Reporter / Cao Ran
On February 6, 2024 local time, in a sudden helicopter accident, former Chilean President Piñera, who was the pilot, was killed. This is the first time since the Smolensk air crash in 2010 that killed the Polish president that a (former) head of state has been killed in an air crash, and the first time in history that a (former) head of state has been killed while flying an aircraft himself.
In a sense, the "record" death "fits" with Piñera's legendary life. In South American politics, he is known for his adventurous and opinionated, and when he was in power, he was controversial and his approval rating was low, and he was not allowed to be left and right.
An "eyewitness account" circulated in mainstream media reports in South America is that on the afternoon of February 6, when Piñera felt unwell and began to lose control of the helicopter, he managed to stabilize the helicopter, asked the three relatives and friends who were also on the plane to jump, and then drove the helicopter himself into the lake.
In the aftermath of an air crash, eyewitness accounts are often falsified. But this "last legend" reflects the conclusion of Chilean and even South American society about Piñera's coffin. "History will tell us that the former president was the most important right-wing politician in the country for the last fifty years, if not more. Clarín, the largest newspaper in Argentina, writes.
Photo/Visual China
The "dangerous hobby" of the elderly former president
According to preliminary investigation reports and local media reports, on February 6, Piñera's entourage departed from Pinera's residence on the north shore of Lake Lanco, Chile's third-largest lake, and arrived by helicopter at the villa of an old friend on the south shore of Lake Lanco.
After lunch, at 2:57 p.m., Piñera took off in a heavy rain in his Robinson R66 private helicopter, ready to cross the lake to get home. Just a few minutes after takeoff, the helicopter crashed into the water. All three passengers on the plane survived, but the pilot, Piñera, lost consciousness due to the impact and failed to unbuckle his seat belt.
Piñera, who came from a wealthy family and has a huge fortune, is a veteran helicopter enthusiast. After the accident, the Chilean media failed to confirm whether he was flying a blue R66 helicopter with registration number CC-DGV, which he had acquired in recent years, or a white R44 helicopter with registration number CC-PHP.
Both helicopters are manufactured by Robinson and are preferred by private customers for their ease of operation and high value retention. The R44 has been the world's best-selling general aviation helicopter since 1999, and the R66, as an upgrade to the R44 with a turbine-powered engine, quickly became the world's best-selling turbine-powered general aviation helicopter. By 2020, more than 1,000 R66s had been delivered worldwide.
The high volume of deliveries also means that R44 and R66 have a higher total number of accidents. The Air Safety Network, a specialist website, has documented a total of 87 accidents and 57 fatalities as a result of R66 since it was first delivered in 2007. According to Air Facts, the vast majority of accidents are related to inexperienced pilots and operational errors, and accidents caused by unprofessional private helicopter owners account for the majority of accidents in this type of helicopter.
In 2004, through the introduction of his good friend Andrés Navarro, who later became the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Dominican Republic, Piñera became interested in flying helicopters and obtained his license that year. However, his coach later revealed to the outside world that Piñera was self-taught most of the time. "He was very busy, sometimes absent [while studying] and sometimes only for 15 minutes. The coach said Piñera had only completed 16 of the required 40 hours of training, "and I thought he wouldn't pass the licensing exam." ”
Piñera, who was "self-taught", soon "came out of the foreign". In 2011, while still serving as president, he drove an R44 helicopter with Navarro on a vacation to Lake Ranco when he ran out of fuel and landed on the highway. The incident was slammed by opposition lawmakers, who said that "the presidency is not for you to use to play with helicopters". However, this did not affect Piñera's approval ratings.
After stepping down as president in 2022, Piñera was finally free to fly helicopters for fun, and a circle of well-known South American personalities who were keen to fly helicopters gradually formed around him. Notably, this includes the famous Argentine racing driver and oil tycoon Gustavo Delia Antoni.
However, on November 26, 2023, Delia Antoni crashed on the Paraná River in Argentina with his own R66 helicopter, and three passengers on board survived, 71-year-old Delia Antoni died. The final investigation report of the accident has not yet been released, but the professional media mostly believe that the accident is related to Delia Anthony's "reckless driving" on the water.
Now, a video confirmed by Chilean media shows Piñera's helicopter flying over Lake Ranco before the crash on February 6. Although the clouds were thick, the helicopter flew under the clouds and seemed to have good visual flight conditions. As a small helicopter, the flight of R66 is greatly affected by the weather, and there have been many accidents in the past due to extreme weather such as strong winds and heavy rains. On the day of Piñera's accident, it is not known whether the weather was suitable for flight.
"The Robinson helicopter is very reliable, but like any small single-engine helicopter, it's a fragile flying vehicle. If the former president takes off at the wrong time, it will certainly complicate the situation. A veteran helicopter pilot told Chilean media after the accident.
Screenshot of the video before the crash
"A man who understands the laws of politics"
In the aftermath of Piñera's death, politicians on both the left and right in South America mourned with one voice. Former Brazilian Jair Bolsonaro, a far-right Brazilian president, called him and Piñera "allies for the country's progress and the well-being of the people," while left-wing Brazil's current president, Lula, recalled that he and Piñera always had a "good conversation."
"We never thought the same thing, but we were always united by a relationship of high respect. Another left-winger, former Argentine President Kirchner, wrote, "He [Piñera] is a right-wing but very democratic man." I fondly remember the sense of humor he showed when we met in Chile and the warmth that his family bringed. ”
Cuban President Díaz-Canel was also the first to express his condolences for the death of Piñera. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky recalled Piñera's "firm position on the side of supporting Ukraine" during his mourning.
In fact, it is difficult to characterize Piñera on the traditional political spectrum. This has to do with Chile's complex political history. In 1973, Pinochet, the chief of staff of the Chilean Army, with the support of the U.S. government, staged a bloody coup against the left-wing Allende government, beginning a military dictatorship that lasted for nearly 30 years.
Like his Chilean contemporaries, Piñera grew up in Pinochet's shadow. He came from a political family dissatisfied with Pinochet's military dictatorship, but while studying at Harvard University, he subtly embraced the Pinochet government's development ideas that led to Chile's rapid economic growth.
From the 80s onwards, businessman Piñera was actively involved in the political campaign against Pinochet, and finally voted in a referendum in 1988 to reject Pinochet's stay in power. It became his political capital in the post-Pinochet era to unite Chile's parties, winning the presidency twice in 2010 and 2018, but it also left an indelible rift between him and his right-wing allies.
Even though Piñera continues the neoliberal economic policies supported by the right and appoints right-wing ministers with the "stain" of dictatorship in the face of public criticism, many right-wing politicians still feel that Piñera is "not essentially a right-wing". He is not wronged: Piñera's positions on issues such as climate change and LGBTI rights protection can all be classified as left-wing. After his death, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez specifically recalled the key role Piñera played in pushing for a COP25 deal.
Like many political celebrities in South America, Piñera is the quintessential "political strongman". His arbitrariness earned him political prestige for a time. During the 2010 Copiapo mine disaster, he rejected all advisers' advice to "not take political risks and insist on rescue" and decided to embark on a search and rescue adventure without precedent, eventually rescuing all 33 trapped people 70 days after the disaster, a record.
In the same vein, he embarked on an ambitious recovery plan from the 2010 earthquake and tsunami, and pushed Chile to become one of the first countries in the world to vaccinate the entire population after the 2020 pandemic. After Piñera's death, the mourners gathered at his doorstep talked the most about these "rescues".
However, Piñera's defeat was also due to arbitrariness. His second presidential term was spent almost in turmoil. In the face of popular protests, he used Pinoch's language of war, talking about the confrontation between the government and the people as "the state and the enemy at war." He seems not afraid to touch the most sensitive nerves of Chilean society, but he has also lost the support of almost everyone.
For Piñera personally, what is even more difficult for him to let go of is the economic crisis that has caused turmoil. With a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard, Piñera prides himself on being an economist all his life, but he has not been able to lead Chile out of a prolonged recession.
Minor reforms to raise public transport costs in 2019 led to national unrest, forcing Piñera to abandon the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting and COP25, which could greatly boost Chile's international influence. The ensuing coronavirus pandemic has extinguished the possibility of success in Pinera's economic reforms.
In 2021, left-wing candidate Boric won a record number of votes in the general election, marking the end of the right-wing ruling cycle for Piñera and his representatives. However, polls since 2023 show that Piñera's personal approval ratings have risen back to where he was elected president as the public realizes that Chile's long-term economic woes are not the fault of Piñera.
However, as Chilean politics has shifted to the left and right, the era of "centrist" Piñera has come to an end. Clarín commented that Piñera was a "man who understood the laws of politics". He had no intention of going out of the mountain. When his 77-year-old friend Lula was re-elected president of Brazil, Piñera was busy running his business and enjoying flying a helicopter. Until the afternoon of February 6, 2024, this hobby cost him his life.