Vertical de Aviación is a charter airline based at El Dorado International Airport

El Dorado International Airport

El Dorado International Airport is an international airport located in Bogotá, Colombia. It is the largest Latin America airport in terms of cargo movements with 593,946 tons and the third in terms of passenger traffic, only behind São Paulo-Guarulhos International Airport and Mexico City's...

 in Bogotá

Bogotá

Bogotá, Distrito Capital , from 1991 to 2000 called Santa Fé de Bogotá, is the capital, and largest city, of Colombia. It is also designated by the national constitution as the capital of the department of Cundinamarca, even though the city of Bogotá now comprises an independent Capital district...

, Colombia

Colombia

Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

. As the name implies, if flies Helicopter

Helicopter

A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by one or more engine-driven rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards, and laterally...

s.

History

Vertical de Aviación was founded in 1982 operating Bell helicopters. It was the first Colombian airline to operate Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n helicopters transporting passengers and cargo.

Accidents

On June 27, 2009, a British Aerospace 3201 Jetstream 31 (N485UE) operated by Vertical de Aviacion attempted a take off on Rwy 27. The aborted takeoff occurred on a gravel runway at the Forward Operating Base Salerno in Afghanistan. When the decision was made to abort the take off, the momentum of the aircraft coupled with the a concrete pad at the approach end of runway 09 caused the aircraft to skid and prevented it from stopping. The aircraft was not overweight, and it was operating within its limits. Subsequently there have been hundreds of landings and take-offs from Salerno without incident. The investigating body determined that the aforementioned factors were responsible for the accident. Jetstream was damaged beyond repair.

Fleet

The airline has a total of 14 helicopters.

• MI-17
  Mil Mi-8
  The Mil Mi-8 is a medium twin-turbine transport helicopter that can also act as a gunship. The Mi-8 is the world's most-produced helicopter, and is used by over 50 countries. Russia is the largest operator of the Mi-8/Mi-17 helicopter....
  
  
• MI-8 MTV
  Mil Mi-8
  The Mil Mi-8 is a medium twin-turbine transport helicopter that can also act as a gunship. The Mi-8 is the world's most-produced helicopter, and is used by over 50 countries. Russia is the largest operator of the Mi-8/Mi-17 helicopter....
  
  
• Bell 222
  Bell 222
  The Bell 222 is a twin-engined light helicopter built by Bell Helicopter. The Bell 230 is an improved development with different engines and other minor changes. A cosmetically modified version of the 222 was used as the titular aircraft in the US television series Airwolf.-Development:In the late...
  
  
• Bell 212

Fixed wing

• BAe Jetstream J-32 (turboprop aircraft)