national

SAN officials disregarded expert advice

An Israeli aerospace company recommended that the SAN fleet receive updated navigational instruments.

That report, drafted in January of this year, was sent to SAN director Rigoberto Gordon.

LA PRENSA

unheeded: Israel Aerospace Industries’ report suggested that structural changes be made to the SAN helicopters’ control panels, floors and seats.1091856

Another warning ignored. Another malfunction overlooked. Not only did the SAN-100 helicopter require a major structural overhaul, more than 10 of the aircraft’s flight instruments and engine parts were in need of repair.

That’s what Israel Aerospace Industries concluded in a preliminary technical report made by the company’s Lahav Division in January of this year, five months before the helicopter crashed into a Calidonia warehouse, killing 11 of the 12 people on board.

Technicians from the global defense and aerospace giant inspected the fleet of seven Bell helicopters belonging to the Servicio Aéreo Nacional (SAN) following SAN officials requests for general repairs to each helicopter.

After completing the technical review on January 16, Israel Aerospace Industries submitted a proposal to make further repairs. That proposal, sent to ministro de Gobierno y Justicia Daniel Delgado Diamante and SAN director Rigoberto Gordon, suggested that structural changes be made to the aircrafts’ control panel, floor and seats.

But that wasn’t all. The Israeli company recommended that SAN officials follow through with repairs that the SAN’s own technical board had suggested, namely to update altimeters, which measures altitude, and other navigational devices.

The crucial detail, however, was the recommendation that SAN replace various instruments that monitor the pressure and temperature of gases within the engines’ turbines. According to findings by the Autoridad de Aeronáutica Civil (AAC), a failure in one of the SAN-100’s engines was determined to be the main cause of the May 29 crash.

Preceding the suggestions of the Israel Aerospace Industries were the warnings made by former SAN-100 pilot Alexis Camarena, who, in a report dated February 8, 2007, had advised SAN officials not to use the aircraft for diplomatic missions after experiencing a near crash landing in the province of Veraguas.

Ultimately, however, SAN officials heeded neither Camarena’s warnings nor the technical report made by Israel Aerospace Industries.