A DHL Boeing 757-200 freighter has crash-landed in San Jose, Costa Rica. The aircraft had taken off from Juan Santamaría Airport at 09:34 local time on April 7th when the incident occurred. Operating flight D07216 bound for Guatemala City, sources report that the jet had to return to the airport due to a problem with the left hydraulic landing gear.

About the aircraft involved

The aircraft registered HP-2010DAE is (or was) a 22.3-year-old Boeing 757-200 freighter operated by Panamanian firm DHL Aero Expreso. The aircraft, originally built as a passenger jet, first began its service life with Taiwanese firm Far Eastern Air Transport in 1999. In 2010, the jet was transferred to American firm Aerolease and converted into a freighter in October of the same year. Since November 2010, the aircraft has been flying with DHL Aero Expreso. In the lead-up to the incident, the jet had been flying fairly frequently, ferrying cargo between cities such as San Jose, Mexico City, Guatemala City and several other Latin American cities. The jet had also operated several flights to Miami in recent weeks.

Operating on a lease, ch-aviation.com notes that the legal owner of the jet is a firm by the name of Altavair. Altavair owns a fleet of over 100 aircraft which is a diverse mix of widebodies and narrowbodies from Airbus and Boeing, both passenger and freighter variants.

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The aircraft is registered HP-2010DAE. Photo: Aeroprints.com via Wikimedia Commons
DHL Aero Expreso S.A. is a part of the DHL Group and had a fleet of eight aircraft prior to this recent loss. Now with seven aircraft, the firm's fleet consists of two 737-400Fs, three 757-200Fs, and three 767-300Fs. The average age of the fleet is 24.3 years.