The pilot who landed his aircraft at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri last Tuesday and then disappeared for four days returned to remove the plane on Saturday and has now been identified as a reserve Major of the Jamaican Defence Force.
Authorities at the airport said that the man did not breach any of its rules.
Two officers, one a customs officer and the other an immigration officer are to face disciplinary charges for failing to ensure that the pilot filled out the requisite forms before he entered the country. The officers have since been interdicted from duty. An official at the airport told Stabroek News yesterday that as far as the airport was concerned the pilot did not do anything wrong.
Police in a statement yesterday said that ranks commenced investigations into the aircraft landing at the airport on Wednesday.
According to the police statement, Dudley Beek, a reserve Major of the Jamaican Defence Force who resides in Jamaica, piloted the aircraft.
The police said concerns were expressed by the airport authorities after the aircraft was observed to be leaking fuel and it was learnt that neither the immigration department nor customs accurately recorded the address where the pilot was residing and more particularly the owner could not be readily contacted.
The police statement said Beek was subsequently contacted and indicated that he had landed with permission and his aircraft had developed mechanical problems, which caused it to be left at that point.
Police said Beek came to Guyana to be part of a registered business of Kim Mohamed Dean called ‘Kim Dean’ of Parika, East Bank Essequibo, which is registered as an agent of Digicel. The police said that this information was confirmed by documents provided by Dean. Beek has since resolved the matter with the police and has since removed the aircraft to a place of safety at the airport.
The airport official told Stabroek News it was a matter of poor communication between the pilot and those responsible for the parking of aircraft at the tarmac.
“However, we have sorted out that and the plane which was parked badly on the airstrip has now been relocated,” the official, speaking under the condition of anonymity said.
The official added that the pilot showed up on Saturday and after he had discussions with authorities at the airport police officers questioned him. According to the official there was nothing untoward about what happened.
The official said that because of where the aircraft was parked the airport authorities wanted it moved. However, they could not get in touch with the pilot because apparently there were no contact details for him.
Stabroek News was told that the pilot had submitted a flight plan but he did not indicate that he was going to be in the country for more than one day. The airport official said that were they aware that the pilot was not going to return the next day they would have asked him to park his aircraft at another location on the tarmac. “So it was a case where we didn’t know how long the man was here for and he did not communicate to the people at the Control Tower the number of days he would stay,” the official said.
Authorities at the airport last week were frantically looking for the pilot of the Mitsubishi MU2 Twin Turbo small aircraft registered to Dust Air Ltd, thought to be a Jamaican establishment.
Home Affairs Minister, Clement Rohee told reporters on Friday that the aircraft landed at the CJIA around 12:30 pm on Tuesday. The minister said the plane had a flight plan filed for travel from Jamaica to Venezuela and then to Guyana.
In relation to the Customs and immigration officers, Rohee said there were internal breaches. “Someone apparently filed a flight plan and got permission clandestinely to follow it,” Rohee said.
The minister said local law enforcement officers had searched the aircraft but nothing untoward was found. The aircraft, the minister added, was originally scheduled to land at the Ogle Airport, but it ended up at Timehri.
With the Cricket World Cup approaching and the creation of a single domestic space the lapses in the various departments at the airport are likely to raise eyebrows.
