The Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) is currently investigating two interior airstrip accidents which occurred last month, its Director General, Colonel Egbert Field says.
“They are now being investigated. The investigations for both; the one from Kamarang and the other at Eteringbang are being conducted by the Accidents Investigations Unit,” the agency head told Stabroek News yesterday when asked for an update.
The first incident occurred on the 14th July on the Eteringbang runway in Region Seven when a Cessna Caravan, belonging to Jags Aviation of the BK Group of Companies, ran off the runway in Region Seven.
The other incident was on 15th July, on the Kamarang runway, in the same Cuyuni/Mazaruni district.
Field informed that he was out of the country at the time of both incidents and was updated by his agency when he returned.
Following the incidents, Minister of Public Works Juan Edghill, under whose ministry the GCAA falls, had announced that he had ordered an investigation and also instructed that the operators be served with notices of suspension with immediate effect.
“I’ve asked that it must be complied with that whoever is recommended to be the incident/accident investigator must have had no dealings whatsoever with the inspections of these companies’ aircraft. I want to ensure that there is no conflict of interest, and I expect by this afternoon to name the incident/accident investigator in keeping with the Civil Aviation Act”, the minister had told the Department of Public Information.
Referring to the incident at Eteringbang, Edghill told DPI that the investigation will have to take a multi-sectoral approach, including assistance from the Guyana Police Force. The aircraft was discovered to have been carrying mercury, a restricted substance, which the aviation service was not authorised to transport, DPI said. The Minister said the mercury was removed from the aircraft before the inspection was conducted.
“We must be able to confirm how mercury got on board an aircraft to be transferred to a location, where it was coming from, who are the recipients, why it was removed from the aircraft even before investigations began,” the Minister said.
In relation to the Kamarang accident, the Minister said news of a disintegrated propeller is shocking, and begs the question of maintenance.
“So, the officers of the GCAA who were responsible for inspecting and authorising these aircraft to be operated based upon their maintenance and servicing compliance responsibilities would also come up for scrutiny because these are very serious issues”, Edghill told DPI.
The Aircraft Owners Association of Guyana (AOAG) fired back as it expressed shock at the reported intervention of the minister. In a statement the next day, it pointed out that it expected that the established procedure for aircraft accident investigation would have been implemented and for appropriate action to be taken accordingly.
“The Association can only conclude that the Minister has been inappropriately advised on this matter in the absence of the Director General, Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), Lt. Col. (Ret’d) Egbert Field, who was on leave at the time”, the aircraft owners said.
The Association said it has also observed that the Minister was reported as expressing his concern about mercury being carried on board one of the aircraft in question and that “the aviation service was not authorized to transport” this cargo. However, the AOAG said that all the major aircraft operators are certified to carry dangerous goods like mercury, gasoline and diesel, and they undergo a rigorous process to be qualified to do so. “In the circumstances, the Association must point out for the benefit of the travelling public, that all commercial aircraft operations in Guyana are rigidly regulated and required to meet extremely high standards both in regard to pilot training and qualification and aircraft maintenance in order to obtain an Aircraft Operators Certificate (AOC).
