Vincent Fajks Airstrip | |||||||||||
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Summary | |||||||||||
Airport type | Public | ||||||||||
Operator | Luchtvaartdienst Suriname | ||||||||||
Location | Paloemeu, Suriname | ||||||||||
Elevation AMSL | 10 ft / 3 m | ||||||||||
Coordinates | 3°20′45″N55°26′30″W / 3.34583°N 55.44167°W | ||||||||||
Map | |||||||||||
Runways | |||||||||||
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Vincent Fajks Airstrip( IATA : OEM, ICAO : SMPA) is an airstrip serving Paloemeu, Suriname. The airport was constructed as part of Operation Grasshopper. It was named after the Polish pilot Vincent Fajks who crashed with co-pilot Ronald Kappel with their Aero Commander AC 520 (PZ-TAG) airplane at the site in October 1959, while trying to deliver building materials for the airport. [3] They both received a state funeral in Paramaribo on 11 October 1959. [4] There is a jungle resort on the Tapanahony River near Paloemeu. [5]
Charter airlines serving this airport are:[ citation needed ]
Airlines | Destinations |
---|---|
Blue Wing Airlines | Charter: Paramaribo–Zorg en Hoop [6] |
Gum Air | Charter: Paramaribo–Zorg en Hoop [7] |
Hi-Jet Helicopter Services | Charter: Paramaribo–Zorg en Hoop |
Blue Wing Airlines n.v. is an airline with its head office on the grounds of Zorg en Hoop Airport in Paramaribo, Suriname. The airline started operations in January 2002 and operates charter and scheduled services from Paramaribo to destinations in the interior of Suriname, Guyana, Brazil, Venezuela and the Caribbean area. Its main base is Zorg en Hoop Airport. The airline is on the list of air carriers banned in the EU for safety violations. They were temporarily removed from the list on 28 November 2007 after implementing a corrective action plan ordered by the EU Transportation Commission. However, on 6 July 2010, the airline was banned again from European and French territory airspace as a result of three accidents involving Blue Wing Airlines: one on 3 April 2008 with 19 fatalities, another accident on 15 October 2009 that led to four unspecified injuries, and a third incident on 15 May 2010 with 8 fatalities. As of 2023, Blue Wing Airlines was banned from operating within the European Union.
Rudi Kappel Airstrip is located 9 kilometres (5.6 mi) south of the Tafelberg tepui in Suriname. It was constructed as part of Operation Grasshopper. It used to be named Tafelberg Airstrip, but was renamed Rudi Kappel Airstrip, after the co-pilot of a flight that crashed near Vincent Fayks Airport on 6 October 1959.
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Lawa Anapaike Airstrip is an airstrip serving the Wayana village of Kawemhakan on the Lawa River in Suriname. The airstrip of this relatively modern indigenous village is named after its former chief Anapaike.
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Operation Grasshopper was a project to look for natural resources in Suriname from the air. For this project, seven airstrips were constructed in the interior of Suriname from 1959 onward.
Caricom Airways, which stands for Caribbean Commuter Airways, was a regional airline from the Caribbean, with the headquarters of the company at Paramaribo, Suriname. From the down-town Zorg en Hoop Airport in Suriname, Caricom Airways mainly flew charter flights to various destinations in the interior of Suriname, the Caribbean and Northern Brazil.
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Ronald "Rudi" Elwin Kappel was a Surinamese pilot. He was one of the founders of Luchtvaartbedrijf Kappel-Van Eyck which is now called Surinam Airways, the first airline in Suriname. He also helped construct the Zorg en Hoop Airport, and the Rudi Kappel Airstrip. Kappel died in an air crash near Paloemeu.