A light Cessna 150 aircraft heading to Guyana from Trinidad and Tobago crash-landed on the island of Wakenaam in the Essequibo River yesterday after running out of fuel.
Director General of the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) Zulficar Mohammed told Stabroek News that the pilot and the owner of the aircraft were the only two persons on board at the time. He said that the aircraft was heading from Trinidad to Brazil, with a scheduled fuel stop at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri when the incident occurred. The US-registered aircraft, bearing registration N65589, was recently purchased by its Brazilian owner, a source noted.
Reports are that shortly after lunch yesterday the pilot was forced to land the aircraft in a rice field in the vicinity of Maria’s Pleasure on the northern section of the island, after running out of fuel.
He landed approximately a mile away from the airfield being constructed on the island.
Residents of the island told this newspaper yesterday that a rice farmer and others in the area alerted them of the incident and persons made attempts to travel to the scene to assist the crash victims. Shortly after, a team of officers from the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) arrived by helicopter as a search and rescue team was scrambled to assist the aircraft in distress.
Mohammed could not say what was the extent of the damage sustained by the aircraft but an aviation source noted that the owners would have to undertake considerable repairs.
The GCAA is investigating the incident.
While yesterday’s crash-landing was the first recorded on the Coastland for the year, there have been a similar number of non-fatal incidents within the country’s aviation sector, and especially in the hinterland.
On January 17 this year, a light Cessna aircraft crash landed at the Baramita airstrip, in the North West District (NWD).
The Oxford Aviation aircraft, a six-seater Cessna 206, bearing the registration 8R-GRT, crashed on landing at the interior aerodrome, sometime after 9:30 am that day. The pilot was the only person on board and he escaped with only minor injuries.
In mid-March this year, a light single-engine Maule aircraft operated by a Seventh Day Adventist mission in Guyana crashed during the afternoon hours on May 17 at the Paruima airstrip in Region 7. No one sustained major injuries in that incident.
In June this year, a light Cessna aircraft operated by local airline Air Services Limited (ASL) sustained minor structural damage shortly after landing at the Kaow Island airstrip in the Essequibo River.
Also, in August, a Trans Guyana Airways Britten Norman Islander was completely written off after it skidded off of the Port Kaituma airstrip and slammed into a fence, shortly after landing during wet weather.
Several days later a Cessna Grand Caravan operated by the company skidded off the Mabaruma airstrip shortly after landing.
Mohammed had noted that such incidents are investigated by the GCAA as is mandatory but he noted that the results would take months since the local aviation body as well as the aircraft manufacturer would have to investigate the incident in detail. The entire process, he noted, is costly.
