Posted on 05/18/2018 7:30:16 PM PDT by texas booster
A Global Aerolineas Damojh Boeing 737-200 on behalf of Cubana de Aviacion, registration XA-UHZ performing flight CU-972 from Havana to Holguin (Cuba) with 104 passengers and 9 crew, lost height shortly after takeoff at 12:08L (16:08Z), contacted a house, trees and a railway track near position N22.9914 W82.3912 and burst into flames. Emergency services are responding. Three passengers have been taken to hospitals in critical condition and are believed to be the only survivors.
Cuban Authorities confirmed an accident at Havana Airport, there is intense fire. A massive response by emergency services has been dispatched. Later Authorities reported 3 passengers were taken to hospitals with critical injuries.
Cuba's Ministry of Transport reported the aircraft belonged to Global Aerolineas Damojh based in Mexico. In the evening the Ministry confirmed XA-UHZ was involved in the accident.
Cuba's President reported the aircraft carried 104 passengers and 9 crew.
Mexico's Ministry of Transport reported a team of specialists of Mexico's DGCA is going to participate in the investigation of the accident of XA-UHZ belonging to Aerolineas Damojh and is going to depart for Havana on May 19th.
Cubana de Aviacion posted phone numbers for relatives of flight DMJ-972 (Callsign confirming Global Aerolineas Damojh).
The crew and 5 passengers were foreign nationality, the other passengers were Cubans.
Cuban Media had reported a Blue Panorama Boeing 737 leased by Cubana de Aviacion crashed on takeoff. I-BPAC was seen operating flights CU-1976 and CU-1945 today and was in Havana at the time of the accident.
According to ATDB Global Aerolineas Damojh operate three Boeing 737s: a Boeing 737-200 registration XA-UHZ, a Boeing 737-200 XA-UMQ and a Boeing 737-500 XA-UZK. Neither aircraft appeared in Mode-S transponder data throughout the day until the accident. Later the day transponder data identifying XA-UMQ showed the aircraft operating near Mexico City.
According to Transponder1200 a Global Air Boeing 737-500 registration XA-UZK began operating for Cubana a few days ago.
The entire crew was from Mexico, I believe.
A comment on this site mentioned:
Cubana already had some Global 732 on lease 6 or 8 years ago (don't remember exactly) and I happened to fly them a couple of times between SCU and HAV. From the passenger point of view they looked horrible, at in terms of the interior. It's obviously one of the cheapest leasing companies and sadly one of the few that Cubana can afford.
No one will know for sure unless Boeing is allowed to examine the wreckage.
Our FAA does accident investigation all over the world, due to their expertise, even if no Americans are involved.
Does anyone know if Cuba would allow them in country to help with the investigation? I expect not.
Raoul will blame Trump for this, not the shoddy maintenance of communist Cuba.
One picture shows what looks to be an engine laying on railroad tracks.
Maybe it separated during takeoff and the plane rolled over and down?
It’s happened before.
While this was an older airframe, air worthiness depends on maintenance.
...
They also need the aircraft configured correctly for takeoff. I remember a similar crash where the spoilers or something like that weren’t set correctly and the warning system had the fuse pulled. It couldn’t get airborne and crashed off the centerline like this one did.
This is the one I was trying to recall:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanair_Flight_5022#Final_report
The plane was built in the United States which means that the NTSB will be involved.
Maybe take a bus for next trip?
One of the oldest airframes still being used in passenger service. Over the last 10-15 years, new JT8D spare parts for the engines have dried up and there is just repaired junk (the OEM abandoned these engines 20 years ago, both for new parts and for OEM sanctioned repairs).
If one of the engines “just stopped working” on takeoff, I wouldn’t be surprised at all.
I wouldn’t fly on a 732 in 2018. Not a Chance.
Northwest 255
I’ve seen some 25-30 year old commercial jets in excellent condition and some that you wonder how they are still flying.
“The 737-200 had its maiden flight on August 8, 1967. It was certified by the FAA on December 21, 1967, and the inaugural flight for United was on April 28, 1968, from Chicago to Grand Rapids, Michigan.[26] The lengthened -200 was widely preferred over the -100 by airlines.”
This is a very, very old aircraft. I think current 737’s are at -800 or -900~!
I wonder what former Hillary staffer was on that flight?
“I wonder what former Hillary staffer was on that flight?”
Arkancide moves to Cuba?
I had always heard that it was a take off with one thrust reverser active which doomed the flight. An instructive reading.
I love the note that malware had infected the systems - I'll bet if true that we will never hear the details.
Thank you.
The -200 is old enough that spare parts is a very real problem. It can be made safer but not truly safe, unless major (and expensive) upgrades are made.
Even WN has dropped the -500 and -300 series in the US. Partly due to the need for larger planes to fill a landing slot pair, partly to keep the fleet manageable, and partly due to FAA regulations on the number of planes that a pilot can certify and be actively flying.
Based in Dallas and flying the Midwest I have had a steady diet of -500’s and -300’s until they sold them off years ago.
And I really like the newish 737-800Max.
I didn't realize until a search that the last Southwest -200 was flown commercially until 2005.
Almost 40 years old by the time it crashed on Friday just outside of Havana, killing 110 people, the aging Boeing 737 had changed ownership nearly a half-dozen times, passing from operators in the United States to Canada, from Cameroon to the Caribbean.
“I actually flew that exact plane,” said John Cox, the head of the consultancy Safety Operating Systems, who traced the aircraft’s ownership back to 1979, when it was new and belonged to Piedmont Airlines, his former employer.
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