An aircraft with tail number HP 1651 crashed about 50 meters from a house in the area of Cardenas, in the reversed area, close to the facilities of the Ministry of Education. Apparently the pilot and mechanic Hugo Cervantes, who is about 36 years old, managed to avoid a disaster with tragic consequences, said Captain Angel Raul Aguilar, the head of communications for the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). The airplane, a Cessna 210 Centurion with retractable landing gear, took off from the Marcos A. Gelabert airport at Albrook with a flight plan that included a landing on the runway at Calzada Larga and then a subsequent return to Albrook. Upon his return, by his own account, the pilot 'lost control' of the aircraft and crashed into the wooded area surrounding the Metropolitan Park.

After the crash, Cervantes was taken to the emergency room of St. Thomas hospital for treatment. "He left the plane on his own two feet: said aviation authorities who attended the accident area. Investigators of the Accidents and Incidents Unit of the Civil Aviation Authority will conduct their inspections to determine the causes of failure. Unofficially, it was learned that this accident could have been caused by the failure of the single engine due to the loss of oil pressure or overheating. "It's very likely that this is what happened", commented the sources at the site of the accident. The plane went down in the residential area of Cardenas where there are still American families who were once linked to the US Army South or the former Panama Canal Commission. (La Estrella)

By DON WINNER for Panama-Guide.com - Received today via email: "Hi Don, I am writing to ask if you are aware that Air Panama recently adopted a policy to not honer discounts for pensionados whose carnet is classified as "Indefinidamante". Air Panama will honer the discount for pensionados classified as "Permanente" on their carnet. I hold a pensionado carnet and was denied the discount at the Air Panama ticket counter at the David Airport. The clerk told me that I needed a carnet that indicated "Permanente". A friend of mine was denied the discount for the same reason when he tried to book a flight on another day. An inquiry to Air Panama's offices in Panama City validated that policy. The gringos I have checked with all have "Indefinidamante" on their carnet. I am told that Aeroperloas has adopted a similar policy. I have been told by a friend, who checked with her attorney, that the law does not stipulate that the "pensionado" has to be "permanente" to be eligible for the discount. Under a certain age can disqualify you but not the classification on your carnet. This policy can have a dramatic, financial impact on gringo retirees, especially if it is adopted by other companies. Thanks for any attention you give this matter. Tom, Cordillera"

My Response: "Has anyone filed a complaint with ACODECO? If so, send me a copy. I’m not going to talk about it until someone files and official complaint with the government." If any company fails to comply with Panamanian law regarding the pensionado discounts, then it falls to the person who has been refused the discount to file an official complaint with the Panamanian Consumer Protection Agency which goes by the acronym ACODECO. They exist to investigate these types of situations and complaints. If anyone has been denied their pensionado discount by either Air Panama or Aeroperlas, then they should file a complaint and please send a copy to me, and I'll follow it up. Companies are always looking for loopholes and reasons to tell people "no discount for you" and this might just be the latest. And the person who wrote this is correct - there's nothing in the law about "permanent" or "indefinite" status - so that's just a local interpretation which is most likely ill advised, but only if someone complains.

Copyright 2010 by Don Winner for Panama-Guide.com. Go ahead and use whatever you like as long as you credit the source. Salud.

Quito. Ecuadorian airline Tame will launch direct flights between Panama and Ecuador in December, as part of its expansion plan in South America, Tame executive president Gustavo Cuesta said on Thursday, Xinhua reported. The company will make its first commercial flight to Panama on Dec. 1.It will have a frequency of six flights per week, three flights from Quito to Panama and the other three from Guayaquil, a port city in southwest Ecuador, to Panama. "Ecuadorians' demand for the destinations in Quito and Guayaquil is high and we think that this offer will meet the demand," Cuesta said. The airline currently performs two charter flights to Panama every seven days. Tame, which began direct flights to the Cuban capital of Havana three months ago, also plans to expand its international routes in the first half of 2011 to Argentina, Chile and Peru. Its present overseas destinations include cities in Colombia, Brazil and the Dominican Republic. "That would be the most immediate we will do regarding international routes," Cuesta said, adding that the airline also plans to expand its fleet. Tame, founded in 1962, has five Embraer planes and four Aribus. It belongs to Ecuador's Armed Forces, but media reports said the airways is expected to become a public company soon.

By mid December 2010 the Chapala Vocational School will receive the first 40,000 blanks to start making the new license plates for the year 2011. Celso Cordoba, the Director of the Vehicle Registration for the Grount Transit and Transportation Authority Authority Transit and Land Transport said they would only be making those license plates that have been requested by the municipalities, and for those organizations that have cancelled all of their debts to the ATTT.

Meanwhile the German company Tonnjes Group, which is supplying the material, ensures the license plates will have all of the appropriate security measures, including a watermark, which among other things prevents someone from removing a sticker to put it on another license plate. Last October, the National Economic Council (CENA) approved the direct purchase from the company for an amount of $1.387 million dollars to be used for the purchase of the raw materials required to produce a specified number of new license plates for 2011. The order covers the supply of 550,000 unfinished license plates for vehicles, 52 for motorcycles, 130 gallons of black ink for special plates and 10 gallons of green ink for official plates. (Panama America)

By DON WINNER for Panama-Guide.com - I just got the following heads up. A Delta Airlines flight attendant apparently lost their passport, and due to international rules and regulations the flight from Panama's Tocumen International Airport to Atlanta, Georgia in the United States, scheduled to depart at 8:00 am this morning, had to be cancelled. There are now about 200+ passengers wandering around the airport trying to get answers from the Delta employees, and many of them are getting very frustrated at the lack of response and professionalism. I'm being told the Delta employees at the counter will listen to them, then wander back behind the counter to the rear area and never return with an answer. I suspect they don't have an answer, or don't know what to do. The passengers want to know when they are going to fly, to get rescheduled, to get a hotel or taxi voucher - anything. But so far they got bupkis... Anyway, it's a kluster*uck at Tocumen right about now.

Copyright 2010 by Don Winner for Panama-Guide.com. Go ahead and use whatever you like as long as you credit the source. Salud.

After several increases in the fuel costs, starting tomorrow the new maximum prices will be reduced. These prices will be in effect from 6 to 17 November 2010, according to the Consumer Protection Authority (ACODECO). 91 octane gasoline will come down 7 cents, with the new maximum price set at $2.99 per gallon. 95 octane gasoline will come down 5 cents, with the new maximum at $3.22 per gallon. Meanwhile both light diesel and low sulfur diesel will stay at the current prices - $2.86 per gallon and $2.92 per gallon respectively. (TVN Noticias)

The new Metro Bus public transportation system will start to operate in December of this year, however one point still remains to be decided - the wages for the drivers. Recently, representatives of the company that will run the Metro Bus system met with the drivers, who expect a monthly salary of $700 dollars. However the company has announced they plan to pay a salary of only $480 dollars. On this subject, Dionel Broce, a bus owner and a member of the National Transportation Board (Canatra), said the group will support the position of the drivers, even if there is some measure of protest. Broce made his statements to RPC Radio, during which he said the wages being offered by the company are a little low, because currently the drivers earn more. The union leader said between Tuesday and Thursday there might be a meeting between the representatives of the Government, a committee of drivers, and the company. (Telemetro)

The office of the Ground Transit and Transportation Authority (ATTT) located in Los Pueblos awoke with long lines of people who waited until the last minute to pay outstanding traffic tickets. Starting tomorrow, the ATTT and National Police will conduct operations (checkpoints) and all of those drivers who are found to have outstanding unpaid traffic tickets will have their drivers licences seized. Some drivers expressed dissatisfaction because old traffic tickets they had already paid still appeared in the ATTT computer systems. The ATTT said there would be no more extensions granted to those who have not paid their traffic tickets, because everyone has already been given enough time.

Joshua Sue, the ATTT treasurer, said yesterday they took in about $250,000 dollars around the country, of the $23 million dollars owed to the institution in outstanding traffic tickets. "We have not been able to collect all of the money owed to the institution, and during the three month extension only $3.7 million dollars has been recovered," he said.

Who came to the ATTT offices yesterday afternoon to make their payments complained that at one of the payment offices there were only two cashiers, and that there were not enough people working to attend the number of people who were there. The atmosphere became tense at about 3:50 pm, when more people started coming with just ten minutes before the cashiers were to close, and when they made the decision to not let anyone else in.

Due to this measure there was an exchange of words with ATTT officials who said they would not extend their schedule, and those people would have to return today to make their payments. Those who came to stand in line were disgusted because they said they had arrived in time, and it was not yet closing time. In the first instance, officials said they were responsible for the cashier's cage, that they had to leave by 6:00 pm, and they needed enough time to count the money. To avoid another disturbance at the ATTT, they decided to allow everyone who was in line to enter, and they extended the hours until 6:00 pm to attend the public. (La Critica)

Editor's Comment: Hey, get this. Remember those boxes of 100,000 traffic tickets that some corrupt ATTT guys never entered into the system? And, all the slick bastards who thought they were getting over on the system by not paying their tickets? Now that the extension has run out, that the ATTT has discovered these tickets, and they are being entered into the system, now all of those guys will be found in "contempt of traffic court" when they finally show up in the "Pele Police" handheld devices - when they will either be arrested, have their drivers licenses seized, or their cars impounded. Let's call that "corruption karma"...

More than 100,000 traffic tickets that have never been entered into the computer systems of the Ground Transit and Transportation Authority (ATTT) were found by authorities of this institution in several small boxes. The traffic tickets, documenting infractions which date from 2006, were found in all of the ATTT offices starting last July, and it is estimated these tickets represent fines in excess of $2 million dollars. As a result of this discovery, the ATTT has hired an additional twelve data entry personnel who are dedicated exclusively to enter these violations into the ATTT computer systems, and it is expected all of the old tickets will have been entered into the system before the end of the year. The drivers who were given these tickets will have to pay the fines.

The director of the ATTT, Jorge Ricardo Fabrega said that within the entity there are people who are "dedicated to hiding papers" and in response his administration has worked to put an end to this practice. "Boxes full of old traffic tickets from all over the interior of the country have been arriving in the past four months. This is a very serious situation, involving money owed to the State, and therefore we are passing all of the information to the Comptroller," he said. According to Fabrega, "no justification exists within the offices of the ATTT for there to be boxes full of traffic tickets that should have been recorded at the time."

Investigation - In response to the negligence on the part of various ATTT officials, an investigation is being conducted in conjunction with auditors from the Comptroller General of the Republic. The treasurer of the Transit Authority, Jose Sue, although he did not specify the precise number of ATTT officials involved in this practice, said several have been removed from office in the past two months, and others have been transferred to different offices while the investigations are ongoing. In his view, these public servants committed apparent administrative offenses, therefore legal proceedings will be opened once their internal investigation is completed. He said the problem, mostly, was focused on the ATTT headquarters in Panama City. However, he said none of the provinces in the interior were above the practice of simply not recording traffic violations, which are of all kinds. Sue said the investigations are well advanced. (Panama America)

Editor's Comment: Slick. Instead of paying that $50 dollar fine, you just slip $5 bucks to a corrupt ATTT official who throws your ticket into the "box." It never gets entered into the computer system, so it's like it never happened. And you mean to tell me the ATTT doesn't have internal auditing and control mechanisms in place to track the flow of each and every traffic ticket, from printing, through the hands of the police officers who hand them out, and then to their eventual final disposition as an infraction that must be paid? (Rhetorical question) Of course previous directors of the ATTT knew about the lack of controls in their internal systems, however they were getting paid to look the other way. Systematic, institutional corruption. This is EXACTLY the kind of thing the Martinelli administration has hired to root out. Unfortunately, it will take generations to make it all go away.

Hundreds of drivers today thronged the offices of the Ground Transit and Transportation Authority (ATTT) in Los Pueblos, because they only have until tomorrow, 2 November 2010, to pay off all outstanding traffic tickets without having to pay late fees or other additional fines and penalties. Hundreds of people showed up and stood in long lines, because as of Wednesday, 3 November 2010, the National Police and the ATTT will begin to conduct inspections and operations in the streets, and they will impound the vehicles of any drivers who have been found in contempt of traffic court for not paying large, old, outstanding fines. Many of the people upon arriving at the cashier's window expressed their disagreement, because they said there are still tickets appearing in the system that they had already paid. The Transit Authority reported there will be no more extensions for those who have not paid their tickets. (TVN Noticias)