Senior officials at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) are slated to meet this week to determine a plan to fast-track the removal of squatters from the immediate environs of the airport, following last Saturday’s plane crash.
Speaking at a press briefing at the airport yesterday, CJIA CEO Ramesh Ghir said that the issue will be discussed at an internal meeting among airport officials so as to settle the matter which had been raised several times in the past. “Not only is it a security risk but it is also a safety risk and as evident in this crash here, had the aircraft gone a little more to the left it might have ended up in the houses. So there’s a safety risk for them that live in that area,” Ghir said. According to him there are about 300 houses located on land belonging to the airport. In the past, several meetings have been held with residents and they have been given notices to move, Ghir explained.
Meanwhile, Ghir said that one taxi driver has been suspended in connection with reports that a driver had charged an airplane passenger US$20 to be transported from the wreck to the terminal following the crash.
“We have already suspended one taxi driver but we have not been able to really conduct any detailed investigation. We’re trying to gather evidence and as we listen to passengers, we are taking that information,” Ghir said. He said that the driver had been suspended on the recommendation of his senior staff until a detailed investigation could be conducted to determine what really transpired. He explained that normally when there is a breach at the airport, an internal hearing is conducted.
The CJIA CEO also said that the wreckage is being handed over to Caribbean Airlines and that it will be placed in one of the hangars at the aerodrome. This process will take about a week, Ghir explained. He said that the nose and the two engines will have to be transported separately from the remaining parts (the wing and the back half of the fuelsage).
At about 1.32 am on Saturday morning, BW 523 overshot the runway and ploughed through the perimeter fence of the airport breaking in two. All 157 persons on board survived the incident.
Ghir yesterday sought to defend the standards of the CJIA and the emergency response of the personnel there following the incident. He also outlined a time-line of what transpired there.
Preliminary investigations point to pilot error as the main contributing factor in the accident, a source close to the probe told this newspaper. The preliminary investigations so far have also indicated that air traffic control at CJIA is more than likely in the clear and poor visibility was also ruled out, the source told this newspaper.
The source also told Stabroek News that the preliminary investigations revealed that the aircraft had touched the runway surface close to halfway down the length of the main Runway O6 at the CJIA.
