The Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) is expected to submit a report on its investigations into the July 31 Caribbean Airlines crash-landing within the next few weeks.
A GCAA source said on Monday that the preliminary report covers the circumstances leading to the incident in which the Boeing 737, bearing registration 9Y-PBM, broke in two shortly after landing at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri that fateful morning back in July with 161 persons on board. The report will be submitted to Transport Minister Robeson Benn.
Acting Director General of the GCAA, Paula McAdam, told this newspaper that she could not offer any information on the incident as information was still being gathered. An investigator attached to the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is working along with the local aviation body in compiling the report, according to information on the NTSB website.
Around 1.30 am on July 31, the aircraft, which was on its way to Guyana from New York, with one stop in Trinidad and Tobago, broke in two at the end of the main runway after landing. Reports provided by persons on board were that the aircraft touched the surface of the runway and progressed with speed towards the runway end, after which in broke in two, and subsequently landed in a ditch. Several persons sustained injuries but there was no fatality. Guyanese Noel Smith sustained severe injuries to his right leg which was subsequently amputated.
Pilot error was widely seen as the key factor in the incident. Various forms of information, including footage provided by the airport cameras indicated that the jet landed almost halfway down the runway that morning.
A final report on the incident, according to aviation sources, will take several months to be completed, since compiling same includes broader analysis of the incident.
