Cubana de Aviación Flight DMJ972 Crash (XA-UHZ)

Accident Overview and Casualties The aircraft, operating as DMJ972, departed Havana-José Martí Airport on runway 06. During the initial climb, the undercarriage was raised when the aircraft entered an excessive nose-up angle of 30°. It rolled to the right and descended until it struck power cables and a railway track before disintegrating in a field less than one kilometer east of the airport. The accident resulted in the deaths of 110 occupants, including 102 Cubans, 6 Mexican crew members, and 2 Argentinians. Three female passengers were seriously injured. One of the survivors died three days after the accident, and a second survivor died one week later on May 25. ## Operational Context The aircraft was operated by Cubana de Aviación under a wet lease contract from the Mexican operator Global Air (Damojh Aéreolíneas). The service was operated under the callsign DMJ972. ## Probable Cause and Contributing Factors The official investigation determined that the probable cause was the loss of control of the aircraft during initial climb following a chain of human errors in the preparation of the flight and the weight and balance calculation. The crew calculated the center of gravity (CofG) to be 17.4%, while it was actually 28.5%, about 0.5% below the rear limit of 29%. Consequently, the horizontal stabilizer trim was set at 5 3/4 units instead of 3 1/4 units. This caused the aircraft to enter an excessive nose-up attitude immediately after liftoff. The investigation identified the following contributing factors: - Inconsistencies in crew training - Errors in weight and balance calculations - Low operational standards manifested in flight