Review of GOL flight Rio De Janeiro → Sao Paulo in Economy

Tourism bonus
During my visit to Sugarloaf, two days before this flight, I had the opportunity to make some spotting from the famous Morro da Urca, now the best spotting location of Rio (the military closed the access to the famous street that borders SDU's runway).

LATAM A319:


Gol B738:


Azul E190 making a tight turn over Guanabara bay:


Another Azul E190:


Avianca A319 in Star Alliance livery:


Views of SDU:


On the Morro da Urca, an heliport is used by tourism companies that offer panoramic flights over the city:


View of Centro:


View of Corcovado:




Background
After the previous reports I posted, I passed nine days in this gorgeous city named Rio, but the time to return home had come. Again, I had to make a connection in GRU for reaching ASU, this time with an even tighter conncetion time (1 hour). The itinerary is this:

- ASU-GRU, G37481, Boeing 737-800, click here
- GRU-SDU, G31086, Boeing 737-800, not covered
- SDU-GRU, G31081, Boeing 737-700, you are here
- GRU-ASU, G37480, Boeing 737-800, not covered

At the airport
In the morning of 26th January 2017, I arrived to SDU two hours before the scheduled departure of my flight, and like I had plenty of time for check-in and security, I went to the Silvio de Noronha street, which offers a very nice view of the Guanabara bay and the Sugarloaf.


Terminal from the outside:


When I headed to the check-in counter, there was a long queue, and the check-in agents were very slow. It took me more than half an hour to finally get my boarding ticket.

G3 check-in counter:


Check-in hall:


I passed security very fast and I was already at the beautiful departure hall:


Departures:


SDU's old terminal, in service until 2007, when the current one was inaugurated:


View of the tarmac:


Boarding

Airline: Gol (G3)
Aircraft: Boeing 737-700
Registration: PR-VBU
Age: 17 years
Scheduled time of departure: 9:35 AM (ATD 09:48)
Scheduled time of arrival: 10:40 AM (ATA 10:38)
Takeoff from runway: 02R
Landing in runway: 09R

Boarding started 15 or 20 minutes before our scheduled departure, our plane was already in gate 7, it was PR-VBU, a 17 years old 737-700 delivered to LAPA (a now extinct Argentinian airline) in 1999. It also belonged to Aloha Airlines before being delivered in 2008 to G3 (until 2009 in Varig livery). I was received by a nice crew, and then headed to my seat, 19F.

PR-VBU:


Boarding:


19F, my seat:


View from my window, an Azul E190 was next to us:


For someone of my height, pitch was ok:


Safety card:


An Azul ATR-72:


Flight
We started pushback, and began taxiing to runway 02R. The plane air conditioner was turned on after takeoff, anyways, it didn't work very well. We took off at 9:48 AM, 13 minutes behind schedule.


Meanwhile we taxied to the runway, the Corcovado could be seen in the background:


Sugarloaf:


Video of takeoff:


This is probably the most beautiful and escenic takeoff I ever had my life, because after a tight turn over the Guanabara bay, amazing views of the city could be seen:

City of Niterói:


Guanabara bay:


Sugarloaf and Corcovado:


Centro and SDU:


Copacabana:


SDU:


GIG (Galeao):


Climbing to FL300:


After leaving Rio behind, meal service started; as in the previous report, it consisted in a pack of salty or sweet cookies, with a cup of water. They did the service in a more fast and efficient way than the crew of the other flight.


Interior of our plane; despite its age and the AC problem, it was clean and well maintained:


As soon as trash was retired, and again with no words from the captain, we started to descent towards the biggest city in South America:


After passing through the layer of clouds, the Paulista landscape appeared:


After some minutes, the captain announced the crew to prepare to land. We were already flying over Sao Paulo, where, like every time I come, was cloudy. We landed at 10:38 AM, two minutes ahead of schedule.


Landing video:


A LATAM A350 landed after us:


After landing, we taxied to terminal 2; meanwhile we taxied there, I was able to do some spotting:

European carriers; from left to right, LX A343, AF 772, BA 772, IB A340 (or A330?), and LH 748:


LX A343 and AF 772:


The newer Terminal 3:


A pair of AA 772 parked in T3:


An Aerolineas Argentinas 737-800:


Airport's main building:


An UX A332:


We parked next to a 737-800:


Disembarking:


Again, I was pretty in a rush, because I had to clear customs, luckily, it was almost empty. As I explained in the previous report, I didn't cover the GRU-ASU leg, because I had problems with my phone memory card and my camera ran out of battery, leaving me with no choice.