we were asked to leave and come back later. So we went to the officers mess for some drinks when our contact person learned that his general had arrived. He went to the officer who tolled him to send us of base. After some talks and arguments from us he discussed again and all at sudden we were allowed for a full base visit on all ramps. No limitations were given other then stay of the arrival platform where the helo's were landing. After about 3hrs of arrival we left base with the below pics:

























after this we went back to hotel for our last night of sleep in Santiago. The day after we left earlier then expected as 2 new Twin Otters were seen on the FIDAE. So of reading them and go to the airport for our flight home.

[jurgen]

Marco did a great job on posting pictures of the trip to Chile on this message board. I am sure more will follow. Here is a small selection of my pictures.

The trip to Chile was planned for some time, but things got complicated when the country was hit by a devastating earthquake on 27 February.
You can imagine that the local authorities had better things to do than show their aircraft to a group of Dutch aviation enthusiasts.
Nevertheless we kept in contact over the phone and via mail and it was really amazing how cooperative everybody was, despite the circumstances.

In little over a week we managed to see over 300 military Chilean aircraft, most also on picture. Marco can give you more details on the civil part. But I guess we all have seen the complete LAN-fleet, and several more exotic airliners not seen in our part of the world. A full trip report is in the making and will first appear in Scramble issue 372.

We set of on our long trip on 17 March, and arrived at Santiago IAP in the morning of 18 March. Only a short time after touch down, we were knocking on the door of ENAER at El Bosque airport to have a pre-arranged tour of the facility. Although ENAER does not have a lot of military work at the moment it was still quite interesting to see. We also got a peak of the operational ramp, but we had a visit their later in the week.

This one might look familiar to those already spotting in the early nineties. It is former Belgian Air Force Mirage 5BA BA57. It was modified to Mirage M5MA and received serial 712. It is now awaiting a buyer at El Bosque.




To get a complete picture of Chilean aviation history we also visited a couple of Wreck & Relic sites during the trip. After El Bosque we visited a couple of places in Santiago and saw an l-19, Hunter, Mirage, H269 and a couple of Dakota's. As it was a long day, we headed for our main operating base for the week, a hotel in the centre of town, surrounded by many bars and restaurants, a great place to stay!

On Friday, our second day of the trip, we headed for the international airport to check out the spotting possibilities. There is not much to be left desired at this airport. You can get a clear view of all the aircraft present. You can get to both ends on both runways, in the morning and afternoon to take decent pictures. There are several locals around and you will not be hassled by the local authorities. Simply superb!

Still operating with Grupo 10 of Pudahuel Air Base (Santiago IAP) is this C-130B. The picture is taken with less than 200mm from the outside of the airfield on the eastern perimeter road.




Then it was time to pick up the phone and contact the commander of the II Brigada Aérea. This Brigadier General did not want to waist any time and we mounted up to report to the main gate a few minutes later. After a short talk with the general he personally showed us around. The small ramp was a hectic place because of the normal operations, but also because of the support operations to the earthquake stricken part of the country. We were extremely lucky that no less than ten F-5E/F Tiger IIIs were on the ramp. I guess they had missed the memo about the cancellation of the Air Force 80th Anniversary parade...
Only a few aircraft for the FIDEA had arrived, leaving more room for the Chilean aircraft.

This Chilean Army CN235AL was fully packed with goods for the disaster area. We talked to the pilots and learned they flew to Talca (we would go there later in the week) four times a day. There the goods would be further distributed. By now most of the roads to the south were repaired and it was more economical to distribute the goods by truck. Only those hard to reach areas were provided by helicopter.



One of the highlights of this base visit was the presence of no less than ten F-5s. Eighteen were delivered in the early eighties. Two were written off in accidents and two were not modified to the highly capable Tiger III standard. So ten out of fourteen is not a bad score. The are based at Punta Arenas, which is all the way in the south. By Monday all, but two, had left.





Will continue with the rest soon.

[Hans Rolink]

Hi Hans,
I had absolutely no problems at the aeroparque. There were even some locals waving to their families. As off 15:00hrs it became very busy with locals.

yes indeed too impatient you have been. No ops pics but only preserved aircafts. We were only allowed to take pics of a preserved P-3C because otherwise we would picture the buildings (while now we had radar antenna's on the background).

Hi Marco,

good to see the police lost their zealousness at Aeroparque.
About Vina del Mar, I am puzzled. Ian Allan had a visit to Vina de Mar in 2003, I was there. We stood with our backs to the hangar shooting aircraft with th mountains in the background and the sun behind us.....

Anyway, it seems you enjoyed yourself in Chile. Thanks for sharing the pics!

Hans.

[L.M.B.]

Chile, a great country! Beautifull weather, nice steaks, and... a great variaty of aircraft!

Starting my posting, here are some pics of the team Brasilian team Fumaca.







Greetings,
Lucien

[L.M.B.]

Not a visitor for FIDAE, but present on thursday for the delivery of cargo: a C-130B Hercules from Uruguay! NICE!!!!

[L.M.B.]

As most South American countries, Chile has many types of aircraft and helo's in it's inventory.
Visiting Chile during the FIDAE period allows you to log most of them:

FACh Bell 412EP:


FACh S-70A-36 Blackhawk, H-02:


FACh Bell 206B, H-22:


FACH BK-117B-1, H-33:


Apart from these, A Bo105CBS (H-61) in red colours for arctic operations, and some of the UH-1H's could be seen. None were part of FIDAE however. One must bare in mind that FIDAE is no FACh airshow, but a commercial event like Le Bourget, ILA Berlin or Farnborough. As made obvious by the pictures above, all were shot with a long lens and then cropped a bit in order to produce a somewhat decent image. The image quality of the Blackhawk is especially poor due to heathaze.

Lucien

[L.M.B.]

Here some more pics of our visit to Chile.
Marco already showed all there was to see for us, but maybe it completes the impression of the trip...

Let's start with the rest of the Brasilian delegation:

E-99 (6704):


VC-99 (2585):


R-99B (6752):


A-29A Super Tucano (5729):






A-1A (5513) or 'AMX' as the type is better known to us in Europe:

[L.M.B.]

To show the strong relationship between Chile and the US, the efford was made to send two F-22A Raptors to FIDAE for flight demonstrations. Although FIDAE is a commercial show, no brochures were spread by the Americans with price list, list of options, obtainable colours, etc.

[canberra]

Great photos all

I had a great time there, and it seems you enjoyed your selves as well. I am somewhat jealous about the Army visit, looks great.

Looking forward to some shots of the Beriev 200. Apparently it arrived sometime between Friday afternoon and Sunday morning (as I saw it on static Sunday morning when I taxied out).
According fidae.cl it gave three flying displays Sunday

Did you guys go to the storage area for the fighters at El Bosque?

Managed to see some gate guards on the ENAER side of the field from outside.

First a group of five....
H-91 UH-1
712 Hunter
712 Mirage (not read, but from Marco photo, best guess is this is 724 or?)
727? Mirage on ground (possibly 721)
? T-37

Further up the road a group of three
147 T-34
238?? T-6
? T-37

Any confirmation of the Mirage 727, addition of the T-37, real ID of H-91 and others if they are fake would be very welcome!!

All the best, Michael

[L.M.B.]

Speaking of El Bosque, one photo I made over there really pleases me the most: it shows the very old 'German' hangar behind the T-35B Pillan. A charming piece of history. Onfortunately, it didn't escape recent events either. The walls showed some cracks. Let's hope the basic structure is not compromised too much...



Another little bug in the FACh inventory is the EA-300 Extra. A true aerobatic aircraft I enjoyed to watch. Los Halcones put up a really nice display during FIDAE. Here it is seen recovering at the A.M. Benitez IAP runway.



Now that I am posting FACh propeller aircraft, I can't escape sharing my pics of the Twin Otter...

[Antilliaan]

Great pictures Marco & Lucien & Jurgen, enjoyed teaming up with you guys! Here's a few from my bucket, some different angles and locations. I hope you enjoy!


A-36 @ Benitez


F-5F @ Benitez


Mirage 50CN @ El Bosque


P-3ACH @ Vina de Mar


Cat @ Benitez


E-99 & R-99 @ Benitez


UH-1H @ Talca


MD530F @ Talca Barracks


Cougar @ Benitez


Bell 206 @ Talca

[Andras]

Although I do not care for such an "un-interesting" Air force i really enjoy all the stories told here. And there a few pictures i like very much. I understand people want pics of all aircraft present, but those vintage jets and disassembled ones i do not get. But then again, I'm ( i like the second Raptor shot!) such a barbarian!

carry on please..!

[Marco]

I really hate your P-3 pic, you lucky b

[TwoStep]

If I can post one or two...

[SG Woensdrecht]

Nice catch! A couple off days later (25-03-2010) this MD530F, serial H-133 crashed.

More information about the crash can be found here http://latercera.com/contenido/680_236903_9.shtml