Santo Domingo.- The veil of mystery continues to shroud the case of a US-registry plane that vanished from radar screens six days ago, just 10 minutes after takeoff from the Las Americas terminal to Punta Cana airport, purportedly on a test flight after alleged mechanical repairs.
The 12-passenger Hawker jet piloted by Fabio Urbino and Héctor Ríos took off Wednesday night with a flight to plan to Punta Cana, but unexpectedly turned south and off the radar screens at both airports.
Aviation and airport security officials keep mum on the plane’s disappearance, two months after it was parked at Las Americas. A report that U.S. authorities had located the plane in Honduras hasn’t been confirmed by any Dominican agency.
The jet reportedly arrived at Las Americas from Honduras on July 11, with a group of cockfighters who came to the country to participate in that activity.
Moreover, Urbino and Ríos were not the pilots who arrived with the aircraft on July 11, when they claimed mechanical failures once they parked it at Las Americas.