By Heppilena Ferguson
The Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) is to consider issuing an advisory to all airlines in light of the July 4 incident when a Delta Airlines passenger blew the emergency exit door and disembarked.
Speaking with this newspaper last week, GCAA head Zulficar Mohammed said his staff had been trying to get a police report on the incident but this has not been successful. He reiterated that according to civil aviation law the GCAA could not institute any charges against the man.
Asked whether anything will be done to send a message that the actions of passenger, Christopher Satyanand were totally prohibited, Mohammed noted that the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) could advise accordingly but the authority would have to provide a detailed report including evidence that the man was intoxicated.
“We can refer it to them but it has to be concrete,” he stated. Further Mohammed said his staff had spoken to several persons on the ground, including Roraima Airways ground handling staff, and it was ascertained that the man may have been intoxicated.
He reiterated that the police will have to take necessary action and is hopeful that this would be done shortly. He suggested that the police should have tested the man to confirm their suspicions of him being intoxicated. Satyanand has not made any public statement on the matter and has not been taking calls.
Meanwhile this newspaper was reliably informed by a senior police officer at the Timehri police station that the matter has been sent to the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for advice on how to proceed.
And proprietor of Roraima Airways Gerry Gouveia during an interview with Stabroek Business last week had said that his staff would be willing to give information to the authorities with regards to exactly what happened on the day of the incident.
Speaking with this newspaper, Gouveia told Stabroek News that his staff on duty on that date was made to write statements based on what they saw.
Reporting on the general consensus, he said that from the point of view of the staff the passenger was definitely intoxicated.
He said after the aircraft arrived, the stairs were attached and the exit door opened and passengers began disembarking. He said they heard a loud noise and then noticed that the emergency chute had been deployed in the first class compartment of the aircraft.
According to him it seemed as though the man was reluctant to join the line of disembarking passengers. “They said they saw him at the top with his briefcase and then he slid down the chute and walked away as though nothing happened,” He added.
Gouveia said he believed that the man’s actions were a breach to aircraft safety and needed to be taken seriously so the country could send a signal that the type of behaviour is not being condoned.
He said the airline was made to expend a lot of money to fly an entire jet with engineers to replace the emergency exit.
Transport Minister Robeson Benn in a comment days after the July 4 incident said he had asked the GCAA to review the matter. He said the US aviation authorities had called regarding the matter. Benn also said that the flight crew should have more control over the passengers on the plane.
Delta’s first flight to Guyana was on June 1.
The aircraft had been grounded for 24 hours because of the incident so its engineers could be flown in to fix the emergency exit. Both Benn and Airport Chief Executive Officer Ramesh Ghir had said that no sanctions were imposed on the airline following the incident.
