Costa Rica Shuts Down Airline In Crash That Killed 2 Jewish Families
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
Costa Rica’s civil aviation agency suspended local airline Nature Air on Friday, two weeks after one of its small planes crashed near a tourist beach, killing two Costa Rican pilots and 10 Americans — including members of two Jewish famiies.
Ennio Cubillo, director of the civil aviation agency, informed Nature Air in a letter that it “preventatively” suspended all operations because several key employees were no longer with the company.
Nature Air’s pilot training director died in the crash on New Year’s Eve near the Punta Islita beach town about 140 miles west of the capital, San Jose. The co-pilot was also killed, along with a family of five from New York.
Nature Air’s operations manager quit this week and its aerial security director has requested a leave of absence.
“Nature Air doesn’t have, at the moment, a reliable and effective management structure to guarantee the execution of safe air operations,” said the letter from Cubillo, who has said the investigation could take months.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
