LAU (Lineas Aereas La Urraca)
Operator Identification
1962 to 1980
Colombia
TYPE: Airline
IATA/ICAO CODES: Nil
HEADQUARTERS: Villavicencio
FORMER NAME: Nil
SUBSEQUENT NAME: Nil
Operator History
LAU (Lineas Aereas La Urraca) was founded in 1962 by the Henao Jaramillo brothers with the aim of providing an air transport service to the most remote communities of Colombia's Eastern Plains. Its headquarters were established at Villavicencio Vanguardia airport. Operations started with a pair of Douglas B-18 Bolo bombers converted for cargo transportation. La Urraca was subsequently authorized to carry out scheduled passengers and charter cargo flights to all domestic destinations. Commandos joined the fleet that same year.
La Urraca ran into several setbacks during its early years. The first one occurred when a recently purchased Commando crashed in Kingston, Jamaica on 26 November 1962. In 1965, both Douglas Bolos were lost, one in Tio Barbas on 26 January and the second on 29 June in San Pedro de Jagua at the foothills of the Llanero mountains. Several Douglas DC3s were purchased to replace them and cover secondary scheduled routes and charter cargo flights. From the base of Villavicencio, services were offered to Cucuta, Arauca, Miraflores, Mitu, San Jose del Guaviare, Tame, Yopal, Aguazul, Monteria, Arauquita, Paz de Ariporo, Puerto Inirida, San Luis de Palenque, Trinidad and Orocue. These routes had previously been operated by the Aerotaxi subsidiary of Avianca.
On 12 February 1970, a DC3 crashed near Puerto Inirida. The pilot reported damage to the left engine and tried to return to the airport. However, the underpowered ship did not manage to make it back. Four crewmembers and eight passengers died. Between October and November 1970, 3 turboprop Handley Page Heralds were purchased, and christened respectively "Bachue", "Bochica" and "Cacique Nutibara". These were assigned to the new secondary routes recently awarded to LAU by the government. A secondary base was established at Bogota El Dorado airport, and scheduled services began from there to Barrancabermeja, Valledupar, Maicao, Riohacha, Santa Marta, Barranquilla and later to San Andres. Likewise, the secondary routes to Popayan and Pasto, along with the Pasto-Cali-Pasto service, recently abandoned by Aerolineas TAO, were awarded. Around that time, the airplanes started receiving an attractive red & white livery, with a comic-style magpie on the tail - "urraca" in Spanish.
At the end of 1971 an agreement was reached with TAC Aerovías del Cesar to operate on their assigned routes the three Vickers Viscount recently purchased by them. Unfortunately on 21 January 1972, one of the Viscounts crashed in the village of Funza a few minutes after taking off from Bogota on a scheduled flight to San Andres. On that occasion, 5 crew members and 15 passengers were killed. The investigation concluded that an explosion of unknown origin had occurred on board. Only four months later on 7 May 1972, a Herald made an emergency landing on a ranch near Valledupar. Luckily, no lives were lost. As a result of these accidents, the agreement with TAC was terminated and the rights to operate the routes to the Atlantic coast were lost.
La Urraca returned to its original nest and focused again on its operation out of Villavicencio, strengthening its services to the Eastern Plains, with both Heralds and DC3s. Two 8-passenger Britten Norman Islanders were purchased and added to the fleet. The corporate image of the company was changed, with each one of the planes being repainted in a different bright color - blue, orange, green, yellow or red - while keeping the magpie on the tail.
However, a few months later on 2 November 1973, another Herald crashed on approach to Villavicencio. The plane had previously landed in Arauca, after having made its daily trip from Villavicencio via Paz de Ariporo and Tame. A leaky hydraulic line was detected on the nose landing gear. After having changed the incriminated hose, the airplane continued its flight to Cucuta. After only 5 minutes of flying, a strong smell of smoke was reported in the cabin. The landing gear was still extended, although cockpit indications said otherwise. The crew decided to return to Villavicencio, where they made two low passes for visual confirmation of the gear position from the ground. Approaching runway 22, the pilot was instructed to turn off engine number one as a precautionary measure. However, he did so at too slow an airspeed: the plane stalled and crashed to the ground, exploding in flames. Six of the 16 occupants lost their lives, including both pilots. The third Herald met its fate on 22 June 1975, when making a forced landing on a short dirt track located on the La Libertad ranch. The plane was a writeoff.
The DC3s were finally retired in 1978. Three Commandos were then purchased, to be used exclusively for cargo transportation. Again another accident took place on 27 May 1979 in the vicinity of El Yopal. The company subsequently decided to suspend all its operations from the beginning of 1980. Lineas Aereas La Urraca deserves the unglamourous reward of having the highest ratio of accidents amongst all Colombian airlines: out of a total of 24 aircraft ever operated by the company, 12 were destroyed in accidents over a period of only 18 years.
Commando Operations
February 1968* to 1980*
La Urraca operated a Commando - probably in passenger configuration - in its first year of operations (1962), and three others in its final two years (1978-1979) in cargo configuration.
Last edited: 12/03/2024