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Old 28th Jan 2018, 16:59
  #15 (permalink)  
DD44 Dostovei
 
Join Date: Nov 2017
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I am a local, I was right there when the Airplane took off.
I am a Pilot, even though I don't have significant experience on those operations.
When I saw the take off it didn't strike me as particularly unsafe, even if long for what we're used here nowadays.

I remember I had seen takeoffs like that back in the day DC-8s were daily here, when Tampa Cargo operated them. They weren't the norm or the majority, but I do remember seeing more of those at least a couple of times.

I couldn't really say if it was 35 feet airborne where it should have, as I was looking at the situation from the opposite threshold, but what I can say is that the colombian CAA issued the initial report saying, to paraphrase, that according to the photos, videos, and audios they had (who knows if they have anything we haven't seen in the internet) they suspect the Airplane was not dispatched by Tampa Cargo, but by the Airplane's crew themselves, and thus warranted being suspended while it's all cleared, according to them.

In my opinion, unless it's demonstrated that it was unsafe (again, I do not know, I was just a witness), it's just a knee-jerk reaction. Not only that, but it would be a first to suspend a whole company while a company is under investigation. Avianca had a similar situation with an A330 a couple of years ago out of Bogota and they were never suspended, nor was Aerosucre suspended when the 727 sadly crashed a year ago, just to name two examples.

I guess since the social media was so strong (we locals were really excited about the DC-8, so there's videos and photos everywhere) they needed to be seen as "doing something" since they have been criticised in the past just for giving the opposite impression, and the aforementioned Aerosucre 727 accident is still fresh.
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