Flight route and Whatsapp activity are a mystery

After the crash of the private plane of the German entrepreneur Rainer Schaller († 53) off the coast of Costa Rica, the emergency services have expanded their search. Two bodies were found and a total of five people were on board in addition to the founder of McFit.

But the case raises some puzzles. The plane was coming from Mexico and crashed into the sea near the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica. The cause of the crash remains unclear at first.

Route is unusual

The private plane did not have a flight recorder or a device to record communications. Due to the small size of the planes, they were not mandatory, according to the Costa Rican authorities.

According to “Focus,” the Piaggio 180 Avanti machine (built in 2009) started on Oct. 20 at 8:01 AM local time in Santa Ana, California. At 10:51 am, the jet landed in El Paso, Texas. At 12:03 PM, the flight continued to Vera Cruz, Mexico, where it landed at 3:59 PM. He stayed there overnight.

The following day, October 21, the Piaggio departed Vera Cruz, Mexico at 12:54 PM and landed in Palenque, Mexico at 1:48 PM. That after only 50 minutes. An expert explains to “Focus”: “I can’t explain this short stopover in Palenque.”

Whatsapp activity just before crash

At 4.22 pm the plane departed from Palenque – towards Limón. At 6:53 PM, the plane disappeared and crashed. It is possible that a drop in cabin pressure caused the pilot and passengers to lose consciousness.

But something else seems unusual. According to various reports, McFit founder Rainer Schaller would have used WhatsApp shortly before the crash.

Cell phones usually have no reception at cruising altitude. However, one possible explanation could be that his phone was not in airplane mode and was receiving a signal when it crashed. Schaller may have been unconscious or dead at the time.

Six people on board, two bodies found

There were a total of six people on board the machine at the time of the Friday night accident: McFit founder Schaller, his partner, the two children, another German and the Swiss pilot.

The bodies of a man and child, as well as debris and luggage, were found in the sea this weekend. Ocean currents would also be taken into account in the search, said Public Security Secretary Jorge Torres. On Monday, the weather conditions for the search teams were better than the days before.

In consultation with the authorities of the neighboring country, aerial searches in Panamanian waters have also been carried out for wreckage, Costa Rican Coast Guard director Martín Arias said Monday. Initially, however, no debris was found there either. The search with about 60 emergency services will continue for as long as necessary. (euc/SDA)