Having worked for that dirt bag operation flying the DC-8's and L-1011's many years ago. With Chief Pilot Jim McCormick at the helm. This accident should be no surprise to anyone familiar to Connie's operation.
This dirt bag operation has a long history of accidents and incidents involving the deaths of many pilots who flew for Connie. The deaths occurred in his Learjets.
The most appalling accident occurred in the early 1990's when Connie's whores (ie...Pilot's) crashed a DC-8 in Gitmo (Cuba) after being on duty for over 26 hours. The crew literally fell asleep as they were turning on a 90 degree final turn while landing to the east. You have to understand the difficult type of landing involved when landing at the Naval Air Station. The airplane cart-wheeled down the runway. The Captain was an Eastern Airlines scab who feared loosing his job (ie...being fired by Connie) if he refused the trip. The copilot had one of his legs amputated after the accident and the flight engineer suffered massive head injuries which resulted in permanent brain damage.
Connie asked the employees at the time to donate part of their salary to help support these pilots in receiving income while disabled. It was unbelievable- he didn't provide any support from his own pockets!
Later, they had a DC8 literally loose number #1 engine (fell-off) at 35,000 feet while flying over Denver, Colorado. Then we had the Connie B747 literally loose an engine (fall-off) after takeoff in Chicago (ORD) and fall into Lake Michigan.
Right now Connie Kalitta is calling his Congressman and Senator's from Michigan and threatening job losses in the state of Michigan if the FAA comes after his company in an attempt to shut him down. He's used this ploy for years every time the FED'S show up at his place of business. The politicans have always kept the FAA away.
His maintenance is some of the worst in the industry, with mechanic's who routinely pencil-whip write-up's.
The flight crew's are whore's who fly these broken airplanes for fear of loosing their dirt-bag jobs. They are bottom feeder's who couldn't get real jobs with real airlines.
Many of them don't have college degrees (for those you in Europe who don't know... this lack of a degree makes you ineligible for employment consideration with "real" passenger (ie...Delta) and cargo (ie...UPS/Fed Ex) airlines in America.
This accident in South America was a simple case of flying a broken airplane when it should'nt have been flown, and pushing the limits...well they lost. And I hope those scum bag pilot's spend many years in a Columbian jail - where they belong and deserve it. Hopefully the rest of those dirt bag pilots will realize it's not worth going to jail for Connie Kalitta.