Aero Caribbean Flight 883 was a domestic scheduled passenger service from

Port-au-Prince Port-au-Prince ( , ; ht, Pòtoprens ) is the capital and most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 987,311 in 2015 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The metropolitan area is define ...

, Haiti to

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

, Cuba with a stopover in

Santiago de Cuba Santiago de Cuba is the second-largest city in Cuba and the capital city of Santiago de Cuba Province. It lies in the southeastern area of the island, some southeast of the Cuban capital of Havana. The municipality extends over , and contains t ...

. On 4 November 2010, the

ATR 72 The ATR 72 is a twin-engine turboprop, short-haul regional airliner developed and produced in France and Italy by aircraft manufacturer ATR (french: Avions de transport régional or it, Aerei da Trasporto Regionale), a joint venture formed b ...

operating the route crashed in the central Cuban province of

Sancti Spíritus Sancti Spíritus () is a municipality and capital city of the province of Sancti Spíritus Province, Sancti Spíritus in central Cuba and one of the oldest Cuban European settlements. Sancti Spíritus is the genitive case of Latin language, Lat ...

, killing all 61 passengers and 7 crew members aboard. Along with

American Eagle Flight 4184 American Eagle Flight 4184, officially operating as Simmons Airlines Flight 4184, was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Indianapolis, Indiana to Chicago, Illinois, United States. On , 1994, the performing this route flew into severe ...

it was the worst crash in ATR 72 history until

Yeti Airlines Flight 691 Yeti Airlines Flight 691 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Kathmandu to Pokhara in Nepal. On 15 January 2023, the aircraft being operated on the route, an ATR 72 flown by Yeti Airlines, crashed while landing at Pokhara, killing all ...

crashed 12 years later killing 72 passengers and crew.

Accident

The aircraft departed Santiago de Cuba en route to Havana around 16:50

local time Local time is the time observed in a specific locality. There is no canonical definition. Originally it was mean solar time, but since the introduction of time zones it is generally the time as determined by the time zone in effect, with daylight s ...

(20:50 UTC). It was the last flight out of Santiago de Cuba airport before it was closed because of the approach of

Hurricane Tomas Hurricane Tomas was a moderately powerful Atlantic hurricane which was the most recent storm in a calendar year to strike the Windward Islands. The nineteenth named storm and twelfth hurricane of the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season, Tomas deve ...

. At 17:42, the aircraft crashed near the village of

Guasimal Guasimal is a Cuban village and ''consejo popular'' ("people's council", i.e. hamlet) of the municipality of Sancti Spíritus, in Sancti Spíritus Province. In 2011 it had a population of about 5,000. History The village was founded in 1865. In la ...

Sancti Spíritus province Sancti Spíritus () is one of the provinces of Cuba. Its capital is the identically named Sancti Spíritus. Another major city is Trinidad. Geography The southern coast of the province is flat, but the western portion of Sancti Spíritus provinc ...

, some southeast of Havana, after issuing a

distress call A distress signal, also known as a distress call, is an internationally recognized means for obtaining help. Distress signals are communicated by transmitting radio signals, displaying a visually observable item or illumination, or making a soun ...

. Witnesses said the plane was "flying low and appeared unstable ... pouring out smoke and fire", before hearing an explosion. Medical facilities in Guasimal were put on alert to prepare for emergency patients. However, by midnight they were told to stand down as no survivors were expected.

Aircraft

The aircraft involved was a twin-turboprop ATR 72-212 with Cuban registration CU-T1549, in use with Cuba-based

Aero Caribbean Aero Caribbean (Empresa Aerocaribbean SA) was an airline based in Vedado, Plaza de la Revolución, Havana, Cuba. It operated scheduled domestic passenger services to domestic destinations and international services, and charter flights mainly wi ...

since . It was delivered from the production line in 1995 to its first owner,

Simmons Airlines Simmons Airlines was a United States airline. It was the predecessor to American Eagle Airlines. Its headquarters were originally near Marquette, Michigan, at the Marquette County Airport in Negaunee Township, and were eventually moved to the ...

and also with

Continental Express Continental Express was the operating brand name used by a number of independently owned regional airlines providing commuter airliner and regional jet feeder service under agreement with Continental Airlines. In 2012 at the time of the merger be ...

as the second one. According to the manufacturer, the plane had accumulated almost 25,000 flight hours in more than 34,500 flights. Aero Caribbean was wholly owned by the

government of Cuba Cuba has had a socialist political system since 1959 based on the "one state – one party" principle. Cuba is constitutionally defined as a Marxist–Leninist state. The present Constitution of Cuba, which was passed in a 2019 referendum, also ...

Flight International ''Flight International'' is a monthly magazine focused on aerospace. Published in the United Kingdom and founded in 1909 as "A Journal devoted to the Interests, Practice, and Progress of Aerial Locomotion and Transport", it is the world's oldes ...

27 March 2007

Passengers and crew

The passengers and crew were of various nationalities.

Search and recovery

In order to allow access to the crash site, rescue workers had to use bulldozers to plow through thick vegetation. The aircraft was completely destroyed by the impact and resulting explosion, and all the victims' bodies were badly burned. Investigators believe that the passengers had no time to react because all bodies were found in their own seats, which helped investigators with identifications. The wreckage burned for hours after the crash. The recovered bodies were to be sent to Cuba's Institute of Legal Medicine for identification. The day after the crash, on 5 November, rescue workers recovered the flight data and

cockpit voice recorder A flight recorder is an electronic recording device placed in an aircraft for the purpose of facilitating the investigation of aviation accidents and incidents. The device may often be referred to as a "black box", an outdated name which has b ...

s. They were turned over to investigators for inspection and analysis.

Reactions

Argentine President

Cristina Fernández de Kirchner Cristina Elisabet Fernández de Kirchner (; born 19 February 1953), often referred to by her initials CFK, is an Argentine lawyer and politician who has served as the Vice President of Argentina since 2019. She also served as the President ...

sent a plane with relatives of the victims to bring home the bodies. Spanish Prime Minister

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (; born 4 August 1960) is a Spanish politician and member of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE). He was the Prime Minister of Spain being elected for two terms, in the 2004 and 2008 general elections ...

, South African President

Jacob Zuma Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma (; born 12 April 1942) is a South African politician who served as the fourth president of South Africa from 2009 to 2018. He is also referred to by his initials JZ and clan name Msholozi, and was a former anti-aparth ...

, Polish President

Bronisław Komorowski Bronisław Maria Komorowski (; born 4 June 1952) is a Polish politician and historian who served as President of Poland from 2010 to 2015. Komorowski served as Minister of Defence from 2000 to 2001. As Marshal of the Sejm, Komorowski exercised ...

and French Foreign Minister

Bernard Kouchner Bernard Kouchner KBE (born 1 November 1939) is a French politician and doctor. He is the co-founder of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and Médecins du Monde. From 2007 until 2010, he was the French Minister of Foreign and European Affairs ...

, in a message addressing Cuban Foreign Affairs Minister Eduardo Rodriguez Parrilla, all sent condolences.

Investigation

The Civil Aviation Institute of Cuba (IACC) investigated the accident with assistance from aircraft manufacturer

ATR ATR may refer to: Medicine * Acute transfusion reaction * Ataxia telangiectasia and Rad3 related, a protein involved in DNA damage repair Science and mathematics * Advanced Test Reactor, nuclear research reactor at the Idaho National Laboratory, ...

and the French

Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety The Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety (BEA, ) is an agency of the French government, responsible for investigating aviation accidents and incidents and making safety recommendations based on what is learned from those inve ...

(BEA). In December 2010, the IACC stated that the analysis of the flight recorders did not highlight any technical problem with the ATR 72. The airplane encountered severe icing conditions at , which were not handled properly, leading to the crash.

References

External links

Aftermath of the crash
from ''

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

Archive'' {{Portal bar, Aviation, Cuba 2010 in Cuba Airliner accidents and incidents caused by ice Aviation accidents and incidents in 2010 Aviation accidents and incidents in Cuba Accidents and incidents involving the ATR 72 Sancti Spíritus November 2010 events in North America