FINE AIR, AEROMAR PLEAD GUILTY; WILL PAY $5 MILLION
Miami-based all-cargo carrier Fine Air Services and air cargo company Aeromar have pleaded guilty to five charges of obstructing justice and making false statements related to a federal investigation of a Fine Air freighter crash in 1997 that killed five people.
The two companies will pay $5 million in criminal fines. Fine will pay $3.5 million. Both companies are subject to four years’ probation.
Fine admitted that some of its supervisors ordered employees to change manifests in the days after the crash and that it lied to federal regulators about aircraft inspections. Aeromar admitted to taping over warehouse surveillance cameras and to destroying cargo weight documents.
Fine Air Flight 101 crashed just after takeoff from Miami International Airport, killing four crew members and one person on the ground. Federal investigators ruled that pilots lost control of the DC-8 after several unsecured pallets of fabric shifted during flight.