2018 Puebla helicopter crash

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2018 Puebla helicopter crash
Picture of the aircraft
An AgustaWestland AW109S Grand similar to the one involved in the accident
summary
Date 24 December 2018
Summary Under investigation [1]
Site Coronango, Puebla, Mexico
Passengers 3
Crew 2
Injuries (non-fatal) 0
Fatalities 5 (all)
Survivors 0
Aircraft type AgustaWestland AW109S Grand
Operator Servicios Aéreos del Altiplano
Registration XA-BON
Flight origin Puebla
Destination Mexico City

On December 24, 2018, a helicopter carrying Martha Érika Alonso Hidalgo, the newly elected Governor of the Mexican state of Puebla, and her husband, Senator and former Governor Rafael Moreno Valle Rosas, crashed on a hill in Coronango near the city of Puebla.[2][3] Five people on board the helicopter were killed in the crash: Alonso, Moreno, the two pilots, Captain Roberto Coppe Obregón and Captain Marco Antonio Pavera Romero, and Héctor Baltazar Mendoza, an assistant to the senator.[2] Alonso was 10 days into her term as governor.[2]

Crash

The helicopter was an AgustaWestland AW109S Grand manufactured in 2011[4]:{{{3}}} and owned by Servicios Aéreos del Altiplano, S.A. de C.V. (SAASA), an air taxi company headquartered at Puebla International Airport.[5] Its destination was the Helipuerto Radio Capital in Mexico City.[4]:{{{3}}} It crashed on 24 December at 14:50 local time (20:50 GMT), just ten minutes after takeoff from a heliport in Puebla. The crash site is in the municipality of Santa María Coronango,[6] approximately 3.5 miles (5.6 km) north of Puebla International Airport.[7]

The cause of the crash is under investigation.[8]

Investigation

The investigation of the crash will be conducted by Mexican authorities from the Dirección General de Aeronáutica Civil and the office of the federal Attorney General. They will be assisted by representatives from Agusta and Pratt and Whitney, which manufactured the helicopter's engines.[4]

Mexico had sought the aid of the United States National Transportation Safety Board; while the NTSB initially stated it could not support the investigation due to the ongoing government shutdown,[9] an exception was made to allow the NTSB to support the investigation alongside investigators from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada.[10]

Responses

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Andrés Manuel Twitter
@lopezobrador_

Spanish: Estoy recibiendo información de un accidente en Puebla por desplome de un helicóptero. Por confirmar que iban la gobernadora Martha Erika Alonso y el ex gobernador Rafael Moreno Valle. He ordenado a todo el gobierno actuar de inmediato.


I am receiving information about an accident in Puebla involving a helicopter crash. Pending confirmation that Governor Martha Erika Alonso and former Governor Rafael Moreno Valle were on board. I have ordered the entire government to act immediately.

Dec 24, 2018[11]

Federal and state officials immediately responded to the crash. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) immediately announced a federal investigation into the accident.[8] Due to the political conflict around the election of Alonso, legislators from the National Action Party commented on the need for a transparent investigation.[2][7]

The death of Governor Alonso, per provisions in the Puebla state constitution, will require the state legislature to name an interim governor and call new elections in three to five months.[12] In a press conference the evening of the accident, Jesús Rodríguez Almeida, who had been the general secretary of government, was announced as the interim governor. In the Senate, Moreno Valle will be replaced by Roberto Moya Clemente, his alternate and Puebla's former state secretary of finances and administration.[13]

Servicios Aéreos del Altiplano deleted its website and did not respond to messages and phone calls in the aftermath of the incident.[14]

References

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