The grounding of an Air Services Limited (ASL) aircraft by the government earlier this month that spilled over into the courts was necessary because the plane was not certified and was operating illegally, Minister of Public Works and Communication, Robeson Benn said on Wednesday.
Benn said he ordered that the Cessna 208 Grand Caravan owned and operated by ASL cease operations because it was in breach of regulations 7 and 31 of the Guyana Civil Aviation Regulations, adding that the substance of the breach was that the aircraft was not on the operator’s Air Operator’s Certificate, which rendered the commercial operation of the aircraft illegal.
Speaking at a press briefing in the company of Zulficar Mohamed of the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) at his office to clarify statements made by the Aircraft Owners Association of Guyana (AOAG) on Tuesday, Benn said ASL reneged on an agreement to allow the government flight operator inspector on the Cessna 208 as a trainee while the RASOS inspector took the lead in evaluating a flight to demonstrate safe operating practice specific to the aircraft type.
Prior to this, he said, ASL had also agreed to have the same inspector carry out the requisite demonstration flight but reneged on that too.
But General Manager of ASL, Fazel Khan said Minister Benn was wrong because they were allowed to operate the aircraft since April 2007 after permission was granted by the GCAA. He expressed shock that Mohamed did not correct Benn with respect to his claim that the aircraft was operating illegally and pointed out that the GCAA was fully aware of the operations of the aircraft.
He rejected the minister’s claims about ASL going back on its word with respect to the government flight operator inspector, saying that government wanted to send in an inspector who was not qualified to do the flight and not have him sit in as a trainee. Khan added that no RASOS inspector was present on the day the government inspector turned up.
“In my capacity as Safety Manager of ASL I, Fazel Khan, agreed to the government inspector being on the flight as a trainee even when the RASOS inspector did not want him to go because they found him to be unqualified, but they attempted to send him in without the RASOS inspector and I objected. I said that he should not have been there and that we would not have him,” Khan stated.
Benn also made mention of ASL already being investigated for three incidents – an aircraft crash at Kopinang in 2007 which resulted in the loss of three lives and an aircraft; a flight to Anna Regina which saw the plane taking of with an unauthorized person at the helm and disappearing without any reasonable explanation from ASL, according to him, as well as ASL executing an unauthorized recent landing at Omai.
Great expense
He told reporters that ASL had recommended the last flight operation inspector, who was recruited and trained at great expense to the GCAA and later absconded after that, with an enhanced resume and has neither been seen nor heard from since. According to Benn, the authority has advertised on numerous occasions for a candidate with the ideal qualifications to fill the position of Flight Operations Inspector but this has not met with success.
Khan in response said Benn has no point in referring to the investigations and is merely being picky. He said ASL has cooperated 100 percent with the GCAA on the Kopinang crash. He said what the minister should be commenting on is what is taking the investigation so long. Additionally, Khan said he wrote a letter to the GCAA on the day the aircraft disappeared at Anna Regina and has also cooperated fully with the Guyana Police Force. With respect to the Omai landing, he said it is possible they landed without the owner’s approval which is required when landing on private property.
ASL’s GM said further that Minister Benn obviously does not understand the way aviation operates in the world if he could make statements regarding the GCAA investigations, adding that the role of the body is to carry out investigations in the industry.
Khan stated further that ASL did not recommend the previous flight operation inspector, he (Khan) did and to the detriment of ASL. He said it was done in the interest of aviation in Guyana since the individual was an excellent pilot and someone who could have been a good flight operation inspector. According to Khan, the man did not abscond but resigned and pointed out that he was in the country for two weeks after his resignation was tendered. Additionally, he said the pilot was recently here on holiday.
According to him, government should not have allowed the pilot to leave. He said after the resignation was tendered he spoke with Prime Minister Samuel Hinds asking him to have a talk with the pilot and Hinds had promised to discuss it with Benn.
Upgrade
Benn told reporters on Tuesday that the GCAA has sought for sometime now to upgrade the qualifications of the officer currently performing the functions of flight inspections officer and pointed out that to achieve this locally it would require the use of local aircraft but noted that some operators in the industry have bluntly refused to cooperate in this regard and continue to frustrate the efforts to upgrade the qualifications of the inspector.
Benn said reasonable cooperation has been shown by some operators who have been working with the government operator to achieve compliance with the requirement, while others have been reluctant to do so and have incurred expenditure to have inspectors from other RASOS member states conduct activities which are fully within the purview of the flight operation inspector.
Due to the lack of cooperation locally, he said the GCAA will once again incur great cost to update the qualifications of the government inspector using facilities overseas.
He stated too that once the objection of qualifications has been addressed they expect and are prepared to demand the full cooperation of the operators in order to carry out the government’s mandate.
He said the ministry has been following government’s direction to facilitate the growth of a safe, reliable, privately-owned, commercial domestic aviation sector which will soon develop regional operations. Benn pointed to the expansion of the Ogle airport as being evidence of this in addition to the use of private aircraft services by the government. Further, Benn said the regulations of the GCAA need updating because they are currently archaic. He said there are also deficiencies in the regulations that have to be addressed, adding that this will happen in the next few months.
