-Published: Tuesday, December 10, 2019-




By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation confirmed that the pilot, co-pilot and four U.S. tourists. citizens did not suffer serious injuries after the Seneca-type aircraft in which they were traveling made a forced landing at Tobias Bolaños International Airport, in Pavas, San José, Monday.

Just before 2 p.m., a Piper Seneca made the emergency landing, said Alvaro Vargas, director of Civil Aviation. The aircraft belongs to CarmonAir Charter and carried the identification number of TI-ALH, he said, identifying the pilot by the last name of Chavarría.

According to Vargas, the aircraft was arriving from Tambor Beach Airport, in Guanacaste. When the pilot started the landing procedure, it is supposed that there was a landing gear failure, so the pilot reported the emergency, said Vargas.

According to the report of the monitoring department of the Red Cross, at 1:50 p.m., the emergency call was received about the alert of an aircraft that had trouble landing.

In response to the alert, two fire trucks and several ambulances were sent to the airport. Also, a special firefighters truck was already inside the airport, said the Red Cross.

The plane landed on its belly and spun about 60 degrees after touching down. There were no wheels visible.

Chavarría, the co-pilot and the four tourists, were attended by Red Cross paramedics. "None had injuries that justified transfer to the hospital," said the Red Cross in its report.

The names of the co-pilot and the four tourists were not reported by the authorities. However, the Red Cross monitoring department confirmed that the two pilots are Costa Rican and the four tourists were U.S. citizens.

After the emergency, the airport was closed for several hours, Vargas confirmed.

The PA-34 Seneca is a twin-engine light aircraft produced in the United States by Piper Aircraft, Inc. General characteristics are a capacity for five or six passengers plus the pilot, a length of 28 feet approximately and a loaded weight of a maximum of 2,165 pounds.

Several videos of the emergency landing were taken by people who were in the airport at the time were shared on social networks.


One of the videos can be seen on the A.M. Costa Rica YouTube channel.

The causes of the emergency landing will be investigated by the specialists of the Accidents Department of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, said Vargas.




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What safety measures could pilots take to avoid failures with the landing gear?    We would like to know your thoughts on this story. Send your comments to news@amcostarica.com