The Hazards of Flying in Argentina

article from November 22, 2011

By Jamie Douglas

In spite of Aerolíneas Argentinas’ excellent safety record of never having had a fatal crash, flying domestically or internationally on the nation’s flag carrier is becoming more hazardous, as is flying in the country in general. Two very recent revelations and developments are contributing to my doubt that safety is paramount in the country’s airspace as well as on board the national airline, which was renationalized by the Argentine government in 2008.

I have flown on the airline on several occasions and always had a satisfactory experience, with both the cabin crew and the flight deck crew being very professional. But in recent years, with the government being the owner of the carrier, except for the 0.6% that is owned by the ten thousand plus employees, the carrier has been bleeding millions of dollars out of the federal government. The latest reports indicate that the airline is losing US$2 million per day. As a result, the maintenance of the aircraft, particularly its fleet of long-range Airbus A-340s, has been substantially neglected.

In the most recent revelations, it has been disclosed that two of the Airbus A-340s in operation have exceeded the design life of important parts of the landing gear by as much as 16,000 hours. The parts in question are the pistons on the landing gear, which have functions similar to what shock absorbers do on cars. Considering how easy it is to lose control of a car with a damaged or worn-out suspension, this can easily be extrapolated to an aircraft weighing in at about 275 tons. Both of the aircraft affected, LV-ZPO and LV-ZPJ, are A340-200 models, having served first for Cathay Pacific Airlines and Philippine Airlines before being acquired by Aerolineas in 1999. My concerns regarding the neglect of important maintenance for 11,000 hours on the former and 16,000 hours on the latter aircraft leads me to question the maintenance procedures for their other 40 units.

An official of the airline, technical director Anibal Videla, contacted EADS, the maker of the aircraft, in order to get a waiver for this most important safety-related item on the aircraft. EADS refused to do so, suggesting an immediate grounding of the units. 

In spite of the fact that the airline has about the same number of aircraft as it had in 2001, the number of employees has risen by 52%, increasing overhead tremendously. But being owned by the national government, many of the positions are filled by ñoquis, so called because these employees supposedly only show up on payday to collect their money. Argentinean tradition calls for a robust ñoqui dinner on the 29th of the month, just before payday, with a bank note under your plate that is folded into a knot and put into your billfold afterwards, ensuring that you will have the same banknote as well as the money to scrape up another inexpensive ñoqui dinner at the end of the following month. Maybe the good luck charm works – after all, ¡todo es possible en Argentina!

The other item giving me pause is that La Presidenta Cristina Fernández de Kirchner has ordered the armed forces to take over the functions of the striking air traffic controllers. Argentina’s skies are now being controlled by military personnel, who according to a lawsuit filed late last week, have been out of the towers for 2-8 years.

All this makes my very happy that I am not expecting to fly in or out of the country for a while, and that I am not expecting to have loved ones on any flight.

Jamie Douglas

San Rafael, Mendoza

[Image of Aerolíneas Argentinas Boeing 737-200Adv LV-ZXU via Wikipedia]

I encourage you to write me at cruzansailor [at] gmail [dot] com with any questions or suggestions you may have. Disclaimer: I am not in any travel-related business. My advice is based on my own experiences and is free of charge (Donations welcome). It is always my pleasure to act as a beneficial counselor to those who are seekers of the next adventure.

South America News Roundup Oct 18, 2011: Argentina, Venezuela, Bolivia

article from October 18, 2011

By Jamie Douglas

Argentina: Vog

For those of us living in some parts of Argentina, yesterday morning brought a renewal of the ash fall from Chile’s Puyehue Volcano. Instead of the crisp blue skies we have been getting accustomed to, we are under a blanket of vog (volcanic smog). On Sunday, I got up around dawn to let the dog out, and there was a heavy layer of what I thought was fog about 300 meters to the south which, it turns out, was that unpleasant ash, having drifted north and then east, once again wreaking havoc with air transportation across the region. All flights in and out of Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Mendoza and Montevideo have been grounded, and there is absolutely no service to the rest of the country. Hopefully we will not see another repeat of the situation a few months ago, when Australia and New Zealand were affected likewise. Sleep sweet Puyehue, sleep!

Venezuela: Hugo

Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez is back in Cuba for a complete checkup, after his fourth and final chemotherapy treatment. He appeared at the airport, joking that he was going to grow an afro when his hair resumed growing. The opposition has demanded that he come clean with his health status, stating that he was very ill, and he owed it to the country to reveal what type of cancer he had (probably prostate) as well as what his actual condition is and not treat it like a state secret. El Maximum Líder countered that he was in excellent health and that he would “sail” through the coming elections next year and be reelected. I think Venezuela could use a change!

Bolivia: Evo

Meanwhile in Bolivia, the coca-farmer president, Evo Morales, got spanked again by his constituents when close to 70% of the ballots for the election of his handpicked judges were turned in blank or spoiled. He not only had his cronies change the constitution to allow him to run again, but now he is going to stack the deck in every court having any constitutional powers. The people who put him into office, the indigenous masses of the country, are plenty pissed off at him for several breaches of trust, the latest being when police and military attacked peaceful protesters walking to the capital of La Paz to voice their protests against a Brazilian-financed four-lane highway through their tribal lands, which are supposed to be guaranteed to them. Evo ¿que pasa? Is the power of the presidency blinding you to your people’s needs?

You say “Falklands”, I say “Malvinas”

When it comes to delusional politicians, Argentina certainly has its share. Take for instance Argentine representative at the United Nations Jorge Argüello. His recent statements before the world body in regard to the Falkland Islands would make more sense if they had been uttered by a 3rd-world despot, but unfortunately, these moronic statements were made by the official representative of Argentina. Argüello claimed that the British government “hides information in London to the Europeans in Brussels and to the rest of the world” (whatever he means by that).

Also, in a recent address to an audience at the top Mexican university, UNAM, Ambassador Argüello said about the Falklands that, “England knows that if it cuts the social assistance and employment budget of the islands as it has done with other territories, it will lead to emigration to Argentina or South America, where the opposite thing is happening.” Huh?

While there is no doubt that the citizens of the islands lead a somewhat isolated existence, you would be hard-pressed to find even one resident of those cold and windy islands that would choose to live in Argentina or South America. But it makes for good propaganda. With the possibility of commercially viable deposits of crude oil, the residents of the Falkland Islands may end up being quite wealthy. It is solely for this reason that Argentina is rattling its plastic sabers all over the world, trying to get the support of other countries. But the United Nations made it quite clear how the destiny of the islands will be chosen: By a plebiscite of the residents living there! So come on Argentina, give it up. They were never your islands, and your claims are so far in the past.

Jamie Douglas

San Rafael, Mendoza

Where we have sheep, too, along with that Fine Malbec Wine!

I encourage you to write me at cruzansailor [at] gmail [dot] com with any questions or suggestions you may have. Disclaimer: I am not in any travel-related business. My advice is based on my own experiences and is free of charge (Donations welcome). It is always my pleasure to act as a beneficial counselor to those who are seekers of the next adventure.

Volcanoes, Sheep and Airlines: The Argentinean Ash Problem

article from October 4, 2011

By Jamie Douglas

Those of us living in the Southern Hemisphere are well aware of the effects of the Chilean volcanic eruption of Puyehue-Cordón Caulle. Flights in a large swath of South America had to be cancelled for weeks, and after the initial ash cloud had made its way around the world, flights in Australia and New Zealand had to be cancelled as well, causing massive disruption to peoples' travel plans and large losses for the air carriers.

The initial eruption from the Cordón-Caulle fissure occurred June 4, 2011, and by June 18, exactly two weeks later, the ash cloud had completed is circling of the globe. No human lives were lost. The dimensions of this natural disaster, however, keep growing. The economic impact of the Argentinean winter-sports tourist industry has been devastating, with almost the entire season lost due to the ash fall, closure of the airspace and the associated bad publicity.

The effect on livestock has been tragic, with thousands of cattle and horses having died because of lack of food and water as well as from ingestion of the fallen ashes. And in Argentine Patagonia, it is estimated that half a million sheep have perished. The ashes have not just contributed to the deaths of many of these sheep by way of ingestion of ash-covered forage, but have also diminished the amount of their available pasture. An additional complication has been the added weight of the volcanic emissions, which, when combined with rain, has created so much additional bulk that the poor creatures have been having difficulties moving about, and when they lie down, many simply cannot get back up.

Of course, the steady deposit of more ashes has complicated lives for the human population, as well. Aside from being harmful when inhaled, there is a constant struggle to keep roofs from collapsing under the weight of accumulated deposits, with traveling and routine trips to the store having become very hazardous. In some areas of the province of Chubut, the accumulations on roads are up to 1 meter, costing the Public Works Department a fortune to clear and maintain.

This is also a minor contributor to the hemorrhaging of cash that the government-owned Aerolineas Argentinas is suffering from. While the national airline enjoys a near-monopoly on domestic flights, it did not help things that, for a large portion of the winter season, the Patagonian ski areas were unreachable by air. For weeks, all flights from Buenos Aires south were cancelled, and on many days, no flights out of Buenos Aires operated at all. While sitting idly on the ground, the leasing fees, along with everything else involved, such as insurance, continued to accumulate.

The Argentinean flag carrier, sadly, has the distinction of being the third-most money-losing carrier in the world, with a loss of US$486 million in the past year. While that is serious money for the nation, consider Air India, which lost $1.2 billion over the same period. Government ownership always means that there need not be too much worry about efficiency, and of course, there is a lot that is allowed to fall between the cracks. But it all adds up in the end.

Jamie Douglas

San Rafael, Mendoza

I was introduced to that Fine Malbec Wine on an intercontinental flight on Aerolineas!

I encourage you to write me at cruzansailor [at] gmail [dot] com with any questions or suggestions you may have. Disclaimer: I am not in any travel-related business. My advice is based on my own experiences and is free of charge (Donations welcome). It is always my pleasure to act as a beneficial counselor to those who are seekers of the next adventure.

Volcanic Eruption in Southern Chile

article from June 6, 2011

By Jamie Douglas

On Friday, June 3, 2011, Southern Chile's Puyehue Volcano started erupting again. It threw an ash cloud 10km (6.25 mi) into the air and is accompanied by hundreds of temblors in the range of 4-5.5 on the Richter scale. The Chilean civil defense authorities called for an immediate evacuation of about 3,500 people living in the shadow of Puyehue.

By midday on Saturday, the debris started falling in nearby San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina, where pebbles of 1- 2 cm were raining onto this Andean ski resort and the bordering Nahuel Huapi National Park. Civil defense authorities are urging all to stay indoors and not use automobiles or other motorized equipment, due to the possibility of severe damage from the ash fall. The ground is shaking.

Here is a list of some of the seismic activity yesterday:

M 4.9      2011/06/04 17:54     Depth 20.3 km    

M 4.7      2011/06/04 17:00     Depth 23.5 km     

M 4.8      2011/06/04 16:28     Depth 19.6 km     

M 4.6      2011/06/04 15:19     Depth 35.6 km     

M 4.6      2011/06/04 15:05     Depth 46.2 km     

M 4.7      2011/06/04 13:48     Depth 46.8 km     

M 4.7      2011/06/04 13:20     Depth 35.8 km     

M 4.8      2011/06/04 12:24     Depth 58.9 km     

Chile’s 1960 seismic event

In 1960, this same volcano erupted after Chile suffered the most intense earthquake in recorded history, a temblor of magnitude 9.5, which caused widespread destruction in the region as well as causing much death and destruction across the Pacific Basin. Sixty-one people in Hawaii were killed and the east-facing port of Hilo on the Big Island of Hawaii was wiped out. Waves as high as 35 feet were observed. Waves of 18-20 feet slammed into Northern Honshu in Japan, killing another 185 people and damaging or destroying several thousand homes. The Philippine Islands counted 32 dead and suffered severe localized destruction, while damages to Samoa and Easter Island were moderate and fortunately without any loss of life.

Along the Chilean coast from the southern tip of the Arauco Peninsula all the way to Quellon on Chiloe Island, the ground sank as much as 3-5 feet, while on Isla Guafo, the  surface rose a whopping 10 feet! Chile has experienced many seismic events of this and lesser magnitude, but it was the first time scientists were able to document a seismic event of this size. Two days later, Puyehue erupted in grandiose style, but not as severely as the current eruption.

The wisdom the Chilean dam projects (or lack thereof)

Now, the Chilean neoliberal government, led by Sebastián Piñera Echenique, a billionaire who bought himself the presidency, has approved the damming of the Baker and Pascua rivers in this highly active seismic zone, virtually endangering the entire population living downstream from the projected dams. I am all for hydroelectricity, as I grew up surrounded by it in Switzerland, and aside from the construction debris, it is very clean energy. The mountains in Switzerland, however, have been very stable for millennia, and the electricity does not have to be transported 2,000 miles away, which will result in a very large consequent line loss of what was initially put into the system. Considering that the electricity is destined to be used most heavily at the very northern end of the country, the players involved in the construction of the dams, and the subsequent destruction of thousands of acres of Valdivian forests, it is very easy to see how corruption within the Chilean government has made this possible.

Ash-fall from Puyehue Volcano

In Bariloche, the airport was closed on Saturday and Sunday, and a continuing eruption with the prevailing westerlies will bring major problems to this area that is world-renowned for its great skiing in the austral winter. The main winter sport season here starts on June 15, and continued lack of air service will deviate a lot of the aficionados to resorts further north in Mendoza province. Right now, the area looks as if it had a serious snowfall, with the entire landscape covered with a light-gray layer of volcanic ash. By Sunday afternoon, the ash-fall in Bariloche has subsided, and a shift in the wind is dropping most of the ashes in Chile, but Bariloche has a bear of a cleanup ahead of itself, and the winds may shift again. “Experts” are forecasting this event to last anywhere from days to weeks to months. I have taken the precaution of putting a couple of pillows and a comforter into our car that is parked in the open, instead of the carport, in case of seismic activity, at least for now.

Jamie Douglas

San Rafael, Mendoza

Where the Malbec wine is Always Fine!

[Image via Wikipedia]

I encourage you to write me at cruzansailor [at] gmail [dot] com with any questions or suggestions you may have. Disclaimer: I am not in any travel-related business. My advice is based on my own experiences and is free of charge (Donations welcome). It is always my pleasure to act as a beneficial counselor to those who are seekers of the next adventure.