Global Air blames pilots; calls company’s suspension illegal

HAVANA – The commission created to investigate the tragic May 18 aeronautical accident in Havana, this week denied assertions about the cause of the accident. The Mexican company, Damojh, that rented the Boeing 737-200 in Havana from Cubana de Aviación, said last Monday that the black boxes recovered from the wreckage of the plane showed that it was human error.

The accident left 112 people dead and one survivor, Mailén Díaz, who is still recovering at the Calixto Garcia Hospital in Havana.

The Commission issued the following press release:

Yesterday we were informed, via press releases, of speculation about the causes that led to the unfortunate aviation accident that occurred on May 18, 2018, in the vicinity of the José Martí International Airport in Havana, of the Boeing 737 aircraft belonging to the Mexican Airline Damojh SA of C.V. (Global Air) on flight DMJ 0972 between Havana and Holguín.

The Commission created for the investigation of this accident declares that a process of this magnitude requires the analysis of multiple factors and has not yet concluded.

For this reason any statement about the possible causes of the fatal accident is premature.

The Commission continues its work in accordance with the established program and once the analysis of the evidence is concluded, the results will be reported.

A day before, the company issued a statement in which its general director, Manuel Rodríguez Campo, stated that the data obtained from the black boxes (voice and flight recorders) reveal that “the crew of the aircraft took off with a very pronounced angle of ascent creating a situation that resulted in the aircraft’s collapse.”

The issued tweet is apparently no longer available.

Global Air cites data extracted by the Cuban, Mexican and U.S. authorities that make up the commission. But it does not make clear whether the company had access to the data from the black boxes or the current research.

It states that the information was obtained successfully by the investigators “commanded by the Institute of Civil Aviation of Cuba (IACC), the General Direction of Civil Aeronautics of Mexico (DGAC), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Bureau of Investigation of Accidents (NTSB), as well as the manufacturers of the aircraft and its engines, Boeing, and Pratt and Whitney.”

Like the Commission, the Mexican Union of Pilots (ASPA) reacted to the statement. The Association called Damojh’s statement irresponsible citing the fact that the investigation has not concluded and without taking into account factors such as weight distribution and possible technical failures.

“They are only defending their interests,” ASPA spokesman Mauricio Aguilera told the local news agency Milenio.

“We already sought, through the Aviator Pilots Association of Mexico, any preliminary opinion on the accident and there is no official notification,” said Francisco Eduardo Gómez Ortigoza, technical director of ASPA.

In effect, the document published by Global Air from Manuel Rodríguez Campo continues to call the suspension illegal. The company has been under suspension since May 21 as ordered by the General Directorate of Civil Aviation of Mexico. The General Directorate reported at the time that the airline had passed, in November 2017, the technical review carried out each year by the authorities.

However, in the document published a few days ago, Global Air questions decisions made by the Mexican authorities and says that “it is opportune to highlight that both the suspension of activities of the company, as well as the extraordinary administrative technical verification, were made ILLEGALLY and that said circumstances were already made known to the jurisdictional forces through the corresponding legal actions to subsequently determine the responsibilities of the officials who committed these flagrant violations of the constitutional legal framework.”

Manuel Rodríguez says that the statements of two former employees of the company, who are currently embroiled in a legal process against the company, motivated the decision “without having any support.” It does not clarify which former employees it refers to, but one could infer that one of them is former pilot Marco Aurelio Hernández, whose case was also reported in Milenio.

First he insists on the absence of legal powers of the deputy general director of aviation security, Jorge Romero García, to make the decision to suspend and audit the company “since the general director of Civil Aeronautics did not want to assume the responsibility that the law confers upon him.” Then he calls the testimony of former Global Air pilots “implausible statements. …  It is irresponsible and even criminal that a captain of an aircraft put his life and that of his passengers at risk.”

“Unfortunately, due to human failure, 109 people lost their lives and due to the incompetence and bad faith of 4 officials and two former workers, they are killing the dreams and jobs of 70 families,” he continues. By stating this, Manuel Rodríguez falters on the total number of victims of the accident [they were 112], but also takes for granted the human error as a cause even though the investigation has not concluded. He also suggests there exists a plot between officials and former employees to do damage to a company that in the past has already been tainted by inefficiencies, but which, the Spanish businessman states, “complies fully with the aeronautical laws of each country in which it operates.”

“The company assumes and will continue to assume its legal responsibility in a framework of justice, not those espoused by hidden interests,” concludes the Damojh Airlines (Global Air) statement.