Days after surviving a plane crash, pilot Lincoln Gomez yesterday recounted the events surrounding the crash behind the Canal No.2 Conservancy area, West Bank Demerara.
In his account of the incident, which was posted on the Guyana Adventist Ministries and Services (GAMAS) Facebook page, Gomez said despite making several stops at villages in the interior, the aircraft had sufficient fuel to transport him from Arau, Region Seven to Georgetown. Gomez works with GAMAS and at the time of the crash on Monday, was transporting the body of a US missionary who had died in a climbing accident at Arau.
“I had already measured the fuel in the plane and had enough to fly to town according to the fuel burn measuring instrument and calculations. So we took off for Georgetown,” he said.
It was explained that during his journey, he was asked by the control tower to fly by Instrument Flight Rules, to which he agreed.
“I agreed not knowing the implications. At some point, I was asked to descend to 2,000ft from 7,000ft MSL (mean sea level). So I descended. I looked at the fuel indicator from time to time as usual and it was getting lower but I trusted that I had enough knowing how much the indicator usually indicates fuel burn,” he recalled.
Gomez said it was after crossing over the Essequibo River “the unexpected happened – the engine began to idle!”
The pilot explained that he sought to troubleshoot the engine failure but nothing worked, and he radioed in to the control tower and declared an emergency.
“Mayday mayday mayday, N8704T is declaring an emergency! I exclaimed as the plane continued descending from about 2,000 ft MSL. There was an almost full moon but clouds covered the sky here and there which made visibility difficult,” he explained. He said that he had to maintain glide speed until touchdown.
“The policeman panicked and I did not want to be distracted by him. As I was busy reporting our position etc the airplane touched the trees and I lost consciousness,” he related recalling that he regained consciousness after being pulled from the plane by the policeman, Mark Grimmond.
“He had pulled me out along with the other things from the airplane including the corpse from Arau, There is no doubt that God led the plane to a certain spot which did not have very big trees. Otherwise we would have been dead,” he said. The pilot also noted that the plane had flipped in the crash.
After he regained consciousness, Gomez related that he and Grimmond made emergency calls and set off several flares.
“After sometime an airplane flew over and a helicopter also. They were able to spot us with the help of flares and other means,” he said.
According to Gomez, they were rescued four hours after the plane had crashed. “The soldiers rescued us by land and we were able to walk slowly through the jungle for about an hour to the helicopter,” he said.
In his recount of the events leading up to the crash, Gomez said he departed Ogle Airport on February 18 for Paramakatoi, Region Eight after being tasked with transporting building materials for the construction of a church at Monkey Mountain.
He stated that before he departed Ogle, he was informed of the accident involving Christopher Matthews, the missionary who died after falling from a mountain.
Gomez said he landed in Paramakatoi and delivered the building supplies. He said 18 minutes after he took off from there, he was instructed to fly to Kaikan Village, Region 7.
“I heard news from the control tower that GAMAS said I should fly to Kaikan, pick up a policeman and continue to Arau to pick up the corpse and fly it to Georgetown. So I diverted my flight and soared to 8,500 to MSL to fly to Kaikan,” he recounted.
As he embarked on the detour, he was instructed that he should pick up an individual from Paruima, Region Seven, and fly her to Kaikan, which he did.
“Afterwards I flew to Arau and about a minute after I landed people arrived on an ATV along with the corpse. I was told by them that police would arrive “ just now”. I waited for more than an hour I guess for the policemen to arrive. Finally, they arrived and one of them was to fly with me as an escort to accompany the corpse,” he wrote.
The pilot said he aborted the thought of flying to Paruima and remaining overnight after a foul stench from the corpse permeated the plane. He decided to fly to Georgetown and the crash occurred as he was approaching the city.
“I suffered cuts on my head and face and a fractured scapula,” he said while noting that Grimmond sustained a broken jaw and nose as a result of the crash.
Gomez thanked the Guyana Defence Force personnel “and all who were involved in the rescue operation and all those who pray for me every day.”
The Guyana Civil Aviation Authority is investigating the crash.
