16550: (Chamberlain) Haiti-Plane Crash (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By MICHAEL NORTON

   CAP-HAITIEN, Aug 26 (AP) -- A plane that crashed in northern Haiti,
killing all 21 people aboard, had its engines replaced three weeks earlier
and was dangerously overloaded, officials said Tuesday.
   The Tropical Airways Let L-410 took off at 4 p.m. Sunday with too many
passengers and too much baggage, a senior manager at the Cap-Haitien
airport told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
   "While the plane has capacity for 19 passengers, only 17 should be
allowed on board for safety purposes," he said.
   Tropical Airways said most passengers were Haitians living in the
Bahamas returning home for a religious festival. Such visitors generally
come loaded with gifts for family.
   Shortly after the plane took off, smoke billowed out and a back hatch
opened, allowing baggage to tumble out, witnesses said. The aircraft nose
dived into a sugarcane field and exploded.
   The Communications Plus public relations firm, hired by Tropical
Airways, said the plane's two engines had been replaced three weeks before
the crash. The firm said the plane was not equipped with a data recorder.
   It was unclear if the engines were new, said Ely Pierre, a spokesman for
the firm. The Czech-made Let L-410 is a rugged, short-haul craft capable of
landing at poorly maintained or unpaved runways.
   Tropical Airways continued to operate daily flights Tuesday to major
Haitian cities and to the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Islands.
   Haiti's National Office of Civil Aviation promised to increase
oversight, but director Jean-Lemaire Pierre said there was no need to
cancel flights.