Continues mysteries and speculations about crashed plain in Cuba
Mailén Díaz Almaguer is still hospitalized. Although she responds to medical treatment, the prognosis is still reserved. Respiratory conditions threaten her body and her survival. She is the only one who can tell what happened. She is the only survivor of the plane accident in Cuba on May 18, in which 112 people died. While Mailén struggles to survive, the airline that rented the plane to Cuba does not want to capsize and has recently issued a statement to avoid the economic collapse that could lead to the ending of its operations, stipulated by the Mexican authorities. Manuel Rodríguez, Global Air General Director, told media the accident happened due to human error.
The executive of the Mexican airline issued in a statement that the pilots made a big mistake in the takeoff. The Director General said that the Cuban authorities have revealed that the crew made the takeoff with a very steep angle of ascent, which caused a lack of lift that caused the fall of the ship. He also denounced and called the suspension of the company's activities as illegal.
The mystery about the accident is increasing, especially due to a list of irregularities that both Cuban and Mexican authorities suspect have been committed. The curious thing about Manuel Rodríguez's statements is that the Cuban authorities have not yet given a conclusive report on what happened.
In addition, the two black boxes found are still being investigated by the competent authorities in Washington and a series of experts from the United States. The two black boxes recovered in the fatal accident are analyzed by the laboratory of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
According to Rodríguez, the Mexican authorities suspended the operations acting illegally and motivated by the bad faith of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation’s officials. He also spoke about the two former workers of his airline who a few days after the incident made accusations against Global Air about the bad work and the little attention given to their operative teams.
According to Global Aire Director General, the suspensions of his company’s fights occurred after the “histrionic statements” made by two former members of the company. On the other hand, these former members agreed that the loss "was something announced" due to the "absolutely unsafe conditions" in which the company was flying.
The facts referred to by the General Director of Global Air refer to the complaints made by pilot Marco Aurelio Hernández who, in 2012, requested an exhaustive examination of the company's aircrafts due to lack of security. The pilot, who worked with the company since 2005, at that time explained that there were several technical failures, some related to the engines of the ship. In 2010, one of its ships had to make an emergency landing due to the obstruction of the front landing gear. But at that time the cancellation of operations only lasted one month.
Another problem referred by Marco Aurelio was related to the communications and the electrical systems. Ovidio Martínez López, a Cubana de Aviación pilot for more than 40 years, also reported that in 2010 and 2011 an airplane of the same Mexican company disappeared from the radar while passaging through Santa Clara city. At that time, the Cuban authorities had already warned not to re-rent Global Air planes.
Some days after the catastrophe, Hernandez told the newspaper El Milenio that a fatal outcome was foreseen as Global Air did not offer adequate maintenance to the devices. He also said that the company's mechanics did not have the necessary spare parts to do their job.
Some experts related to the airline agree that the ship collapsed in Cuba is the same that presented the series of irregularities previously mentioned; however, this has not been confirmed.
Although it is not known if the crashed plane is the same, some eyewitnesses to the catastrophe commented that one of the turbines caught fire from the plane's takeoff. If this fact is verified, Manuel Rodríguez could have serious problems for lying and challenging the authorities of the aeronautics and the country because in his statements the director of the company said that the suspension and extraordinary technical review made by the General Directorate of Civil Aeronautics after the incident "were made illegally" under "flagrant violations of the legal framework." "The aeronautical authority has serious shortcomings of personnel, without experience or work under the slogan to find alleged irregularities and thereby support their illegal proceeding", he complained.
Another serious fact of which Manuel Rodríguez won’t be able to save his skin of is that despite the accusations against him on maintenance, Global Air had the certificates endorsed by the Mexican DGCA, the last of them dated November 2017. This could lead to a much deeper investigation if their statements differ from the results of the investigations. What could it imply? Among other things: falsification of documents and purchase of influences, because to obtain the certificates they should have incited corruption if there were irregularities.
Global Air’s image has been tarnished first of all by refusing to give statements about what happened; in addition, the company has no an official website or active social networks, which translates into a lack of seriousness in their daily work as an airline.
Similarly, in Cuba, those who authorized the hiring by not doing the pertinent research on the company to which they rented the service could be under investigation as well.
The accident aircraft, owned by Global Air and operated by Cubana de Aviación, covered the national route between Havana and Holguín, in the eastern part of the country almost 700 kilometers from the capital where 67 of the 112 victims resided.