Would this camera be good for taking pictures of aircraft at an airport?

Yes you'd be fine with that if you are that close....

EDIT

Living in the "The Land of the Free" Eric ? I don't think so! Plane spotters have lined our airports and airbases for as long as I can remember. Long may it continue.

EDIT Ah my apologies Eric! Thought you were south of the border! My cousin rarely goes across the Canadian border to the US as it is always such a palava! The act preventing UK photographers going about their daily business due to terrorism issues, has been repealed or at least amended to allow us freedom to shoot what we want in public. It was an ill thought out idea and was soon thrown out after many objections and demonstrations. As an aside, I shot all over Quebec Province with professional gear 3 years ago and was never approached by anyone with a view to stopping me! :)

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Braehead Shopping Centre is my local Mall and although they tried to stop me just before this incident, I just said I've got my shots and walked on. They now allow people to use cameras so long as they don't block access.

Using a good quality tripod, spot on.

It is worth getting a cheap £1/£5 mini tripod, to attach when taking shorter distance pics, as this helps stop shake and you can use it to help put the Camera against a solid surface again to stop shake that is multiplied when taking zoom shots.

So which despotic country does James live in?

In UK James it is quite legal to photo aeroplanes even military ones.

Yes for the distance your planning to take photos at, it's perfect.

Yes it would. as far as compact cameras go, it's a good one and the distance you're talking about will be easily handled by the optical zoom.

Yes, it will be as good as any other of that type in that price range. It has a good zoom, so that will be very useful to you.

yes

"I am using this for plane spotting not anything illegal xD"

Yes but the police, homeland security, the FBI ... don;t know that. They already think all photographers are terrorists ... don't beleive me?

http://petapixel.com/2012/08/09/terrorism-preventi...

http://petapixel.com/2011/01/05/photography-terror...

http://petapixel.com/2011/08/23/at-this-rate-all-t...

http://petapixel.com/2013/03/20/national-counterte...

So yeah ... have fun at the police station.

It may be perfectly LEGAL for you to photograph an airport but apparently it;s also completely legal for law enforcement ot make your life a living hell for doing so. Good luck.

EDIT:

Nope, I live in Canada didn;t notice the question was from the UK but even there it;s not all roses for photographers.

http://petapixel.com/2013/04/23/animated-documenta...

http://petapixel.com/2012/01/20/photographer-vs-go...

http://petapixel.com/2011/12/19/teenage-photograph...

http://petapixel.com/2011/10/10/uk-man-questioned-...

So yeah ... that just happened.

Why are you wanting to take pictures of planes at an AIRPORT? YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED IT IS ILLEGAL.

@Ashacan It is illegal in Somali, Where I live.