Cubana Flight 972

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Cubana Flight 972
XA-UHZ (6908943182) .jpg

The crashed machine in 2011
Accident summary
Accident type Loss of control after starting (incorrect weight distribution)
place Santiago de las Vegas, Cuba
22 ° 59 '29 "  N , 82 ° 23' 28.3"  W Coordinates: 22 ° 59 '29 "  N , 82 ° 23' 28.3"  W
date 18th May 2018
Fatalities 112
Survivors 1
Aircraft
Aircraft type Boeing 737-200 Advanced
operator Cubana de Aviación , leased from Global Air (Aerolíneas Damojh, SA de CV)
Mark XA-UHZ
Departure airport Aeropuerto Internacional José Martí
Destination airport Holguín Airport
Passengers 107
crew 6th
Lists of aviation accidents

Cubana flight 972 was a domestic flight of the Cuban airline Cubana de Aviación from Havana to Holguín , on which the Boeing 737-200 Advanced ( aircraft registration number : XA-UHZ ) had an accident on May 18, 2018 shortly after take-off. Cubana Airlines had the aircraft from the Mexican company Global Air (Aerolíneas Damojh, SA de CV) in wet-lease hire. Immediately in the crash, 110 of the 113 occupants were killed, three female passengers initially survived seriously injured, but two of them later died in hospital. The death toll rose to 112. The only survivor, a 19-year-old woman, is paraplegic as a result of the accident , and her leg also had to be amputated . It is therefore one of the worst accidents in Cuban aviation ever and the worst in almost 30 years. The government proclaimed a two-day state mourning, flags across the country were raised at half-mast at state and military facilities. After the crash, Cubana de Aviación reduced the scope of its national flight operations until further notice.

Accident investigation

The Boeing 737-200 crashed into a field shortly after taking off from Havana Airport near the suburb of Santiago de las Vegas not far from the airport. Among the 106 fatally injured passengers were 101 Cuban nationals, two Argentines, one Sahrawi , a Sahrawi / Spaniard and a Mexican. The six crew members were Mexicans. The Global Air Boeing 737-200 used by Cubana de Aviación as part of an ACMI rental was delivered to Piedmont Airlines on August 7, 1979 and was one of the oldest aircraft of this type still in use in passenger traffic.

The voice recorder (English Cockpit Voice Recorder , CVR) was found on the weekend after the accident . Less than a week after the crash was flight data recorder (English Flight Data Recorder , FDR) recovered from the rubble. The investigators hoped that the analysis of both devices would provide information on the cause of the crash. The authorities had initially not commented on possible reasons for the crash. On June 5, 2018, the Cuban Ministry of Transport ( MITRANS ) announced that Cuban experts had brought the flight recorders to the United States for evaluation and analysis on May 31, 2018. According to official information, only half of the 111 deaths had been identified on May 25, 2018, and identification was fully completed on May 27, 2018.

According to the regulations of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) , only the directors, in this case the Cuban Institute of Civil Aviation (IACC) , are allowed to make statements on the progress of investigations. Other parties involved, such as Global Air, are therefore not entitled to make statements. Nevertheless, Global Air announced on July 16, 2018 that the crash was due to human error by the pilots, more precisely the choice of a too large angle of climb . At the same time, the provisional license withdrawal by the General Directorate of Mexican Civil Aviation (DGAC) on June 21, 2018 was declared illegal by Global Air . On July 17, 2018, the commission investigating the plane crash rejected press releases about the causes of the crash as speculation. The investigations have not yet been completed and statements about possible causes are premature. Results would be announced after the analysis was completed.

On May 16, 2019, the IACC announced that the most likely cause of the accident was pilots' errors in calculating the weight and balance of the aircraft. This caused the loss of control in the start phase.

criticism

A former Global Air pilot made serious allegations against the company after the crash. Marco Aurelio Hernández told the Milenio newspaper that he had lodged a complaint with the Mexican traffic authority in 2013 about safety deficiencies. It was about insufficient maintenance of the aircraft. There were “very capable” mechanics at Global Air, but they lacked care and spare parts. Hernández said he worked for Global Air from 2005 to 2013. He also flew the crashed Boeing 737-200. He described the pilot of the accident machine as a "very capable, very well prepared" colleague. A spokeswoman for Global Air confirmed that Hernández worked for the airline. She did not want to comment on his complaint.

On May 21, 2018, the DGAC temporarily revoked the license of Global Air (Aerolíneas Damojh, SA de CV), and operations had to be suspended until further notice. The decision should allow a detailed examination of the question of whether Global Air is complying with the law. According to its own statements, the authority had already banned the company from operating in 2010 and 2013, but then lifted the ban when security concerns were declared to have been resolved.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Simon Hradecky: Crash: Global Damojh B732 at Havana on May 18th 2018, lost height shortly after takeoff. In: The Aviation Herald. NOMIS SOFT data processing limited liability company, May 18, 2018, accessed on June 4, 2018 .
  2. ↑ http://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/kuba-281.html
  3. ^ Nota informativa del Ministerio de Salud Pública. In: Granma. May 21, 2018, Retrieved May 23, 2018 (Spanish).
  4. ↑ Muere Emiley Sánchez, una de las sobrevivientes del accidente aéreo en Cuba. In: Cibercuba. May 25, 2018, Retrieved May 25, 2018 (Spanish).
  5. ^ Jose Alejandro Rodríguez: El síndrome Mailén. In: Juventud Rebelde . August 18, 2018, Retrieved August 19, 2018 (Spanish).
  6. ^ Sarah Marsh, Nelson Acosta: Plane crashes in Cuba killing more than 100, investigation underway. In: REUTERS. May 18, 2018, accessed May 23, 2018 .
  7. ^ No habrá vuelos nacionales de Cubana este verano. In: 14ymedio.com. June 1, 2018, accessed June 14, 2018 (Spanish).
  8. ↑ Susana Antón: Investigation of the causes of the plane crash continues. In: de.granma.cu. June 13, 2018, accessed June 13, 2018 .
  9. ↑ Timo Nowack: No domestic flights in summer: Cubana are running out of planes. In: aerotelegraph.com. aeroTELEGRAPH, June 13, 2018, accessed June 13, 2018 .
  10. ↑ Cuba plane crash leaves more than 100 dead. BBC , May 18, 2018, accessed May 19, 2018 .
  11. ^ Minuto a minuto: Accidente aéreo en Cuba. Dan a conocer listado de pasajeros at www.juventudrebelde.cu , accessed on May 20, 2018.
  12. ↑ Rzjets, Boeing 737-201 XA-UHZ , accessed on May 19, 2018 (in English).
  13. ↑ a b Simon Hradecky: Crash: Global Damojh B732 at Havana on May 18th 2018, lost height shortly after takeoff. In: The Aviation Herald. NOMIS SOFT data processing company with limited liability, May 27, 2018, accessed on July 17, 2018 (English).
  14. ↑ Secretaría de Comunicaciones y Transportes: Accidente aeronave XA-UHZ de Aerolíneas Damojh (“Global Air”) report on 8 de junio de 2018. In: www.gob.mx. June 8, 2018, Retrieved July 17, 2018 (Spanish).
  15. ↑ mak / ack (dpa, rtre): Airplane accident: Second flight recorder of the crashed Boeing 737 found. In: DW.COM. Deutsche Welle, May 25, 2018, accessed on May 25, 2018 .
  16. ↑ Global Air: Accidente de Cuba se debió a un "fallo humano" de pilotos. In: Martí Noticias. July 16, 2018, Retrieved July 17, 2018 (Spanish).
  17. ↑ Cuba: Commission of Inquiry reacts to speculation about the plane crash. In: Granma. July 17, 2018, accessed July 18, 2018 .
  18. ↑ Stefan Eiselin: Wrong calculations by the crew probably to blame for the crash. aerotelegraph.com from May 17, 2019
  19. ↑ Cuban authorities: The plane involved in the accident is probably overloaded. In: Tyrolean daily newspaper. May 17, 2019, accessed May 17, 2019 .
  20. ↑ After plane crash in Cuba: flight recorder is in "good condition". In: tagesschau.de. May 20, 2018. Retrieved May 20, 2018 .
  21. ↑ Stefan Eiselin: License suspended: Global Air is no longer allowed to take off. In: aeroTELEGRAPH. May 23, 2018. Retrieved May 23, 2018 .
  22. ↑ Secretaría de Comunicaciones y Transportes: Dirección General de Aeronáutica Civil Boletín Informativo. Retrieved June 12, 2018 (Spanish).
  23. ↑ Plane crash in Cuba: charter company has to cease operations. In: tagesschau.de. May 22, 2018. Retrieved May 23, 2018 .