52 MAY 2020 ÇPlane&Pilot
S
ome countries play it close to the vest when it
comes to controlling the investigations into air-
plane accidents. This is especially so when initial
evidence calls into question the competence of a state
airline or the government’s air traffic control system
or pilots from their nations. More typical, however, is
that nations welcome participation by expert inves-
tigators from other countries. That’s the way it was
with Costa Rica when, on December 31, 2017, Nature
Air Flight 9916 crashed shortly after departing Punta
Islita Airport near Corozalito, Costa Rica.
Flight 9916 was a Cessna 208B Caravan operated
by the Costa Rica airline Nature Air, which was based
in San Jose. The flight operated as a commercial
charter to carry 10 passengers, all
U.S. citizens who had been staying
at a resort, to the Juan Santamaría
International Airport in San Jose,
where they would catch flights back
to the U.S. The pilots were Costa Rica
nationals. All 12 people on board the
Cessna were killed in the accident.
The Costa Rican government
invited the NTSB, FAA and Cessna
to participate in the probe, and the
NTSB quickly dispatched two inves-
tigators to the scene to work with
officials of the Costa Rican Unidad
de Investigacion de Accidentes e
Incidentes. On May 18, 2018, the chief of the Costa
Rican accident investigation bureau asked the NTSB
to take charge of the investigation. On May 30, 2018,
the NTSB accepted.
The captain of Flight 9916, age 52, held a Costa
Rican commercial pilot certificate with ratings for
single-engine land, multiengine land, instrument
airplane and flight instructor. He also had an FAA ATP
certificate for multiengine land airplanes, and both
FAA and Costa Rican first-class medical certificates.
He had logged 14,508 hours total time, including 11,587in Cessna 208B airplanes.
The first officer held a Costa Rican commercial
pilot certificate with ratings for single-engine land,
multiengine land and instruments. She was 26 years
old, and her Costa Rican first-class medical certifi-
cate was current. Her logbooks were not available
for the investigation, but her resume indicated she
had 453 hours.
The passengers were members of two families. Bruce
and Irene Steinberg of Scarsdale, New York, were flying
with their three sons, ages 13, 18 and 19. Drs. Mitchell
and Leslie Weiss and their two children, ages 16 and
19, were from Belleair, Florida. The 10th passenger
was a tour guide who had accompanied the families
while they were visiting Costa Rica.
The accident airplane was one of
two Nature Air Cessna 208Bs used
to transport hotel guests to the San
Jose airport. The departure airport
on the accident flight was privately
owned and did not have a control
tower. It had one paved runway, 3/21,
that was about 3,000 feet long and
30 feet wide. There were no taxiways;
airplanes used the narrow runway
for taxiing. The pavement was in
less-than-perfect condition, with
patches of vegetation sprouting up
through cracks and holes in the sur-
face. There was no weather station at the airport, but
there were a couple of frames to hold windsocks, with
someone no doubt having figured that pilots needed to
be able to get an idea of the wind direction and speed.
Unfortunately, there were no windsocks in the frames
at the time of the accident. Despite this, the airport did
have a functional video surveillance system installed
and working at the time of the accident.
The airport was located in a valley and was sur-
rounded on three sides by higher terrain. Airplanes
taking off from Runway 3 typically would maneuverAFTER THE ACCIDENT
By Peter Katz❯ ❯ “A witness told
investigators that he spoke
with the pilots of both
Nature Air flights that day
and reported that they
knew they had to use the
eastern pass through the
high terrain when departing
from Runway 3. Indeed,
both pilots used Runway 3
for departure that day.”Cessna Caravan Departure
Into Rising Terrain
A handful of strange possibilities for the tragic accident
gave way to a soberingly simple explanation.
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