WILLEMSTAD - The small aircraft that was en route from Curaçao to Barranquilla, Colombia last week has still not been located. Adolfo Pereira, the governor of the state of Lara, considers the possibility that the plane may have been used for drug transport.
There are reports that the disappearance is remarkable for several reasons. Sources highlight the location where the aircraft vanished from radar and note that the plane had no reason to be in that area.
Rudi van Berkel, a former flight instructor at KLM, explored the possibility of disabling certain systems that would render an aircraft invisible on radar. Van Berkel confirms that it is indeed possible, for example, by flying at a low altitude, without a proper radar system, or by disabling the so-called transponder in the plane. Van Berkel mentions that most countries have military radar systems that can detect movement, but he is uncertain if Venezuela possesses such capabilities.
The route normally taken by EZ Air, an airline that flies to Barranquilla, has been compared. Van Berkel explains that it is not unusual for the missing aircraft to have taken a different route. He states, "EZ Air probably operates in the upper airspace, while the small missing plane operates in the lower airspace due to its lack of a pressurized cabin."
The plane disappeared from radar in Venezuelan airspace last week. The current whereabouts and fate of the aircraft remain unknown.