Joan Carles Lacruz, president of the Associació Spotters Barcelona, is an aviation photography enthusiast, a hobby he discovered by chance two decades ago at El Prat Airport. This practice, known as spotting, involves observing and photographing aircraft, often at very low altitudes, providing "tremendous" sensations, according to Lacruz.
“"Traveling for us means being around the airport every day."
The term spotter dates back to World War II, when the British positioned themselves on the coast to identify German planes. Today, for Lacruz, this practice has become an endless "sticker collection," with over 10,000 aircraft registered in a personal Excel sheet.
The search for unique aircraft, such as planes with thematic liveries (e.g., Morocco for the World Cup, Disneyland Paris 25th anniversary, or Vueling featuring Barça Femení), leads association members to take specific "trips." They have visited places like Toulouse (for the Airbus factory), Albacete (for NATO maneuvers), or Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, which has seven operational runways.
