How safe is Cubana?

Read the forum code of contact

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 1,709

I am planning a holiday in April. The best option is Cuba, but flying CUBANA. I know their reputation is not good. But taking into account that I will be flying AOM DC-10-30, which are supposed to be checked under the JAA regulations...I would appreciate if you tell me if have traveled them lately. I flew IL62 in 1982 and it was a terrible experience.

Original post

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 7,536

RE: How safe is Cubana?

Well....CUBANA is one of the unsafest airlines in the skies...but i think you can give it a shot....you will have a terrible experience but you will be one of the few who have experienced a flight with CUBANA, my dad has had a taste of Cubana....he says better swim from London to Cuba than go on Cubana....

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 3,671

RE: How safe is Cubana?

And if you don't survive, at least you'll have a nice funeral in Cuba.

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 3,672

RE: How safe is Cubana?

and they might use u're ashes to make more tabacco or pot!

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 6,503

RE: How safe is Cubana?

I think that calling them the unsafest airline in the skies is a bit harsh!

But I would like to point out that according to statistics, the DC-10 is the unsafest passneger aircraft operating these days... good to know, isn't it?

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 1,709

RE: How safe is Cubana?

All of you are vey witty and funny today....:-). I knew CUBANA standards are really low. I remember in 1982 when I flew from MAD to HAV, travelling in a ricketly IL-62, landing in Gander and in Antonov 26 in Santiago de Cuba in the middle of a storm. I spected some confort. Well, I think I´ll be changing my reservations for a more expensive Iberia ticket on a B747-300 which is much more promissing. In CUBA they say as slogan...
CUBANA si no llega hoy, en ataud mañana.....
Which means....no rhyme in English...CUBANA if one doesn´t arrive today, in coffin tomorrow.

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 636

RE: How safe is Cubana?

I think some of the posts regarding this subject are kinda stupid and silly. Its quite simple, if Cubana weren't safe they wouldn't be operating! The aircraft might b old and they might send a few shivvers up your spine but just think of it as being a 'unique' and 'antique' civil aviation experience.

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 2,491

RE: How safe is Cubana?

Agreed, they can't be THAT unsafe.

But these things are never black and white, for a variety of reasons. It is probable that they are materially less safe than an established Western airline but that they just about scrape along. Much as Aeroflot was reputed to have done in the early/mid 90's, though I am told they are not too bad these days.

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 6,503

RE: How safe is Cubana?

I am curious as to where these statistics are coming from. Which sad person is employed to see which airline is the unsafest in the skies? Like many others in this topic have said - "If there was a really unsafe airline, it would not be operating". If this is the case, Korea better get ready to lose their national airline!

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 7,536

RE: How safe is Cubana?

Well Cubana last year was rated by a European newspaper the most unsafest.

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 2,491

RE: How safe is Cubana?

I'm curious as to how a newspaper reached such a conclusion?

Has anyone heard rumours about Malaysian Airlines - are they the carrier that were reported to the CAA for continually landing at Heathrow with dry fuel tanks?

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 734

RE: How safe is Cubana?

How do the newspapers find that out? Well they take into account all the accidents the airline has had and probably other stuff like how many aircraft they operate to come up with such a statistic.

It is a known fact that Cubana are one of the unsafe airlines around along with Korean Air.

Malaysian are indeed the airline you are referring to. It is CAA law that they should carry enough fuel to circle for a while or divert if needed. They were apparently not carrying enough fuel and I think decalred an emergency a couple of times when they had to circle.

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 7,536

RE: How safe is Cubana?

I have no idea how the newspapers judge this......but Korean Air as the most UNSAFEST??? You got to be kidding.....they have not had a mojor crash(well not atleast to my knowledge), although small accidents in the domestic sector. I hope you are not mistaken with Air Koryo the airline of North Korea.

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 3,671

RE: How safe is Cubana?

You mean Air Korea from South Korea is the unsafest? I know they had some accidents, but they seem to operate a modern fleet and well trained pilots i gyess.

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 2,491

RE: How safe is Cubana?

Air Korea - I remember seeing a photo in the papers of an MD-11F at Sydney (I think) sitting on it's backside due to a lodaing error?

I also heard they are only now being allowed to build up their alliance (either with Air France or Lufthansa, not sure which) as the European carrier had previously not been entirely satisfied with them.

My point about the newspapers is that they often print absolute garbage! They could probably argue that Spitfires were Britains most unsafe fighter due to the large number lost in WW2!!

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 1,709

RE: How safe is Cubana?

I didn´t mean to cause such a controversy. Statistics and safety surveys sometimes are simplistic and doesn´t clear if an airline is safe or not. How can someone say that an airline is more secure than other only for the number of crashes?. Sometimes we have to take into account other factors not related to the airlines and causing accidents such as orography, bad weather, poorly equiped airports. Sometimes the maintenance and procedures are fine but have to operate in such poor conditions. I would like to see airlines like Lufthansa operating in Bolivia or Peru for instance. For instance, what´s really scaring is AA 587......fine plane, good weather, good airport....but an aircraft collapsing.....weird

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 6,503

RE: How safe is Cubana?

This term 'well-trained pilots' for Korean Air? I can only hope for the benefit of the passengers who fly with them that their pilots are well trained. Surely, every airline's pilots are well-trained!

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 2,491

RE: How safe is Cubana?

I'm sure all airline pilots are well trained...but obviously some will be better than others. I don't think it is unreasonable to suggest that airlines like Cubana might attract the lower quartile of the pilot community - think low pay, political interference and of course lack of prestige.

This might therefore be one of the variety of factors which contributes to how safe an airline is.

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 3,672

RE: How safe is Cubana?

Korean are one of the unsafest - hows about the B747 at Stansted, the 747 that crashed into the block of flats in Holland in 1991, and the 743 that killed about 250 crashing into a hill in Guam a few years bak - just off the top of my head!!

there is also the Sydney misload but i'm not sure if that was due to the groundhandlers or not!

Sounds safe to me!!!

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 6,503

RE: How safe is Cubana?

I still think it is crazy how we can call airlines the unsafest in the skies. I can't remember who said it, but someone did say that you do not base an airline's reputation or it's safety on how many crashes there have been. Pilot error is acceptable as making an airline unsafe as you may question how long the pilot had been flying that particular aircraft for that particular airline.

Other errors which may results in the loss of life cannot be included to name an airline as unsafe. If an engine catches fire upon takeoff for example (i.e. AF Concorde), it is not the airline at fault and so is not fair to call the airline unsafe. Unless of course it is an error with something that the Captain should have spotted prior to taking the flight.

Korean have definitely scored high in my book of unsafe airlines, but it's a dreadful shame to call an airline 'the unsafest'.

We might get travellers visiting this website who want to read a review of their airline for example and when they read that it is the unsafest airline in the skies (or in the world), they are are going to be horrified and we have no proof whatsoever. We should investigate Korean/Cubana and look into air crashes, fatalities, errors responsibile for the crash etc. Let's not just look at how many air crashes each of these airlines has had but other factors because it's not just the figures that count!

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 1,709

RE: How safe is Cubana?

Just a note. The B747 crashed in Holland into the appartment block wasn´t from KAL but from El AL.