The National Center for Personnel Recovery (CENRP) of the Colombian Air Force coordinates the search for the Cessna 206 aircraft registration HK 2803 affiliated with the company Avianline Charters SAS, reported missing on May 1, when the loss of radio contact with traffic control agencies, declaring an emergency in the limits of the departments of Guaviare and Caquetá.
The Colombian Air Force has arranged four aircraft to carry out the mission, two fixed-wing equipped with electro-optic systems and two rotary-wing, with personnel trained in search and rescue on board. Lieutenant Colonel Juan Carlos Pérez Guzmán, Chief of the CENRP reports: “Since the search phase began, the Air Force has flown a little over 35 hours, among the aircraft that have been committed to the mission.”
The CENRP plans the missions and search patterns to be carried out in coordination with the 6th Air Combat Command, located in the municipality of Solano, Caquetá, in the southwestern part of the country, the unit designated to launch the operations due to its proximity to the area of the last report of HK 2803, from there, the missions are carried out to locate the single-engine and the 7 people who were traveling on board.
In these search efforts, the UH-60, Huey II, Fantasma and Caravan C-208 participate, which follow a pattern or route that allows them to cover the greatest amount of territory possible, in addition to this, the capabilities of the AC-47T have given 24-hour-a-day continuity of records in the area, through lighting missions, with the launch of flares at night.
The FAC aircraft equipment has the ability to detect heat, for its part, the helicopters are equipped with a rescue crane and a jungle penetrator, elements that allow a vertical descent in the event that there is no space to landing, it is also equipped with stretchers and rescuers.