Colombia 2019
In July 2019 the F-AIR at Medellin-Rionegro was the main item on the menu for the fourth 4Aviation tour to Colombia. An interesting tour again to an interesting destination.
At a decent hour this morning Wednesday 10 July 2019, 4 out of a multi-national group of 10 people met up at the Schiphol meeting point for check-in with Air Europa for a flight to Bogota, Colombia. 6 fellow travellers would join up during the journey. Main goal of the trip was a visit to the F-AIR airshow at Rionegro airport (Medellin). The flights were uneventful and almost on-schedule we landed at Bogota El-Dorado airport. Document control took quite a while but after patiently waiting, we were reunited with our luggage, exchanged some money, and made our way to the domestic terminal for the short flight from Bogota to Rionegro. All went again smooth. Upon arrival our shuttle bus was waiting and quickly brought us to a nice hotel near the airport to finally be able to get some decent sleep after a very long travel day.
Thursday 11 July was the first show-day of F-AIR at Rionegro airport (Medellin). First thing was to collect our media passes. This took a bit of persuasion, but after about 45 mins everyone had their pass and we could enter the showground. As today’s access was for professionals and military personnel only, it was pleasantly quiet at the showground. Rionegro is a predominantly civil airport with a military unit located at the opposite side of the runway. The showground is at the civil side of the field next to the terminal building. This F-AIR edition’s static display was a nice mix of civil and military aircraft and helicopters. Probably favourite in the line-up was the first ever public outing of a Kfir COD. Display flying was limited this Thursday. The USAF Thunderbirds went up in the morning to check their show references. This resulted in repeated top-side ‘vapor’ passes due to the high humidity. They went up once more in the afternoon flying their whole routine. Around sunset two Fuerza Aerea Colombiana Kfir single-seaters took off for a pairs display with plenty fast passes, rolls, flares, etc. in stunning soft sunlight. A great ending to a first day!
Friday’s (12 July) F-AIR was largely a repeat of the Thursday. Again, another day for professionals only. Contrary to yesterday, the FAC Kfir pair flew already in the morning. The Thunderbirds flew at the same slot as on Thursday afternoon. Today it was a pair of UH-60 Arpia’s that closed the show including their famous duo flare release. Again, in beautiful sunlight just before sunset. Superb timing of the organisation.
On Saturday 13 July there were a few differences compared to the previous days. First, it now was a day that the show would be open to the general public and secondly, we had an evening flight back to Bogota. Unfortunately, the weather this Saturday did not like to cooperate with the festivities around the 100 Years of Fuerza Aérea Colombiana. A heavy downpour halted any activity in the morning. After the rain had receded, we were treated by a flight passes of 8x UH-60s, the FAC’s B767 with Kfirs, a B-52 accompanied by Kfirs and a mass of Tucano’s in 1 0 0 –formation.
After the flying display had ended, we left the show site to pick up our luggage. Upon check-in, Avianca reported that our flight was overbooked. The group was transferred to another flight, less than 2 hrs later, and received a coupon for a free dinner. Our new flight was a B787 which brought us quickly to Bogota El-Dorado (28 minutes airtime!). A hotel shuttle bus brought us within a few minutes to our home for the next few nights.
This Sunday (14 July) was scheduled to be a relatively quiet day. At 9AM we boarded our bus to take us around Bogota to see a few aircraft relics such as a G358M Gavilan, a B727 and handing a few pesos convinced a guard to let us approach a Dakota for a few photos. We then drove North of Bogota to the Fuerza Aerea Colombiana museum in Briceno. Part of the museum infrastructure is ready and accessible, but a large part is still to be constructed. Until that time, most of the collection is sitting outside and can be decently photographed.
Following a typical Colombian barbeque style lunch, we made our way back to Bogota. After a quick stop to log a PA31 at the Club Policia Nacional we headed to El Dorado airport to scoop some of the various wrecks and relics present. After getting back to our hotel, some of us decided to bring another visit to El-Dorado airport to check out the various movements.
At 9AM on Monday 15 July we boarded our bus once more. Today we were promised a visit to the maintenance centre at Madrid (CAMAN). A signature was still missing so we had to wait until the responsible person showed up and signed our paperwork. Waiting was spent sipping a local coffee. Around 11AM we called the security at Madrid. Access clearance was now in order and they asked us to be back at the gate around 13:30.
Our guide led us through all hangars and workshops on this maintenance base. We saw for example major inspection work on C-130s and UH-1s, upgrade work on C212s, assembly of T90s, the PT6 engine shop, etc. A very nice visit and our hosts were most welcoming.
At the end of the afternoon we brought another visit to Bogota El-Dorado airport to check out the various movements.
On Tuesday 16 July we left the hotel at 8AM as we had an early appointment with the Policia Nacional at Guaymaral airport. At Guaymaral the Policia Nacional has a large compound with UH-60s, various other helicopters and smaller fixed wing aircraft and a second compound with Huey IIs. We started the visit at the UH-60s and a few smaller aircraft. Our hosts were very accommodating, and all aircraft could be photographed/logged, both on the platforms and inside the hangars. We went to the Huey-compound. Also in this compound our host was most accommodating and all choppers could be logged and photographed. After thanking and saying goodbye to our hosts, we quickly scooped around the airport to see what juicy other aircraft were present before a quick lunchbreak as we had another visit scheduled in the afternoon at Bogota’s main airport.
At Bogota El Dorado the Policia Nacional’s larger fixed-wing aircraft are based. These are for example ATR42s, Dash8s, BT-67s, various Beeches, Twin Otters, et. Identical to our experience at Guaymaral, also here the visit was very relaxed. After walking the platform and hangar, we were authorised to stay along the taxiway of El Dorado airport. Here some of the regular traffic could be nicely photographed. Around 1600hrs we said goodbye to our hosts as it was about time to get our luggage and make our way to the international terminal for check-in for our return to Europe. Once at the terminal we said goodbye to 3 travellers that stayed in Bogota for the 20 July Independence Day parade. The rest of us boarded an Air Europa 787 flight to take us back to Madrid (Spain) where we landed with a minor delay. In the meantime it was already Wednesday 17 July when another Air Europa B787 brought us back to Schiphol. At the luggage carousel we said goodbye and see you again soon. Another very nice trip in the logbooks!
