Medellin Reports

[RoadGlide]

I don't remember the landing being anything special in MDE, but the 270 degree turning climb out got my attention. I kept waiting for that right hand turn to stop.

As far as fun landings you should try to fly Volaris into TIJ

RG.

[Superboy1]

Turbulence! On my first flight to Medellin on an AeroRepublica MD80 between PTY and MDE, the turbulence was so bad that I thought we were going to crash.

It seems that the pilots that fly those smaller planes in latin america are young. Really young. I remember sitting there watching the pilots come onto the plane and wondering if they skateboarded down the jetway. To give you a visual, one was caucasian, tallish and lanky with a shaved head and looked like he belonged in some kind of garage band pounding out Limp Bizkit covers. The other one looked like James Dean's greasy side kick in the movie "Rebel Without A Cause. " Both had I'll-fitting uniforms that made them look like they were trying on their dad's stuff.

Seriously. If you pointed those two out in a crowd and told me to guess whether they were airline pilots or worked at Papa Johns pizza, I would have guessed the latter. I try not to judge. But, to tell you the truth, I have similar distrust when I see a female pilot get on the flight. For some reason, I just don't like it.

But I knew we were in trouble when the flight out of PTY was delayed because they couldn't start the engines. From my aisle seat, I could see straight down into the cockpit and the two young pilots feverishly grabbing, pushing buttons as they went through their pre-flight routine. After a while, the two of them looked like they were arguing as they were both pointing at pages in their respective pre-flight books and holding them up so the other could see. I'm very comfortable flying, and I travel a lot. But now I'm getting nervous.

I got seriously nervous when---I shit you not!.--I looked forward at one point to see one of the flight attendants in the cockpit talking to the pilots and pointing to switches and buttons on the panel above them. WTF! Is the flight attendant really giving them instructions on how to start the fatcking plane? I couldn't hear what they were saying, but their spastic interactions reminded me of a silly Cary Grant / Katherine Hepburn movie. This can't be happening.

The flight attendant was hot, by the way.

One of the other flight attendants (also hot) must have looked down the aisle and saw looks of confusion and absolute horror on the passengers' faces. Because she quickly pulled a curtain closed so you couldn't see down the aisle into the cockpit anymore. After about an hour, and a visit from a mechanic, the engines started and we were off.

Somewhere mid-flight we hit some weather. I remember looking out the window and seeing several serious looking cumulonimbus storm clouds out there. And then the tubulence started. Like sex, the turbulence started out rythmicly slow and bumpy but eventually felt like the plane was having a series of gran mal seizures. We must have hit one of those storm clouds because the turbulance got so bad that things started falling all over the place. We hit a couple of the biggest air pockets I've ever felt and the plane started falling twice. Falling far.

People were screaming, flight attendants scurried back to their jump seats, I started going through that same routine: "If I die right now, did I live a good and full life? ". I already had images of CNN footage of this MD80 littered all over the mountains below us. Then the tubulence stopped suddenly. The remainder of the flight was uneventful and everyone calmed down. That is, until we landed.

MDE is a funky little airport nestled in the mountains. It seems like one moment you're high altitude, and the next you only 100 ft above the ground. So I'm looking out the window across from me at one point and I remember telling myself "Wow. Those treetops are coming in really fas. " SLAM! The plane hit the runway so hard that it felt like the plane was going to crack in half. Everyone on the plane screamed again. I think I even let out a "WHOA! " (a manly one, I assure you.).

Needless to say, the pilots didn't come out to greet the passengers as we exited. They didn't even open the cockpit door.

Like I said, I consider myself a pretty fearless flyer, but that flight made me want to avoid Copa on subsequent flights to Medellin. Unfortunately, the LAX--MDE route is so much faster and cheaper than Houston or Miami. So I'm stuck. The next flights to MDE were uneventful. But I still get a little nervous about it.

The approach into Medellin is a tricky one, it involves overflying the airport heading south then while making the turn northwards the aircraft is about between ft1000 to ft2000 from a large hill, which is pretty low for a plane flying at 230kts at that point. Once past the high ground around 8miles out the aircraft then needs to loss about ft4000 before landing.

I think maybe one of the reasons the flight attendent was pointing at the overhead panel would becouse on the overhead panel has the controls for the cabin temperature and air con, so I am guessing to was asking the pilot for alittle heat or cooling.

And as for the pilots, to be a pilot in command (Captain) you need atleast 5000 flying hour which can take about 10year plus. Evern if they look young these guys know what they are doing.

Avianca has a good saftey record, when was the last time you heard of an Avianca accident, I belive the last one was back in the early 80s at New York, and the plane ran out of fuel and the engines shut down.

Always remember that flying is the safest way to travel

O. K better stop now, now everyone know I am alittle plane spotter, no I was a aircraft engineer for 9 years.

Superboy

[Tom 33]

EB,

Nice story. Next time try Aeroflot. They have lawn chairs for seats and use duct tape on the wings.

[Ricker]

I've flown MDE to Barranquilla R/T with Avianca twice using the Fokker turboprop, a far superior/roomier puddle jumper IMO to the twin turbo that American Eagle uses -an Embraer I think - in the states. No turbulence on my two flights but that is dependant on actual weather conditions.

Schwmm

The problem with those smaller turboprops is they can´t climb as high as the jets, therefore they´re often unable to get above the bumpy stuff.

Also, some of their aircraft are not equipped with weather radar, or it isn´t operating, making it difficult to decipher the weather.

Buckle up. :)

[El Bombero]

Turbulence! On my first flight to Medellin on an AeroRepublica MD80 between PTY and MDE, the turbulence was so bad that I thought we were going to crash.

It seems that the pilots that fly those smaller planes in latin america are young. Really young. I remember sitting there watching the pilots come onto the plane and wondering if they skateboarded down the jetway. To give you a visual, one was caucasian, tallish and lanky with a shaved head and looked like he belonged in some kind of garage band pounding out Limp Bizkit covers. The other one looked like James Dean's greasy side kick in the movie "Rebel Without A Cause. " Both had I'll-fitting uniforms that made them look like they were trying on their dad's stuff.

Seriously. If you pointed those two out in a crowd and told me to guess whether they were airline pilots or worked at Papa Johns pizza, I would have guessed the latter. I try not to judge. But, to tell you the truth, I have similar distrust when I see a female pilot get on the flight. For some reason, I just don't like it.

But I knew we were in trouble when the flight out of PTY was delayed because they couldn't start the engines. From my aisle seat, I could see straight down into the cockpit and the two young pilots feverishly grabbing, pushing buttons as they went through their pre-flight routine. After a while, the two of them looked like they were arguing as they were both pointing at pages in their respective pre-flight books and holding them up so the other could see. I'm very comfortable flying, and I travel a lot. But now I'm getting nervous.

I got seriously nervous when---I shit you not!.--I looked forward at one point to see one of the flight attendants in the cockpit talking to the pilots and pointing to switches and buttons on the panel above them. WTF! Is the flight attendant really giving them instructions on how to start the fatcking plane? I couldn't hear what they were saying, but their spastic interactions reminded me of a silly Cary Grant / Katherine Hepburn movie. This can't be happening.

The flight attendant was hot, by the way.

One of the other flight attendants (also hot) must have looked down the aisle and saw looks of confusion and absolute horror on the passengers' faces. Because she quickly pulled a curtain closed so you couldn't see down the aisle into the cockpit anymore. After about an hour, and a visit from a mechanic, the engines started and we were off.

Somewhere mid-flight we hit some weather. I remember looking out the window and seeing several serious looking cumulonimbus storm clouds out there. And then the tubulence started. Like sex, the turbulence started out rythmicly slow and bumpy but eventually felt like the plane was having a series of gran mal seizures. We must have hit one of those storm clouds because the turbulance got so bad that things started falling all over the place. We hit a couple of the biggest air pockets I've ever felt and the plane started falling twice. Falling far.

People were screaming, flight attendants scurried back to their jump seats, I started going through that same routine: "If I die right now, did I live a good and full life? ". I already had images of CNN footage of this MD80 littered all over the mountains below us. Then the tubulence stopped suddenly. The remainder of the flight was uneventful and everyone calmed down. That is, until we landed.

MDE is a funky little airport nestled in the mountains. It seems like one moment you're high altitude, and the next you only 100 ft above the ground. So I'm looking out the window across from me at one point and I remember telling myself "Wow. Those treetops are coming in really fas. " SLAM! The plane hit the runway so hard that it felt like the plane was going to crack in half. Everyone on the plane screamed again. I think I even let out a "WHOA! " (a manly one, I assure you.).

Needless to say, the pilots didn't come out to greet the passengers as we exited. They didn't even open the cockpit door.

Like I said, I consider myself a pretty fearless flyer, but that flight made me want to avoid Copa on subsequent flights to Medellin. Unfortunately, the LAX--MDE route is so much faster and cheaper than Houston or Miami. So I'm stuck. The next flights to MDE were uneventful. But I still get a little nervous about it.

[Thespy]

Does anyone know the name of the song in the cubanut video and In Bogota there are some Avianca planes just sitting in a park, what is the name of the park.

Thanks

[RoadGlide]

You know your in for a bumpy flight when the cabin crew are told to return to their seats.

I got bounced around in the front cabin of a 747 on a flight out of BKK. Like Schwmmr say's it all depends on the weather.

RG.

[Member #3435]

Turbulence is hit or miss. I flew Avianca once from CLO to MDE. The plane was a turbo-prop. We hit the worst turbulence I have ever experienced in my life.

MDE-CTG uses turbo-props also. In 6 or 8 trips, I don't recall any turbulence.

I also flew MDE-BOG RT on an Aires turbo-prop without any problem.

I've flown MDE to Barranquilla R/T with Avianca twice using the Fokker turboprop, a far superior/roomier puddle jumper IMO to the twin turbo that American Eagle uses -an Embraer I think - in the states. No turbulence on my two flights but that is dependant on actual weather conditions.

Schwmm

[Nortelx]

Avianca's fleet

http://www.avianca.com/Inicio/Navega...estraFlota.htm

[Superboy1]

Avianca from bogota to medellin and back was a jet all three times I have flown it, I think it was a 737 but can't say for sure, but there was no turbulence on any trip. On the avianca site it lists the aircraft type for each leg of every flight.

Avianca flys DC9 planes from Bogota to Medellin, they have two engines at the back of the plane, great planes that can handle alot of turbulence. Colombia does have bad turbulence at times due to high amount of storm development and also becouse of the up and down drafts from the hills.

Sorry to bore you guy with the spotter info LOL

Superboy

[Kdogg21]

Avianca from bogota to medellin and back was a jet all three times I have flown it, I think it was a 737 but can't say for sure, but there was no turbulence on any trip. On the avianca site it lists the aircraft type for each leg of every flight.

I don't think Avianca has any 737, just MD-80 for the flights between MDE and Bog. Lots of Prop planes when I went to Cartagena and Cali. Fokker 50.

[Escort King]

A couple of months ago a Australian guy living in Medellin gave me a call to come around to say hi, he came around and we had a bit of a chat and his is his story.

He's married a Colombian girl with 2 children and the Family Court said no, you carnt take the kids out of the country until after 1 year so we can see that your marriage is a steady one and that every thing is going well, apply in another year and we will see again, even the father of the children said it was fine the children go to Aussie Land.

He is a Pastry Chef by trade, also worked in outback stations (farms) as a manager and also entertainment director at tourist farms etc.

He and his wife started a fast food little resturant over on 80th Ave, being going a month now earing enough to pay the rent etc. He works at the Rest from 10.00am to 6.00pm then the wife comes in from 6.00pm to 10.00-12.00 pm.

His wife works in a job that return about 3,000,000 million a month so its not a bad job for Colombian.

In the Resturant on each table he has a sign that says ¨I carnt read or write spanish¨ but just point to the menu and I´ll cook up what you want !!!!!!!! he has quiet a bit of local support

So entonces, if you think you are having a tuff time here in Colombia being a dreamer, think of this guy who carnt read or write spanish but runs a resturaunt that pays its way.

Aussie Greg

Got to love the adaptability of us Aussies.

[BeersTerry]

I have taken a 737 from Bogota to Medellin twice. I believe that the flight goes onto Miami. On one of those trips the plane was hit by a sudden downdraft (anyone not wearing a seatbelt almost bounced off the ceiling). It was so violent that everyone crossed themselves.

[Aussie Greg]

Bert,

99.9% of any deal that is referred by people to people in Colombia commission is involved (thats just my opinion and its a way of life here)

Its a interesting subject, the price or quote for a job/deal, it depends on the deal but my secretary says between 10 - 20% of the agreed price.

She should know, she knows all the important people here in Medellin and also the people you dont really want to know.

If there are some more questions on this subject, I´ll be happy to answer my opinion.

Aussie Greg

I guess you're inferring to my post below but I was careful not to mention any names for a reason. So for this reason I want to clarify something - it's not up to me or anyone else to tell you how to run your business and that was not the point I was making.

Also, speaking of your post, there is still one thing that is confusing to me. The first thing you say is that commission is a way of life in Colombia, gringo or not, then you turn right around an deny that you receive any commission. Are you saying that while other gringos living here are looking to make commissions off other unsuspecting gringos, you are not? If so then isn't it reasonable to assume that I could be talking about them and not you?

Like I said, whether you do or don't, it's your own business. I was simply pointing out what you said, that gringo or Colombian, there are people trying to make commission by recommending high priced people to line their pockets. I was simply pointing it out before anyone else makes this mistake. I am sure you can understand that being a person who plays it straight up.

[Tom 33]

Avianca from bogota to medellin and back was a jet all three times I have flown it, I think it was a 737 but can't say for sure, but there was no turbulence on any trip. On the avianca site it lists the aircraft type for each leg of every flight.

Turbulence is hit or miss. I flew Avianca once from CLO to MDE. The plane was a turbo-prop. We hit the worst turbulence I have ever experienced in my life.

MDE-CTG uses turbo-props also. In 6 or 8 trips, I don't recall any turbulence.

I also flew MDE-BOG RT on an Aires turbo-prop without any problem.