DC-3 operational in the Amazon

Still one of my favorite all-time commercial aircraft . . . right up there with the Lockheed Constellation, Boeing 707 and Convair 990.
 
A few years ago, I had a stop over in Charlotte Amalie (St Thomas USVI STT) and all of sudden I hear the unmistakable rumbling of Radial Engines !! I looked up and it was a DC-3 from Five Star Cargo if I recall the name well. I think they are now extinct after the Company changed owners. They had a few occurrences, among them was a ditching after TO from STT.
 
Yeah the DC-3 is a beauty. I recently interviewed for a cargo gig down here in the CV440, didn't get it but it was still worth spending my time in the interview just to get a tour of the plane. TMF still has two Super DC-3 or DC-4s I think they are with the square tail out of KOPF, I see them in Nassau too. Theres also one parked in FLL and one under the name Ozark Airways sitting in Marathon just to name a few that are still around. Theres also DC-7s at KOPF as well that operate under a shadow company's certificate in Provo or something convoluted like that... typical Miami... but still beautiful nonetheless and everytime one flies over my apartment it gives me a smile and a sigh. :)

EDIT: Theres also one parked at FXE as well.
 
melax said:
A few years ago, I had a stop over in Charlotte Amalie (St Thomas USVI STT) and all of sudden I hear the unmistakable rumbling of Radial Engines !! I looked up and it was a DC-3 from Five Star Cargo if I recall the name well. I think they are now extinct after the Company changed owners. They had a few occurrences, among them was a ditching after TO from STT.
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Four Star. And they still opperate DC-6's and a Convair 440
 
You're right, now I remember. I ran a search and found a bunch of Youtube videos on Four star. I'm surprised they are still in business. How profitable is it to run those old Radial machines ? They had a guy , I think he was a Lawyer / Economics professor @ U of Penn in Philadelphia who was one of the principals then... I downloaded that Aljazeera Video on the insane pilots of the Amazon, It's a great piece !
 
Four Star seems to do OK out here. Most of the islands dont have decent ports, so almost everything is flown in. Along with the typical UPS, fedex, DHL, US MAiL, they Four Star flies a lot of food from what I understand. Theres a DC 6 in STX every day that carries nothing but fresh bread out of SJU.
 
Waco would have committed Hari kari(sp?) a few weeks ago. We worked a DC-3 with /G as an equipment suffix
 
SIUav8er said:
Four Star seems to do OK out here. Most of the islands dont have decent ports, so almost everything is flown in. Along with the typical UPS, fedex, DHL, US MAiL, they Four Star flies a lot of food from what I understand. Theres a DC 6 in STX every day that carries nothing but fresh bread out of SJU.
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Four Star is still rocking? thats crazy
 
Took this in SJU about 3 years ago:

IMG_0156.jpg
 
We have a whole bunch still flying here, some of them have been converted to turbine (PT-6 I think). They mostly serve remote jungle communities and fly in unreal conditions with quite an amazing safety record.
 
I'm not sure as these turbine DC3's belong to the anti narcotics police force and that their hangar is off limits, but I'll see if I can gather some infos and take a pic when I taxi by. Quite a sight though !
 
Thanks so much for sharing this! Sent it over to my brethren at the AOPA forums. I also told them where I found this link too!
 
You're very welcome, These pilots are insane !! I Like the fuel Delivery, where they keep the doors open inflight to vent the dangerous fumes ! The Mechanic with the hammer was also great " In America, they remove the engine" here in colombia we do it much faster ...
By the way the rest of the series (Not Airplane related) is worth watching specially " the River traders of Brazil" Just incredible how some people make a living. Here the link to all the series.

http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/riskingitall/
 
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