DHL 757-200 down at SJO Costa Rica. Photo credit: Reddit.
In the morning hours of Thursday, April 7, a Boeing 757-200 operated by DHL departed to the west from the Juan Santamaría International Airport in San José, Costa Rica. However, the crew encountered a malfunction within the hydraulic system while 35 miles into their route to Guatemala City, Guatemala.
Under these circumstances, the pilots decided to turn the aircraft around for landing in San José rather than continue to their destination. According to CBS News, less than three hours of fuel remained on the aircraft, which was transporting cargo between the two countries and manned by a two-member crew.
In a surprising turn of events, the 757 skidded off the runway and into a ditch upon landing, resulting in a crash that split the aircraft in two. The tail section separated from the rest of the aircraft, spilling much of the cargo it had been transporting.
Investigators retrieved voice recordings from the cockpit of the aircraft, in which the pilot can be heard transmitting the following message to air traffic control: “Mayday, mayday, mayday, we have problems with our left hydraulic system. We have two souls aboard… we are going to prepare our plane to be able to do an emergency landing.”
DHL also commented on the crash, stating that the company’s “incident response team has been activated and an investigation will be conducted with the relevant authorities to determine what happened.”
The accident halted flight operations at Juan Santamaría International for nearly eight hours while the Costa Rica Fire Department responded to the aftermath. Delays affected 57 flights and over 8,000 passengers as crews worked to clean up the wreckage.
After the crew was evacuated from the aircraft, “units… applied foam to prevent a spill and… [worked] on an earthen dike to avoid any fuel from reaching the drainage system” said the Independent.
Neither pilot was injured during the crash, although one received medical care as a precautionary measure. Both reportedly recall the details of the accident, which is now under investigation for causal factors.
With the safety of the pilots ensured and the wreckage of the aircraft taken care of, the Juan Santamaría International Airport is now awaiting the results of the accident investigation.
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