• Submitted by: manso
• Editorial Articles
• 11 / 06 / 2010

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The wreckage of AeroCaribbean Flight 883 is seen near Guasimal, Cuba, Friday,Nov. 5, 2010.

A state airliner carrying Cubans and travelers from Europe and Latin America crashed and burst into flames in a mountainous area Thursday after declaring an emergency and losing contact with air traffic controllers. All 40 Cubans and 28 foreigners aboard died, authorities announced early Friday. By Mary_Murray

At first Caridad Fernandez thought she was watching a hotshot Cuban Air Force pilot showing off some fancy turns. "The plane was rocking in the air and flying so low it sounded like thunder."

But then the plane made a 360-degree roll and her daughter, watching from their porch, screamed with fright. "She yelled to me that it would fall from the sky".

In a flash of minutes, Aero Caribbean's flight 788 did just that.

The ATR-72 twin turboprop crashed into a remote valley in Cuba's Escambray Mountains, killing all 68 passengers and crew on board. The plane was heading to Havana on a short 1.45-hour flight.

No one knows exactly what brought the plane down and investigative teams from Cuban Civil Aviation and the military say it is too early to speculate. The crash site has been sealed off and sources tell NBC News that searchers on Friday located the plane's two black boxes. These cockpit voice recorders reportedly were not compromised in the crash.

By the eyewitness accounts, the entire ordeal was a gruesome sight to watch: first, seeing the plane in trouble and the pilot, Captain Angel Villa Martínez,fighting to keep control; then, realizing that the battle is lost as the plane plummets to the ground and bursts into a ball of fire.

"It was horrible beyond description," said Caridad, although in hindsight she and others believe the accident could have been much worse.

"We all would have been killed, if not for the pilot."

Flight 788 was directly over the small farming village of Guasimal when it ran into trouble. Caridad's daughter wasn't the only person afraid the plane would crash. "We all did," said another resident Alcides Olivares.

Things turned bad so fast for Flight 788 that all the flight deck had time for was one SOS call to the tower.

Yet, somehow, Captain Villa had the tenacity and quick thinking to steer his crippled plane away from the town. It went down 4 miles away, into a deserted valley.

"We will always be grateful to him," said Caridad. "He died a hero."

And in death, Capt. Villa inspired a whole town of heroes.

When the plane crashed and burst into a fireball, hundreds of Guasimal's residents grabbed machetes and ran up the hill. Carving a path to the crash site, the farmers hacked through the thick vegetation for 5 hours. They guided the fire trucks and Civil Defense bulldozers through the rugged brush.

The next day Olivares, covered with scratches and bruises, shrugged off any discomfort. "We did what had to be done. I think it was the right way to honor the pilot's sacrifice."

Source: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/message/118812