Birdwatching From United States of America, joined Sep 2003, 3573 posts, RR: 52 Posted (3 years 3 months 3 weeks 2 days 11 hours ago) and read 2428 times:
Hi all!
As a little child I once was on a road trip in Venezuela with my family. This was in Summer 1990 or 1991. At one point we saw an abandoned airfield to the right of the road. There was no gate or anything, not even any people or buildings. We drove the car right onto it. In the northwest corner of the apron there was an abandoned tower, no other structures. I remember how my brothers and me "taxied" to the runway with stretched arms and pretended we were airplanes. The strong wind added to the experience. Before leaving we got back into the car and my dad taxied it onto the runway and raced down it at full speed. Us kids got a hell of a kick out of that.
So I remembered this recently and went looking on Google Maps. Found the place and it looks exactly as I remembered. Nothing seems to have changed in 20 years, it is still an abandoned airfield in the middle of nowhere.
Cannibalz3 From United States of America, joined May 2001, 392 posts, RR: 0 Reply 1, posted (3 years 3 months 3 weeks 2 days 11 hours ago) and read 2335 times:
It is apparently called Churuguara airport, identifier SVHH. It looks like it's still on the books, though clearly nobody's been there for a while. That's what Google found me and nothing more. Good luck!
MIA From United States of America, joined Feb 2004, 862 posts, RR: 1 Reply 2, posted (3 years 3 months 3 weeks 2 days 10 hours ago) and read 2174 times:
Birdwatching,
Dude, I was not making a political statement about Chavez or Carlos Andres Perez, or whomever.
There is obviously something strange going on there. As to why Churuguara, which is a small town in the mountains has an airport, that is half built. It seems to me by your post and the aerial photograph that it was intentionally half built.
Venezuela has had economic and government problems since waaaaaay before Chavez. So I am assuming this is a half-done project and the other half of the money ended up in someone's pocket. The next time I am in Venezuela I will ask a friend from Churuguara about it, but I have never heard anything about this project, so who knows?
"Like all great travelers, I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I have seen."
Kanban From United States of America, joined Jan 2008, 2459 posts, RR: 21 Reply 3, posted (3 years 3 months 3 weeks 2 days 9 hours ago) and read 2119 times:
I would suspect that it was built in support the dam construction ... probably only dirt runway cargo planes and light executive planes... at least it's not a drug run refueling stop
Alwaysontherun From Netherlands Antilles, joined Jan 2010, 464 posts, RR: 0 Reply 4, posted (3 years 3 months 3 weeks 2 days 5 hours ago) and read 1857 times:
Quoting MIA (Reply 2): and the other half of the money ended up in someone's pocket.
Quoting Kanban (Reply 3): at least it's not a drug run refueling stop
Okay, if we're done with all the generalizations..........based on zero facts with respect to this airport or "Birdwatching´s" story in general...........
Interesting pic, may I ask: how did you end up there?
Not an obvious find for a family driving around a strange country on (I imagine) a touristy mission.
Were there any signs to the airport?
I live in Latin America and I must admit, I have seen many (spooky) abandoned places.
Not necessarily airports, but just places that look like somebody once put a lot of money in and all of a sudden the plug was pulled out of the project..........leaving it just like that.
It creates a spooky atmosphere in my opinion.
There must be an owner somewhere.........very much aware of the abandoned property.
Hey, maybe locals use it for ultra lights etc.
I would go and visit, if I were close.
I can´t help you any further, I have never been to Venezuela in my life, but I will follow this thread with interest and I hope more people have similar pics of abandoned runways in Latin America perhaps?
Thanks for posting!
### "I am always on the Run"###
"Failure is not an option, it comes standard in any Windows product" - an anonymous MAC owner.
Rleiro From Venezuela, joined Jan 2006, 490 posts, RR: 7 Reply 5, posted (3 years 3 months 3 weeks 2 days 5 hours ago) and read 1854 times:
Yes, it's Churuguara Airfield.
Between the late 70's until the mid 80's, there was a large amount of real state projects for leisure (the so-called Saudi Venezuela times). One of these projects was Churuguara, which comprised of small farms (called mini-fincas or mini-farms) for leisure.
Those were the times in which our domestic air park was pretty large and anybody could afford for a Cessna or a Piper and take a flight during the weekends.
Then, in 1983, with the devaluation of the Bolivar to 4,30 most of these projects with a tight cash flow and poor managerial decisions were abandoned or closed for good, including Churuguara.
RFields5421 From United States of America, joined Jul 2007, 6140 posts, RR: 25 Reply 6, posted (3 years 3 months 3 weeks 2 days 5 hours ago) and read 1824 times:
It is a privately owned / operated daylight only strip.
I really cannot find much information about the Churuguara area, except that it is in the most active area of Venezuela for earthquakes.
Several of the small lakes in the area of the airport look like water filled open pit mines to me. There might have been some mining activity there in the past.
Alwaysontherun From Netherlands Antilles, joined Jan 2010, 464 posts, RR: 0 Reply 7, posted (3 years 3 months 2 weeks 4 days 19 hours ago) and read 1525 times:
So Birdwatching,
did Rfields5421 and Rieiro help you out?
I wonder if it´s still officially open, and who "runs" (maintains) it these days?
### "I am always on the Run"###
"Failure is not an option, it comes standard in any Windows product" - an anonymous MAC owner.
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