VASP A310, São Paulo–Congonhas, and Notes...

[P_7878 6,816]

Airports with short runways, being currently in use by major airlines, exist even today in many congested city locales, because they cannot be extended or enhanced, usually due to the surrounding urban limitations. I will say a bit about "(SBSP) São Paulo–Congonhas" Airport (Note: São Paulo has 2 airports: "Domestic-focused" Congonhas, which is used for my post here, and the other "International-focused" (SBGR) São Paulo/Guarulhos Airport), but first, some bits, about another classic short runway airport (and an extremely busy one) in my hometown, the Midway Airport (KMDW) of Chicago, the well-known Hub of Southwest Airlines. 

Midway predates O'Hare by 17 years (1927 vs. 1944). Its historical roots actually go even further back to 1923. Of interest, here, is the fact that "1923" precedes the founding of all the major (and the oldest) U.S. airlines e.g., Delta (1925), United (April 6, 1926), American (9 days later, 15 April 1926), and Eastern (another 4 days later, 19 April 1926). Midway had started off, in 1923, with a single "Cinder" Runway for airmail purpose, whatever "Cinder" is...🙂...actually it's "partially or mostly burned pieces of coal and wood" that assists with drainage of water from the runway, water on the runway being a serious danger to landing a/c due to the risk of hydroplaning. Midway diagram, in 1951, showed 4 parallel runways, all 4,240 ft or less except for the 5,730 ft runway 13R (current 13C) and 5,230 ft runway 4R. Today, Midway remains somewhat similar, spread just over only one sq. mile, with 3 active runways of 5,000+ ft length (6,522ft/6,445ft/5,507ft). The airport is surrounded by buildings and other urban developments, and bound by historical streets, including Cicero Avenue that has existed before Midway airport opened for service. So, the airport growth and safety are constrained by such (hard) limitations.

Any time, I drive by on Cicero Avenue, I would often see a steady stream of Southwest 737s, unmistakable in a clear blue sky, descending, or climbing out of Midway in all possible directions. And I also distinctly recall the incident on a snowy December day, in 2005, when a 737 skidded off the runway, and ended up in the middle of a nearby traffic intersection that one would typically drive through, while arriving at this airport...

The (SBSP) São Paulo–Congonhas Airport, in Brazil, is similar to KMDW and a busy one, with the following (short) runways (17R/35L - 6,365 ft; 17L/35R - 4,905 ft). And, just as in Midway, incidents and accidents on such short runways are not uncommon. On 22 March 2006, a 737-400, while attempting to land on the wet 35L, could not be stopped on the runway, however the Pilots were able bring it to a stop safely, by performing what's called a "ground-loop" on the adjoining ground space, with pictures showing the aircraft stopped barely a few feet from the nearby avenue down below. A year later another (overrun) mishap would occur on the exact same runway 35L... with disastrous consequences...

To appreciate the “(SBSP) São Paulo–Congonhas" Airport, I fly here a VASP A310, on a short test flight, lifting off Runway 35L, and landing back on runway 17R. VASP airline, I especially recall well (and VARIG too), from my earlier SIMs (so, we need badly some (classic) 737s, DC-8s, DC-10s, 707s here in MSFS...🙂...) as the airlines of Brazil, of the yesteryears. VASP had Congonhas Airport as its primary operating hub. It owned and operated an A300B2 (of same Reg. PP-SNM, as seen in my images below), but seemingly did not own any A310. However, curiously, it did operate one A310-300, leased from another airline, for just one year. 

From my takeoff and landing images below (takeoff on 35L / touchdown on 17R), you'll see how incredibly close, the thresholds and ends of the runways are to the adjacent buildings and urban developments, with absolutely no margin for error on the runway.

Anyway, hope you enjoy this collection of images of VASP, the once proud (and now bygone) Brazilian airline, not often seen around here...! 

[Note: I've used default SBSP here, but there is a payware SBSP scenery by Paulo Ricardo, available, if you wish to explore.]

Thanks for viewing...!

Edited February 18 by P_7878

[pmplayer 9,697]

Nice to see the VASP on the A310 - fine set of shots !

cheers 😉

[John F 2,465]

Fascinating background info on those short-field airports. And lovely shots of the VASP livery on that A310. Agree we need some old classic liners for MSFS. Just came away from scanning (drooling over) all the old-time liveries for the 737-200 and 727-100 on the FlyJSim website (including 100's of user repaints) for XPlane 11. And both planes currently on sale 50% off. Makes me almost want to jump back into XPlane briefly to experience all that once again (always loved the Captain Sim 737-200 and 727-100 in FSX).

Edited February 18 by John F

[jankees 2,086]

nice shots!

[P_7878 6,816]

Jan, John, pmplayer et al.: Thanks much for the responses...!!