The report containing details of the circumstances which led to the tail section of a parked Fly Jamaica airplane being knocked off by a Caribbean Airlines Limited (CAL) aircraft, as it was pulling into the apron at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) has been completed and is currently under review by the two airlines.
This is, according to Director General of the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCCA) Captain Egbert Field, who, in an invited comment, also stated that the details of the report, which was sent out earlier this week “are not for public consumption.”
“That draft accident report has to go to the parties involved which would be Caribbean Airlines, Fly Jamaica and the Cheddi Jagan Internation-al Airport, among others,” the Director General said. All parties have approximately 60 days to review the said report and submit any comments thereafter.
The submission of the report comes almost seven months after the incident occurred.
As previously reported by this newspaper, the incident occurred on November 29, 2016 on the international apron, while the CAL plane was in motion. As a result, both the outgoing CAL and Fly Jamaica flights had to be cancelled.
Additional reports from a preliminary investigation conducted on the day of the incident indicated that the “brunt of the blame went to the ‘wing walkers’ or aircraft marshallers who give the visuals for the pilots on the ground.”
An official of the CJIA had said, “plenty people being blamed, and it is complicated,” but would not go into details.
One source said that CAL, “will have to take as much blame as the wing walkers,” because Fly Jamaica had already been parked in its assigned spot by the aircraft marshallers.
In a terse statement, issued at the time, without mentioning the details of the incident, the Cheddi Jagan International Airport Corporation said: “The GCAA and Cheddi Jagan International Airport Corporation are currently investigating an incident that occurred between two aircraft around 07:50h on the international apron, November 29, 2016.”
Sources had related that CAL’s flight BW 527 had landed at around 7.33 that morning and the incident had occurred several minutes later as it was taxiing. Fly Jamaica had arrived around one hour earlier.
CAL in a similar statement, issued several days after had said, “Caribbean Airlines advises that on Tuesday 29 November, the Boeing 737-800 aircraft operating BW 527, from JFK International, New York to Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Guyana was involved in an incident on the ramp. All passengers and crew were safely disembarked. The aircraft has since been temporarily withdrawn from service and all appropriate inspections and procedures, along with an investigation are in progress.
“Caribbean Airlines re-affirms our commitment to the safety of our valued customers and crew and thanks the public for your continued support,” the statement concluded.
