4A trip to Colombia

[jurgen]

Last July we went to Colombia.
Main goal for the trip was the F-AIR 15 airshow at Rionegro airbase, near Medellin.
Before and after the show we visited several bases and locations in and around Bogota.

Below a few pictures of this succesful trip.


1) On our first full day we visited Villavicencio. After an eventfull coachride we spend the biggest part of the day on this civil airfield, known for operating one of the largest fleets of props. Amongst others, we saw 17 former mil C-47s, several Antonovs and this visiting SATENA ATR.


2) HK-3292 is going full throttle down the runway for a smooth take-off. This fy43 vintage C-47A would also be our taxi for an hour long flight over the impressive forrests later that day.


3) View from the left hand seat of HK-3292


4) View from the left hand seat of HK-3292


5) Not all C-47s are ready to fly, as is this former Colombian Air Force FAC1123, now HK-3199.


6) In the morning it was very bad weather and our C-47 flight was delayed. In the mean time we drove a little bit further south to drive past Apiay - Luis F Gomez Nino AB. A visit on base was not possible, but we could take a few shots from the T-33A serving as gate guard.


7) On the second full day we visited Tolemaida. A huge army complex with a large airfield. It houses the majority of the UH-1H-II, UH-1N, UH-60i & L and Mi-17 fleet of the army. As was noticed at all the places we visited, the welcome was very hospitable and we received 'all access tickets' for the airfield. EJC4210 is former Canadian Forces 135131, and hovered to its landing spot very close to us.


8 ) EJC2151, one of 26 Black Hawks we saw this day, comes in after its mission. In the front UH-60L EJC2186 who is awaiting some maintenance.


9) The Black Hawks have an easier way to their parking spot. No need to hover, just taxi.


10) The Mi-17 maintenance hangar held all three variants operated by the Colombians. This is an Mi-17-1V, other versions are the Mi-17V5 and Mi-17MD.


11) EJC5430 was an old friend for me. Noted as UH-1V 73-21666 in storage at New Orleans in May 1997. Now upgraded to UH-1H-II and more alive than ever.


12) Another old friend was EJC5431. Previously seen with the 107th MedCo OH ArNG at Akron - Canton airport in September 2000. Now undergoing some maintenance at Tolemaida.


13) Not a lot of armed forces operate the Aero Commander. One of the reasons to venture of to Colombia. During our stay we saw three different Army Aero Commanders.


14) The Ce208 is great workhorse for all element of the Colombia armed forces, Air Force, Navy, Army and Police. This EJC-1138 was captured in the last light of the day whilst leaving the airfield. It visited twice that day. We also saw it at Rionegro and twice at Bogota.



More to follow soon

[fire28]

Very Nice. I see your OCT Trip to the US will coincide with me being in Vegas myself, perhaps we will get to meet.

[jurgen]

Hi fire28, hope to see you in the US.
We need two more people to let this trip go ahead. So if any of you is interested...

Here is part two of our trip in Colombia.

15) On our third day we went to the northern part of Bogota. The Policia Nacional de Colombia were ours host at Guaymaral airport. Hangar 2 held three Black Hawks and this unmarked VIP Bell 412EP PNC-0801. The immaculate looking hangar is something you will encounter everywhere with the armed forces.


16) Half of the PNC Ce208 fleet on the ramp. These versatile aircraft are being used all over the country.


17) Still looking tough and ready to go. Two green camo and one light grey UH-1H-II in front of hangar 3.


18) Slowly replacing the Bell 206 with the PNC is a new fleet of Bell 407. Five are known to be on strength, all five were seen.


19) Also the smaller fixed wing fleet is based at Guaymaral. This PA-31-325 was impounded from drug traffickers in 2009 and has been successfully used since.


20) Besides the VIP Bell 412 in the hangar this presidential VIP UH-60L Halcon was also noted whilst it came overhead, closely followed by a security Mi-17-V5

[Key]

Great shots, buddy. I thoroughly enjoyed.

Erik

[Thermal]

Great shots. Even that Dokata ride over the jungle would have made it worth while for me.

[jurgen]

It was time to leave Bogota and go a bit further north to Rionegro. The spot for the F-AIR 2015 airshow.
On the ground we saw a wide variety of the majority of the Colombian forces inventory. In the air a couple of spectacular performers and during the show we welcomed many different visiting aircraft.

21) Four Embraer A-29Bs performed a daily routine in the sky. They were parked next to the static.


22) Up in the air.


23) Flairs are kinda very common these days at airshows.


24) Taxiing back in.



25) Five immaculate looking T-37B Tweets. Guess I do not have to spell out the registrations...


26) The specially marked A-37B performed during each display segment. It was parked in front of the crowd where one could witness the startup procedure.


27) Although the Dragonfly has reached a certain age it still can do some modern tricks.


28) A-37B FAC2183 showing its beauty on the ground.


29) More flares for this AH-60L Arpia III. The Colombians have turned already impressive machine into an even more capable airframe.


30) The Colombia Air Force painted Colombia in bright yellow colours on both display Arpia's.


31) This is not an AH-60L Arpia viariant, but an MH-60L Ángel. Honoustly I do not know the exact differences, but at least this one is lacking the ESSS (External Stores Support System)


32) Colombia received a couple of Swearingen C-26 aircraft from the USA. Many are stil lin use, as is this example of the Policia Nacional.


33) Workhorse Colombians bushplane, Cessna Ce208


34) The Boeing 737 visited every day from Bogota to bring (former) Air Force to the show. The Antonov was a familiar one to us, as it was parked with Aer Caribe behind our hotel in Bogota during our stay there.


35) Another visitor was this air force Bell UH-1H II. Compared to the army variants this one has the higher skids, FLIR pod under the nose and grey colour scheme.


36) Another Boeing 737, but this time the presidential aircraft. Also a frequent visitor of the show. This picture was taken when the sun was already behind the mountains and it was becoming dark very quickly.


37) On 12 July this Blackhawk PNC-0608, together with colleague PNC-0609 visited the show. I learned with great sadness that this chopper crashed only a couple of weeks later, on 4 august, with the loss of 16 lives.


38) This Citation has just lifted from the Rionegrao runway on its shuttle to Bogota.


39) Star visitor must have been this IAI201 Arava on 10 July. Only one remains in service and we we happy to seen it on our tour.


40) The static was parked rather tight, but still many good shots could be taken. Our group had a hotel across the street so we could come and go as we please with only a ten-fifteen minute walk to the entrance. One of the highlights of the static was this AC-47T, still very valuable for the Colombian operations.


41) This regular UH-60L Halcon was decorated with some large stickers. The registration was not carried externally, but, as with almost all aircraft on static, we got up and close and read all the numbers and construction numbers (FAC4120 70-2069)


42) This Army Mi-17-1V was not carrying the registration EJC 3375 when it was doing where it became very famous for, Operacion Jaque. More info here: https://www.ejercito.mil.co/?idcategoria=216445


43) Almost all of Colombia's forces are users CASA products, the 212, 235 and 295. All were seen during this trip. The army operates two of these 212s out of Bogota.


44) I was just talking about CASAs? Here is another one. CASAs latest product, the C295. The air force operates six of these and all six were noted. This one was pictured from the cargo ramp of the air force Boeing 767.


One more installment to follow shortly.

[Ajaxfever]

great shots