With pilot training and combat capabilities, Comando Aéreo de Combate 4 is the Fuerza Aérea Colombiana’s primary helicopter unit. As Santiago Rivas reports, its 70-aircraft fleet makes it the largest helicopter unit in Latin America.
CACOM 4 AT MELGAR
One of Melgar’s UH-1Hs, FAC 4512, armed with M60 machine guns. These aircraft are mostly used to train new pilots arriving from the helicopter school.
1st Lieutenant Grace Martínez
UST 43 miles (70km) to the southwest of Colombia’s capital Bogotá, the small town of Melgar has a huge military presence. Tolemaida, among the largest Ejército Nacional de Colombia (National Army of Colombia) army stations, is very close by, as is a small but busy Fuerza Aérea Colombiana (FAC, Colombian Air Force) station housing the helicopters of Comando Aéreo de Combate 4 (CACOM 4, Air Combat Command 4).
