Helicopter pilot Andres Negarit Maria Espaillat died in a helicopter crash in San Cristobal province on 8 March 2023. The deceased was a member of the National Police.
An investigation is ongoing. As reported in Diario Libre the pilot was the sole occupant of the helicopter.
The Air Accidents Investigation Commission (CIAA), of the Dominican Civil Aviation Institute (IDAC) is investigating the causes of the crash. The CIAA reports the pilot had taken off from La Isabela International Airport and had filed a flight plan to Port-au-Prince.
Andres Negarit Maria Espaillat was flying the Bell Textron 2066, HI951, a private helicopter. The helicopter crashed at 10:15am in a wooded area of difficult access in Los Naranjos, municipality of Los Cacaos, close to Jiguey Dam.
“It is still very premature to affirm any cause; we already have in our custody the recordings with the control tower of El Higüero, as well as the information from Santo Domingo. We also have the radar trace and, with that data, plus the survey we do here, then, we will start the investigation,” said CIAA director, pilot general Enmanuel Soufront Tamayo, when speaking to the media.
Regarding the pilot, he said that he was a colonel of the National Police who had a commercial airline transport pilot’s license and was authorized for the flight. The pilot had not reported an emergency before the crash.
The corpse was recovered after a search made by dozens of local members of the Civil Defense, firefighters, Dominican Red Cross and the Army.
The corpse was lifted and transferred by helicopter to an area of the municipality of Los Cacaos and, later, by land, to the National Institute of Forensic Sciences (Inacif) in the Cristo Redentor Cemetery.
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Diario Libre
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El Dia
9 March 2023