“Few days have passed and I am still shocked”

His workplace is located close to where the plane crash occurred. On May 18, Raul Mejias Catasus was one of the first men to attend to the place of the fatal accident. A Boeing 737-200 crashed after taking off from the International Airport Jose Marti, in Havana.

As civil engineer, he has worked for several years now in the Contractor Company of Aviation Works (CCOA), located near the site of the accident, which allowed him to get quickly to the crash site.

Raul Mejias agreed to give an interview to CubaSi and detailed that when it all happened, he had just walked into his office and “all of a sudden the walls, roof, chairs, and table started shaking as in an earthquake.”

“Lights went out right away. Certainly, the plane had crashed over high-voltage cables. Someone told me that a plane had crashed. Then, I quickly ran into the path that led to the area.”

“This Boeing 737-200 is characterized for having a loud noise compared to others of the same category. And it really impressed me that such noise increased so quickly.”

“I heard three different and mixed noises: the engine noise and other two. One of them sounded like releasing energy and the other as if a welding machine were being used.

Aviation fan —Raul belongs to the Flight Simulation Group from the Aviation Club of Cuba—, he confessed he still cannot believe what happened even though few days have passed.

“I was stunned. I got home and started to flight the simulator in order to have an idea of what had happened. I did hundreds of flight simulations in a Boeing 737.”

“Afterwards, I looked into Google Maps. I saw the exact position from where it took off, the plane path analysis. I tried to find any explanation to such sudden turn. I think the pilot was trying to go back to the airport. It was the absolute despair of a crew that could not hold the stability. Nobody knows what happened in that cockpit. Not to mention the passengers.”

Translated by Sergio A. Paneque Diaz / CubaSi Translation Staff