It is almost a year since an Air Services Limited (ASL) aircraft crashed near Kopinang in Region Eight, killing three persons, including its pilot, but a report which should say what caused the crash is still not available.
Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) head Zulficar Mohammed told Stabroek News on Thursday that while the strip assessment of the engine and other parts of the craft were completed, the report was yet to be finished. He reiterated that the report would take some time.
A few months after the incident the aircraft’s engine and other parts were sent to the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) for a strip assessment. The airline has also received no feedback on the status of the report.
On April 25 last year, the ASL Britten Norman Islander plane lost contact with the Ogle Airstrip Control Tower just prior to its scheduled touchdown at Kopinang, 170 miles away. Bernice Pereira, a resident of Kopinang, and her four-year-old son Arnold were the only survivors of the crash which killed Bernice’s three-month-old daughter Britney; the pilot, Captain Rohan Sharma and Ernestine Moses, also of Kopinang.
Mohammed told Stabroek News that the body has been in contact with the NTSB and added that the reports would have to be submitted to Minister of Transport Robeson Benn. ASL would also be involved. “Once we have the report, the minister will examine it and coming to the conclusion of the examination the airline would be involved, since sometimes we involve them and ask for their support,” he had said.
He explained that the authority does not form any grounds for litigation but the onus is on preventing recurrences of the April 25 incident and ensuring adherence to all aviation laws.
Based on the findings of the report too the GCAA will be in a better position to advise the airline accordingly, he said. On the day of the accident the ASL plane was scheduled to fly to Kato then on to Kopinang and Mahdia before returning to Ogle. After spending two hours on the ground at Kato because of bad weather, the GCAA had said the aircraft departed at about 1.45 pm and this was the last time the tower had any contact with it. Rescue efforts to locate the aircraft, after it was suspected to be missing, were stymied by bad weather.
The rescue co-ordination centre at the CJIA Timehri Control Tower was activated and the supporting agencies; the Guyana Defence Force Air Corps and Special Forces and the aircraft operator, formulated a search and rescue plan which was executed a day later. After intense search operations both by air and on foot, a group of schoolboys spotted Pereira on a trail the following day and the crash site was eventually located and the other victims found.
Reports on aviation crashes are not usually made available to the public here.
