Posted on 05/19/2018 5:42:50 AM PDT by BBell
HAVANA – An aging Boeing 737 with 110 people aboard crashed and burned shortly after taking off from Havana's airport, leaving three survivors and investigators sifting through debris for clues as to what caused the airliner to go down.
It was Cuba's worst aviation disaster in three decades and its third major air accident since 2010. Skies were overcast and rainy at the airport at the time of Friday's disaster and Cuban state television said the 39-year-old jet veered sharply to the right after departing on a domestic flight to the eastern city of Holguin.
"The only thing we heard, when we were checking in, an explosion, the lights went out in the airport and we looked out and saw black smoke rising and they told us a plane had crashed," Argentine tourist Brian Horanbuena told The Associated Press at the airport.
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said a special commission had been formed to find the cause of the crash. The plane had 104 mainly Cuban passengers and six crew members.
"Things have been organized, the fire has been put out, and the remains are being identified," he said.
Four crash survivors were taken to a Havana hospital, and three remained alive as of late Friday. State media reports stopped short of openly declaring that the rest on board were dead, but there was no word of other survivors by Friday night.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Probably lost #2 on takeoff, pilot did not correct for Vmc situation.
It was an old plane.
There's a lesson here for the airline customer.
What the hell? A plane crashes and the lights go out in the airport???
Maybe they oughta think about moving the power lines further away from the runway.
My first reaction was about the rudder control valve problem.
B.S. blaiming the embargo. The plane was rented from a Mexican company.
I have read that the best chance for survival is usually if you are sitting at the rear of the plane since they usually crash nose first and the majority of the fuselage is like your crumple zone. You often see the tail section sort of intact.
A Dash-200 model Boeing 737 one of the original’s most likely well over 100,000 cycles.
Skies were overcast and rainy at the airport at the time of Friday’s disaster and Cuban state television said the 39-year-old jet veered sharply to the right after departing on a domestic flight to the eastern city of Holguin.
...
It crashed 2800 feet to the right of the runway before it even reached the end of the runway. There was a serious control issue.
“An aging Boeing 737”
Meaning that it received piss-pour maintenance.
So a nearly 40 yr old airframe leased by a Mexican company to a communist state airline with a poor maintenance history. What could possibly go wrong?
Somehow I expect it will be Trump’s fault.
Ah, that’s too bad. Guess they should fly Russian jets.
I am surprised there are survivors.
RIP.
An engine falling off would create a sudden VMc problem where a dying engine gradually spooling down would be less problematic. They didn’t have altitude based on where plane hit...very close to the airport.
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