Qualla: Nature Air Flight 144 https://qualla.com/nature-air-flight-144 en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:12 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/d/1/g/2/nature-air-flight-144-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Nature Air Flight 144 https://qualla.com/nature-air-flight-144 Nature Air Flight 144: Introduction https://qualla.com/nature-air-flight-144/ Photo credit Modeststudent, CC BY-SA 4.0. The flight was supposed to last forty minutes. A Cessna 208B Caravan, chartered by the adventure travel company Backroads, lifted off from the tiny airstrip at Punta Islita on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica at 12:10 p.m. on December 31, 2017. On board were ten passengers -- mostly American tourists, including two families heading home through San Jose's Juan Santamaria International Airport -- and two Costa Rican pilots. Seconds after departure, the aircraft swayed left, rolled, clipped trees with its wing, and struck rising terrain near the airport. It exploded on impact. There were no survivors.

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Image: Modeststudent | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/1/g/2/nature-air-flight-144-wp/d1g2-nature-air-flight-144-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Nature Air Flight 144: A Beach Town Runway https://qualla.com/nature-air-flight-144/ Photo credit Modeststudent, CC BY-SA 4.0. Punta Islita sits on the Nicoya Peninsula in Guanacaste Province, a stretch of Costa Rica's Pacific coast known for its dry tropical forests, surf breaks, and small resort communities. The airport there is modest -- a short strip hemmed by hills and forest, the kind of airfield w...

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Image: Modeststudent | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/1/g/2/nature-air-flight-144-wp/d1g2-nature-air-flight-144-a-beach-town-runway.mp3 0:06 2 full Nature Air Flight 144: Seconds After Liftoff https://qualla.com/nature-air-flight-144/ Photo credit Modeststudent, CC BY-SA 4.0. What happened next unfolded with terrible speed. The Caravan swayed to the left immediately after departure, then rolled. Its wing clipped the tree canopy, and the aircraft struck the rising terrain near the airport, inverted. It exploded and burst into flames. When the plane cou...

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Image: Modeststudent | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/1/g/2/nature-air-flight-144-wp/d1g2-nature-air-flight-144-seconds-after-liftoff.mp3 0:06 3 full Nature Air Flight 144: The Investigation https://qualla.com/nature-air-flight-144/ Photo credit Modeststudent, CC BY-SA 4.0. Costa Rica's Direccion General de Aviacion Civil opened an investigation on January 1, 2018. Because most of the passengers were American, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board was expected to assist -- and when Costa Rica formally offered to delegate the investigation in...

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Image: Modeststudent | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/1/g/2/nature-air-flight-144-wp/d1g2-nature-air-flight-144-the-investigation.mp3 0:06 4 full Nature Air Flight 144: An Airline's End https://qualla.com/nature-air-flight-144/ Photo credit Modeststudent, CC BY-SA 4.0. Nature Air never flew again. The crash became a flashpoint for debate over the safety of chartered tourist flights in Costa Rica, a country whose tourism industry depends heavily on small-aircraft connections between remote destinations. American media warned travelers against pr...

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Image: Modeststudent | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/1/g/2/nature-air-flight-144-wp/d1g2-nature-air-flight-144-an-airlines-end.mp3 0:06 5 full