The `hard landing’ for a Trans Guyana Airways (TGA) plane at Kurupung Bottom airstrip on Friday is a consequence of the lack of the 100-foot approach to the strip and an equal distance at the other end of it.
This was the response of TGA spokesman Kit Nascimento when contacted by Stabroek News for a comment on the incident.
The hard landing at 12.27 pm at the Region Seven airstrip resulted in damage to the left landing gear of the plane. There was no injury to the five persons on board who had departed from the Ogle International Airport.
Nascimento said that when there is a significant downdraft as was the case on Friday, the absence of the 100-ft approach leads to events like the hard landing. He lamented that the aircraft owners association had been pressing the aviation authorities here for years to take the required steps to ensure that Kurupung and several other airstrips had the requisite approach space to cater for events like a downdraft. The downdraft was reported in the pilot’s report.
In April, the Aircraft Owners’ Association of Guyana said it was disappointed that none of the recommendations made by the aviation industry for its development were encompassed in the budget. Development of hinterland airstrips was one of the matters the aircraft owners had raised.
In aviation, a hard landing is an especially rapid or steep descent.
