What happened
A charter flight operating from La Isabela-Dr. Joaquín Balaguer Airport toward Orlando experienced a catastrophic accident shortly after departure. The flight, which included three crew members and six passengers, encountered mechanical difficulties shortly after leaving the runway. Following the report of technical issues to air traffic control, the flight was authorized to divert to Santo Domingo-Las Américas Airport for an emergency landing.
During the approach to the diversion airport, the aircraft became uncontrollable and struck the ground, resulting in a post-impact fire. The impact caused the aircraft type to disintegrate. There were nine fatalities among the occupants of the flight.
Findings
Preliminary investigations indicate that the aircraft had recently undergone maintenance to replace ground spoiler actuators due to technical malfunctions. While a post-maintenance ground check was performed, the inspection failed to identify a critical asymmetry: although all spoilers deployed correctly on both wings, the spoilers on the right wing failed to retract, remaining in the deployed position. The crew did not detect this malfunction before departure. Following takeoff, the crew reported issues with the aircraft's controllability, leading to the decision to divert. The crash occurred approximately 16 minutes after the aircraft had departed.