The Aircraft Owners Asso-ciation of Guyana (AOAG) yesterday again bemoaned the fact that the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) is without the services of qualified flight operations oversight capability, thereby compromising standards.
The AOAG in a press release said that it has had to resort to the courts “to protect itself, the safety of its aircraft and the safety of the traveling public.”
It also pointed out that the Minister of Public Works & Communication, Robeson Benn must be aware that “it is now over four years since the Civil Aviation Authority is without the services of a qualified flight operations oversight capability in accordance with the requirements set out in the GCAA regulations and in compliance with the standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).”
Guyana, the release noted, is a signatory to the ICAO conventions and must adhere to the standards and recommended practices of this body.
According to the release, the aircraft owners association has held repeated meetings and has been in extensive correspondence with previous ministers and the Director General of Civil Aviation and the Chairman of the Board of the GCAA since 2004 on this matter, and it is yet to be satisfactorily resolved.
The AOAG also expressed astonishment at remarks made by Minister Benn at the conclusion of the training workshop for inspectors of the GCAA last Friday at the Grand Coastal Inn with regard to the safety of flight operations of local air operators.
In his closing remarks, the minister criticised Air Services Limited (ASL) for not allowing a GCAA inspector on one of ASL’s aircraft (Cessna Caravan) to conduct pilot checks, among other things.
The AOAG said the minister’s remarks are of concern, “especially in view of the court’s very clear ruling that the minister and the Civil Aviation Authority acted improperly and unlawfully in ordering the grounding of an aircraft owned and operated by Air Services Limited.”
The AOAG further stated that it has “repeatedly requested that the authority engage the services of a qualified flight operations inspector(s) and has proposed on numerous occasions that until such time as this is done, that the authority utilize the services of the Regional Aviation Safety Oversight System (RASOS) to conduct flight operations oversight.”
And on every occasion that RASOS professional flight operations inspectors have facilitated the GCAA by conducting flight operations inspections of the Guyanese air operators on behalf of the GCAA, the release said, every operator has been found to be in full compliance with the GCAA regulations.
Unqualified officer
However, in spite of and against the advice of RASOS, the release continued, the minister has “sanctioned the authority utilizing the services of an unqualified officer to perform the duties of a flight operations inspector.”
The AOAG asserted that in the interest of safety, there can be no compromise with the standards of flight operations oversight.
It informed also that the minimum basic requirements of a flight operations inspector, of which the Civil Aviation Authority is perfectly aware, are set out in CAO document 8335 (Manual of Procedure for Operations Inspection, Certification and Continued Surveillance) Chapter 9, paragraph 9.4 (Qualification of the Inspector). ”
“In fact, the officer that the Civil Aviation Authority has appointed to act as flight operations inspector does not meet these requirements and is unsuitable and deficient in a number of other respects,” the AOAG maintained.
According to the release, the position of the aircraft owners association on this matter is on the record and has been very clearly set out with the ministry, with the Civil Aviation Authority and with the Regional Aviation Safety Oversight System.
Meanwhile, the AOAG said it very much regrets that the minister and the authority “has forced the industry to resort to the courts to protect itself, the safety of its aircraft and the safety of the traveling public.”
The AOAG, meantime, is looking forward to the minister and the authority “reviewing their position on this matter in the interest of the proper and safe regulatory administration of civil aviation of our country.”
The release in conclusion also noted that the “security forces have had to turn to the private aircraft owners to provide all of their air transportation to meet the contingencies of the current security crisis in Bartica, which the Aircraft Owners Association members have always been committed to provide.”
