In recent days you may have read or heard about an airplane crash in the Colombian Amazon and the search for 4 missing children that were on that flight. That might lead you to worry about how safe it is to fly into the Amazon. Let me explain a few things to ease your fears.
The plane that crashed was a private tiny single engine Cessna 206 that departed from the small unpaved airtrack of Araracuara and was aiming to land at the Guaviare city airport, crashing in a rural area of Guaviare. But those are planes used by some indigenous and locals that want to travel to or from their isolated destinations in the jungle to Guaviare (not to get there from a big city). Guaviare is probably the main hub for those tiny isolated destinations, but those planes are not used to transport passengers from or to Bogota or any other big airport.
So, in order to ease your worries, we will clarify per destination:
So, in order to ease your worries, we will clarify per destination:
- GUAVIARE:
The flights from Bogota to Guaviare that our operator uses are commercial flights much bigger than the plane that crashed. The airlines are SATENA and EASYFLY and the planes are normally modern twin engine ATR planes of 42 or 72 passengers (ATR42 or ATR72 planes). https://www.atr-aircraft.com
For traveling to San José del Guaviare from Bogota, we have to say that there is no problem and there is no difference in the risks than traveling to any other major city in Colombia.
But flight cautions have to be taken into account for some special expeditions to isolated places like Araracuara or Vaupés, where the flights can be different:
- ARARACUARA
In order to get to Araracuara, our operator normally hires flights that use the Antonov 26 or Antonov 32 planes and the company for that is Aercaribe: https://aercaribe.com/antonov32/
The flights from Bogota to Guaviare that our operator uses are commercial flights much bigger than the plane that crashed. The airlines are SATENA and EASYFLY and the planes are normally modern twin engine ATR planes of 42 or 72 passengers (ATR42 or ATR72 planes). https://www.atr-aircraft.com
For traveling to San José del Guaviare from Bogota, we have to say that there is no problem and there is no difference in the risks than traveling to any other major city in Colombia.
But flight cautions have to be taken into account for some special expeditions to isolated places like Araracuara or Vaupés, where the flights can be different:
- ARARACUARA
In order to get to Araracuara, our operator normally hires flights that use the Antonov 26 or Antonov 32 planes and the company for that is Aercaribe: https://aercaribe.com/antonov32/
The accident was really sad, but we have to mention that our operator has never used that kind of plane for tourists for Araracuara. However, in case of being the only alternative in the future, they will inform us in advance and will double check the documents and security measures for those jungle flights.
- VAUPÉS:
Vaupés is a department (state) of Colombia and has a big airport in its capital, Mitú, that receives ATR planes from SATENA airline. However, once in Mitu, visitors can take other planes like CESSNAS in order to get to places less than 30 minutes away like Raudal del Jirijirimo. At this destination, there are not many options of planes, but our operator always checks very carefully the documents and of the security requirements of the planes.
Guaviare has definitely no issues and for the special expeditions to Araracuara or Vaupés, our operator will take extra measures and inform us in advance of the special logistics. However, that is why expeditions to Araracuara or Vaupés are very limited and have very few visitors.
What about other Amazon gateways?
- VAUPÉS:
Vaupés is a department (state) of Colombia and has a big airport in its capital, Mitú, that receives ATR planes from SATENA airline. However, once in Mitu, visitors can take other planes like CESSNAS in order to get to places less than 30 minutes away like Raudal del Jirijirimo. At this destination, there are not many options of planes, but our operator always checks very carefully the documents and of the security requirements of the planes.
Guaviare has definitely no issues and for the special expeditions to Araracuara or Vaupés, our operator will take extra measures and inform us in advance of the special logistics. However, that is why expeditions to Araracuara or Vaupés are very limited and have very few visitors.
What about other Amazon gateways?
- Leticia Colombia - jets are used (Avianca or Latam Airlines)
- Coca Ecuador - jets are used (Latam Airlines)
- Iquitos and Puerto Maldonado Peru - jets are used (Latam Airlines and others)
- Manaus, Tefe and Alta Floresta Brazil - jets are used (such as Latam, Gol and Azul Airlines)
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