The corruption that perverts every aspect of Bahamian society is causing an ‘unusual delay’ in the investigation of the fatal plane crash that killed nine people two weeks ago.
The delay is hampering efforts by the Civil Aviation Department to give evidence about the nature of the flight.
It has been determined that the Cessna 402C, which was headed for San Salvador when it crashed into Lake Killarney shortly after take-off, was registered and operated by Lebocruise Air Limited.
The plane was previously reported to be an Acklins Blue flight, however further investigation revealed that only the plane’s insurance was registered in that company’s name.
Aviation Safety Inspector, Dion Demeritte, thinks the delay might be intentional.
An article in this morning’s Tribune quotes Mr Demeritte:
“I don’t want to speculate as to what they were doing with the aircraft until the investigation arrives at that point, and it may never be proven because all persons involved are now deceased – what we do know is that the aircraft, even though it may have been registered to Lebocruise Air Limited, the insurance on the aircraft was registered to Atlantic Blue. How that’s all connected, this is what we’re piecing together slowly, but surely.”
Acklins Blue was not a certified commercial charter company and most likely did not meet certification criteria, including important passenger safety regulations.
Thus, the plane may have been involved in unlicensed activity and the plane’s insurance, if it even had insurance, would not have covered commercial transport.
Despite the unanswered questions andin the absence of vital documents, the physical investigation continues. The plane’s wreckage is being prepared for storage and the engines are being prepared to be shipped to the engine manufacturer for tear down and testing. A piece of one of the engines that failed has been taken to the NTSB for testing. Information from that testing should be available in a few weeks.
In another sad reflection on Bahamian society, the pilot, Nelson Hanna, was buried last week as some kind of a hero but was actually a rogue pilot who is responsible for the murder of eight people.
