Estos dinosaurios del aire, los aviones DC-3, se niegan a que les corten las alas - Los Informantes
Video from the channel Los Informantes about Douglas DC-3, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 14:21. Language: Spanish. Video type: News.
What is reported
The DC-3s still flying in Colombia risk being grounded: according to their captain, Claudio Petro, insurers no longer sell liability insurance to the commercial companies that operate them, and without it the Aerocivil (Colombia's civil aviation authority) does not allow them to fly. The aircraft featured in the report was only cleared to fly until 8 April unless the policy was renewed.
Context
The report follows Petro and the 83-year-old writer and mechanical engineer Gustavo Arias de Greiff on an 835-kilometre route from Vanguardia airport in Villavicencio to Barrancominas (Guainía), Inírida, the department's capital, and San Felipe, on the border with Brazil and Venezuela, by the Negro River. The DC-3 lands on dirt, gravel or grass strips where other aircraft cannot, flies at around 300 km/h and combines cargo and passengers, seated on side benches; the crew numbers five, including a mechanic who can change parts on the ground. It carries fuel, food, medicine, spare parts, the injured and police to towns that depend on it.
What it means
Flights had already dropped from two or three a week to one every eight or fifteen days, and residents fear being left isolated. The rule barring aircraft over 40 years old from entering the country does not affect those already in it, but insurers consider them unsafe. The report calls for an urgent solution so the region does not lose its air connection.