[kymbrooke]

Update

This is from the final report on the crash.

The most likely cause of the accident was the fall of the aircraft as result of its entry into abnormal positions immediately after the separation of the landing gear from the runway surface (lift off) during takeoff, that led to loss of control of it due to a chain of errors with preponderance in the human factor.

Contributing factors were:
– inconsistencies in crew training
– errors in weight and balance calculations
– low operational standards set out in flight

The IACC reported XA-UHZ was chartered from May 14th to May 18th 2018 to carry out charter flights on behalf of Cubana de Aviacion. On the last day of the contract the aircraft was to carry out flight CU-972 from Havanna to Holguin after crew change.

The aircraft departed Havanna’s Runway 06. However, immediately after lift off rolled to the right more than 35 degrees, the pitch angle increased, the crew called Mayday, the Captain took control of the aircraft, the First Officer relinquished control of the aircraft, the aircraft rolled left and right a number of times before ultimately rolling right and losing height impacting the ground. Six crew and 106 passengers perished in the crash, one passenger survived with serious injuries.

[kymbrooke]

Three people survived the crash long enough to make it to a hospital alive. Out of the three, only one survived. I can’t imagine what it’s like for her. She seems to have a strong support group, however, and she looks happy. Here’s an article I found on her.

The only survivor of the plane crash in Cuba on May 18, is continuing his recovery and has started rehabilitation at the Hermanos Ameijeiras Hospital in this capital.

The 19-year-old woman was discharged from the Calixto Garcia Hospital, also in Havana, where she was treated for multiple traumas after more than 70 days of a battle for her life, in which a multidisciplinary team participated.

According to medical reports, she had complex situations in her evolution as a result of traumatic injuries and their repercussions on her body functions.

Despite experts' efforts, it was necessary to amputate her left leg at knee level, because the critical situation of that extremity compromised her life, Juventud Rebelde newspaper reported. On May 18, a Boeing 737-200 run by the Mexican company Damojh, leased by Cubana de Aviacion, crashed in the vicinity Havana's Jose Marti International Airport in Havana shortly after taking off.

More than 100 people were killed in the tragedy and only three people arrived alive at the Calixto Garcia Hospital: but two later died some days after the accident

[Ianforheisman]

If you look at airplane/helicopter crashes, almost all of them lose their legs below the knee. Wonder why that is. Kobe autopsies I think most everyone had their feet still in shoes separated from the body.