Costa Rica News – SAN JOSE (Reuters) – Costa Rican authorities raided the offices of Nature Air on Monday, part of the investigation into a New Year’s Eve plane crash that killed two Costa Rican pilots and 10 Americans.
Chief investigator Walter Espinoza told reporters that the offices of Costa Rica’s civil aviation agency were also raided, describing both operations as routine to collect information.
He said it is still too soon to speculate on what caused the Cessna 208B Grand Caravan to plummet from the sky shortly after takeoff in the mountainous area off the Punta Islita beach town in the province of Guanacaste, about 140 miles (230 km) west of the capital San Jose.
Enio Cubillo, the director of the civil aviation agency, said last week that it could take months to determine the cause of a plane crash.
He said experts from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration, along with representatives from Cessna, the company that made the plane, are assisting with the probe.
Investigators are focusing on the weather conditions at the time of the crash, possible mechanical failures and human error.
From Reuters
1 comment
Condolences. A previous article was mis-headlined and Nature Air was called “non-commercial” Nature Air is a commercial carrier. This was misleading to the reader and only because I am a pilot and have flown on Nature Air did I catch the mistake. Non Commercial would imply privately owned aircraft not available for hire. My experience with Nature Air and its pilots with whom I talked, was very positive. I think people are speculating about this horrible event without understanding regulations. The person who said he was unable to determine training regulations hasn’t tried hard enough. RIP to the unfortunate souls on board.