What is known about the helicopter crash in which former Chilean president Sebastián Piñera died

There is commotion in Pepper due to the sudden death of the former president Sebastian Piñera74 years old, in a helicopter accident that occurred on Tuesday at Lake Ranco, in the Los Ríos region, in the south of the country.

He helicopterThe , which was carrying four people, crashed at around 3:30 pm, shortly after takeoff. Three people survived and swam to shore, while Navy divers Pepper They recovered the body of pineapple.

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This Wednesday, the prosecutor Tatiana Esquivel reported that the results of the autopsywhich according to the Legal Medical Service (SML) lasted four hours, were handed over to the pineapple.

Chilean carabineros escort the vehicle transporting the body of former president Sebastián Piñera in Valdivia, on February 7, 2024. (Photo OSCAR RIQUELME / AFP). (OSCAR RIQUELME/)

Then, Esquivel confirmed that the cause of the former president’s death was asphyxiation due to submersion.

According to the newspaper La Tercera, the press questioned prosecutor Esquivel about a thesis of an alleged heart attack by Piñera in mid-flight, to which the authority responded that the SML “having been submersion asphyxiationdoes not consider any other possibility as the cause of death.”

“We don’t have any specific theory; although, Forensic or medico-legal expertise allows us to develop a more likely theory of what the dynamics of this plane crash would have been like. As we mentioned, at the moment there is a technical team dedicated to carrying out all expert reports that have to do with the helicopter where the accident occurred,” said the prosecutor.

In this note we explain what is known about the accidenthow was he helicopter and Piñera’s experience as pilot.

Relatives accompany the coffin of former president Sebastián Piñera after his arrival on a Chilean Air Force (FACh) plane in Santiago. (EFE/Ailen Díaz). (AILEN DÍAZ/)

The press of Pepper deals with two versions of the possible cause of accident: a technical problem helicopter product of bad weather conditions in the region, because at the time of the tragedy there were strong winds and rain; or some physical problem of the president that would have caused him to lose control, specifically there is talk of a decompensation.

In addition to pineapplein the helicopter they traveled sister Magdalena Piñera, businessman Ignacio Guerrero and his son, Miguel Ignacio Guerrero. The three managed to swim to shore to save themselves.

pineapple He piloted the helicopter, according to the press in his country.

The site of Piñera’s accident. (AFP).

One version indicates that the former president realized that the helicopter was going to fall and told the passengers to take off their seat belt and they will jump so they can swim to safety.

According to this theory, pineapple He allegedly told them that he could not do the same, to prevent the out-of-control aircraft from hurting them while they were swimming.

The former president was unable to unbuckle his seat belt and ended up stuck in the helicopter. Her body was found 28 meters deep Ranco Lake.

According to General Directorate of Civil Aeronautics (DGAC)The registration of the CC-PHP helicopter dropped at around 3:30 pm, a few minutes after takeoff, near the Ilhue sector.

“After takeoff and after a few minutes of flight, it arrived at the location, with four people on board, including the former president of the Republic, Sebastián Piñera Echenique, who died in this unfortunate accident. The remaining occupants of the ship managed to survive,” DGAC reported.

Before the accident, the former head of state had gone to lunch at the house of a friend, the businessman José Coxreported La Tercera.

The Spanish newspaper El País indicated that the Cox It is located in the Ilihue region, on Lake Ranco, at the other end of the pineapple, in Bahia Coique. After lunch, although the owner of the house and his wife warned him not to go out due to the bad weather, Piñera decided to fly his helicopter.

The helicopter crashed about 400 meters from the house, and the same Cox He went out on a boat to rescue the victims.

File photo dated January 14, 2006 of former Chilean president Sebastián Piñera during a campaign event in Santiago. (EFE/Marco Messina Archive).

Sebastian Piñera He had been a pilot for 20 years and had his license and other checks up to date, newspaper El Mercurio reported.

A close person pineapple He told El Mercurio that “he was a great driver, with many, many years of experience”.

“He was bold, but always measuring the risks. He flew with his children, with his closest friends and flew whenever he could. In 2006, for example, on the day of the second round of the presidential elections against Michelle BacheletHe left to tour the Metropolitan Region in his helicopter and, upon landing at Tobalaba airfield, before acknowledging his defeat in the elections, he confessed: Flying through the skies soothes the soul”, he said.

Eddie Miceli, an aviation expert, told CNN that Piñera was an excellent driveralways asking everything related to air safety, impeccable, always wanting to investigate and find out more.

Piñera obtained his pilot’s license in 2004after taking classes with him instructor Alfonso Wenzel.

In 2011, during an interview with the Chilean portal Qué Pasa, Wenzel guaranteed that It wasn’t easy to teach him to fly.

“Who wants to learn to walk through the clouds They must be conservative people, who take little risks, who do not go against the currentas happens when you want to win in the business world… Exactly what Piñera is not. Therefore, he had to learn and it took him almost a year to do so. Much more than your classmate,” he recalled.

His partner was businessman Andrés Navarro. Both had to complete a course of 40 theoretical hours and 50 practical hours to obtain their Private Helicopter Pilot license. Together, they purchased a Robinson 44 helicopter to practice and add flying hours.

The Argentine newspaper La Nación recalled that in 2011 pineapple had problems with a helicopter Robinson 44. On January 22, The former president’s ship landed in the middle of a journey from the city of Quilicura Bajo, on the outskirts of Curanipe, about 300 kilometers south of Santiago.

Sebastián Piñera and Andrés Navarro were traveling by helicopter. Both drove. According to what they said back then, The president asked where he was and made a phone call to get gas.

Minutes later, a Carabineros helicopter landed at the scene to help the then president. Piñera told the police that they traveled “lightly” on gasoline. He later tried to deny that it was an emergency landing and assured that it was a planned stop, La Nación reported.

A Robinson R66 helicopter. (Alan Wilson/Flickr).

The helicopter where it crashed pineapple was a Robinson R66 turbinemodel that began to be built in 2007 and was launched on the market in November 2010. It is designed and manufactured by Robinson Helicopter Company from United States.

It was single engine and with capacity for four passengers plus the pilot.

He The R66 has a maximum takeoff weight of 1,225 kilograms, payload of 640 kilograms, maximum power of 224 shp, range of 650 kilometers, maximum speed of 231.75 km/h and absolute flight ceiling of 4,267.2 meters.

According to the manufacturer, it has energy-absorbing seats and an impact-resistant fuel system, in accordance with Federal Aviation Administration regulations (FAA) from United States.

“It features a two-blade T-bar cyclic rotor system, hydraulically reinforced controls that eliminate cyclic and collective feedback forces, and aerodynamic instrument panels,” the company reports on its website.

Source: Elcomercio