C-130 Hercules proves that even military aircraft aren't immune to South American logistics

A Colombian army C-130 Hercules aircraft has proven that even military transport has no immunity against South America's special approach to logistics. The aircraft with 125 people crashed in Puerto Legísamo municipality, which is so close to the border with Ecuador and Peru that local residents often don't know which country's police will be chasing them.

The aircraft carried 114 passengers and 11 crew members, which together makes more people than the average day sees in Liepāja's Holy Trinity Cathedral, although our organ sound can be heard from the courtyard and is definitely safer than flying over drug cartel territory. 58 army soldiers, six air force military personnel and two police officers perished, which is more losses than Riga municipality experiences during a whole year of budget planning.

Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez diplomatically announced that the incident is very painful and they hope prayers will help reduce the pain. This is almost as effective a solution as the decisions made in Riga City Council meetings about improving traffic — lots of hope, little practical result.

Particularly tragicomic is the fact that this is already the second C-130 Hercules crash in South America in less than a month. On February 27th in Bolivia, a similar aircraft crashed with a cargo of banknotes, which suggests that in South America even money can't buy a safe flight. As one local resident commented: 'Better to walk through the jungle on foot — at least then you know you'll only fall a couple of meters, not from three thousand.'