Sunrise: Ron Bartsch Discusses the Aeromexico Crash

Avlaw Aviation Consulting Founding Director Ron Bartsch appeared on Sunrise to discuss the Aeromexico crash in northern Mexico leaving 85 injured.

On 31 July 2018, dozens were injured when an Embraer operated by Aeromexico crashed immediately after taking off from the Mexican state of Durango. Fortunately, nobody was killed.

Aeromexico Flight 2431 was en route to Mexico City after departing General Guadalupe Victoria International Airport. It crashed soon after taking off, and two people were critically injured.

It had tried to abort the takeoff due to bad weather, but it was apparently too late to do so. In hail and rain, wind hit the plane causing it to lose speed. It hit the round with its left wing. The aircraft collided into a field and passengers escaped through the slides. They managed to do so before the aircraft caught on fire.

Ron says the most likely cause was a wind shear event or a micro-burst associated with the thunderstorm.

It was reported to be a ‘miracle’ that nobody was killed.

Not everybody was so positive. Eleven passengers are now taking legal action against Aeromexico, and filed lawsuits in Chicago on Monday 6 August. The law firm leading the lawsuit, Corboy & Demetrio, successfully obtained a court order to preserve, protect and produce evidence from the plane crash. Aeromexico will therefore need to protect the cockpit voice recorder, flight data recorder and communications between air traffic control and the pilot.

Ron notes in the interview that Aeromexico has a good safety record with no fatalities in the last decade. The aircraft, the Embraer 10, is also a good aircraft.

You can watch Sunrise’s piece on the Aeromexico crash here.

Main photo taken by Tomás Del Coro on Flickr. Used under a Creative Commons licence.