Join me on a thrilling flight to the Colombian Jungle onboard Aerosucre’s 44-year-old B737-200.
Aerosucre is a cargo airline from Colombia that has been involved in a number of accidents and incidents. I started my trip in Bogota and my destination is Mitu; a jungle town near the border with Brazil. There are no roads to reach Mitu so the cargo has to be flown there.
Once onboard the B737-200, the technicians were busy fixing the overhead panel while all sorts of cargo were loaded inside. Captain Cesar and FO Ramiro briefed us on the flight. The takeoff out of Bogota was a very long one given the high elevation of 8,360 ft above sea level. I became excited and alive to watch how the pilot flew the B737-200 manually.
After 40 minutes from takeoff, the jungle landscape appeared and our B737-200 was configured for landing on the short bumpy runway in Mitu.
We spent 3 hours in Mitu visiting the Air Traffic Control tower and trying out the local BBQ food while all the cargo was getting offloaded. More cargo including 2 cars got loaded on our way back to Bogota. On the way back, we had a call about the engine reverser getting falsely deployed during the flight! It was an absolute thrill to fly on the 44-year-old Aerosucre Boeing 737-200.
