Miron Castro Marín, one of the two pilots who had to ditch their plane in the Virilla river canyon, in Heredia at the beginning of this month, says he has not lost the desire to return to the skies.
He assures that he put a lot of effort on his part and that of his parents to become an aviator, so abandoning the profession is not in his plans.
“The aviation career is very expensive. We are a normal class family and many times we had financial difficulties to pay for classes, so sometimes I lasted up to eight months without going, but on May 2 (2018) I was able to get my degree,” he said.
Miron, who turned 23 on March 20, says he was born again on that Monday morning, March 4, when the plane he was co-piloting crashed shortly after taking off from the Pavas airport.
“I still have many dreams to achieve, to become a pilot I had to go through many difficulties. I see this accident as another test, as a lesson of life,” says Miron.
In the crash, Miron suffered injuries to both feet and legs. But he is alive and walking, recovering, getting ready for the psychophysical examination by the doctors of the Civil Aviation before he can resume flying, something that he wants soon to occur.
“This (to not suffer serious injury) was definitely a miracle of God, there is no other explanation, the way I see it. It was a recharge of energy to get ahead and continue to strive,” says Miron.
“It’s one more motivation because I know I’m on the right track, when you do not have difficulties, something is wrong, but when things get complicated along the way, it’s because you’re headed for success,” he says.
The aviator admits that after the accident his mind took a turn and now he is more grateful.
“Sometimes you wake up and you do not realize that you are breathing, you are so hurried or stressed to get to work or to class that you do not thank God because you could get up, that you can walk and live,” says Miron, a resident of El Roble de Alajuela.
Miron added that he is in constant communication with Eladio Salazar, the other pilot who also survived the crash. “I know he’s recovering, I always tell him that we share the same day we were born again,” he laughs.
Civil Aviation investigates
The Civil Aviation press department informs that they continue collecting evidence to determine the causes of the accident.
For his part, Miron preferred not to talk about the moment before the crash, only to say that he did not have time to feel fear.
“Everything happened very fast, there was no time to panic, I just remember that when we were on land I said ‘my God, thank you because I’m alive'”.
Miron and Eladio piloted a plane, with the call letters TI-AOP, owned by the Prestige Wings company.
They had taken off at 8:58 am from Tobías Bolaños airport, in Pavas, headed for Quepos to pick up some tourists.
With only a few minutes into the flight, they had problems with the plane and crashed north of the Alfredo González Flores bridge, known as the “platina” bridge.
Prestige Wings has a certificate for air taxi and had all its papers in order. The certificate of operation was granted in 2016 and expires in 2031.
