Captain Egbert Field Jnr has been part of the aviation industry for 54 years, having started his career therein at the age of 18. This had been his dream job since he was the tender age of six.
In May 2019, he was honoured by the Government of Guyana with the Golden Arrow of Achievement award (AA) for his long and exceptional service in this industry; and even at 72, Field, as the current Director General of the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), still looks forward to pushing local aviation to attain world-class standards.
“I’ve spent my entire life in aviation, and I love it more and more every day,” Field told this publication in a recent interview conducted at his office on Main Street, Georgetown.
Born and raised among five siblings in a humble family at Meadow Bank, Georgetown, Field’s father, Egbert Field Senior, was a furniture-maker and his mother Agatha Dublin was a housewife, but he had big dreams of flying an aircraft, and his parents’ emphasis on attaining a sound education influenced his studiousness.
Recalling that his father worked hard to support the family, Field said, “My mum was the centre of my life. She was a housewife, and took her time to rear her children, and was such a family person.”
He fondly recalled the first time he sang on stage for the patriotic ‘Guyana Day’ at the age of ten, and how his mother had taken the time to wash and iron a pair of white socks until they were perfectly dry, so that he looked neat for the occasion.
His singing talent was recognised by his headteacher at Houston Methodist School (Primary), and to this day he is known for singing at major events, and was also called ‘The Singing Pilot.’ But, growing up, even as he discovered his talent and excelled academically, young Egbert was focused on one thing: aeroplanes. His love for aeroplanes was fuelled by the sound of Grumman aircraft landing at the Guyana Airways Corporation’s hangar located not far from his home, at the site that now houses the Army Coast Guard base.
“Every afternoon it landed on the Demerara River, as the bottom of the aircraft was like a boat. The engines were big and loud, and they (captain and pilot) used to make their way into the hangar. As soon as I heard the aeroplane, I would sneak away and head up the road… and I would stand there, looking at the captain and the pilot. In their white shirts with four bars, they appeared like gods to me. That image stayed with me,” he recalled.
Encouraged by their father to pursue an education, young Egbert and his siblings all completed their secondary education. Egbert attended Chatham High School, and soon recognised that his parents would not be able to afford sending him to flight school, so he needed to pursue another profession.
“In those days, I had no family who were pilots, because I came from a poor family. At the age of 14 or 15, I realised that my father didn’t even have the money to buy a bicycle, much less to send me to flight school. I didn’t see it as a setback, but I began considering other options, and started studying economics, eventually advancing to A-level economics,” he recalled.
In 1970, the Government of Guyana announced the opening of flight training scholarships, and he was allowed to study at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida. After obtaining his Commercial Pilot Licence with instrument and multi-engine ratings, he returned to Guyana, and later joined the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), spending 23 years with the Air Corps.
Lieutenant Colonel Field recalls that, even without GPS, he trained several pilots to acquire the skill of manoeuvring aircraft in Guyana’s dense forests.
During those years, he also met his lovely wife Sydney, whom he encountered on a blind date upon returning from flight school.
“From the moment this girl opened the door and I saw her, I fell immediately in love with her…but it took me 6-8 months before she felt comfortable with me. We eventually got married, and she has been a great support. I trust her with my life, and she took care of the children while I was out flying,” he disclosed.
The Fields have three children; one is a doctor in Jamaica, another is a former marine, and the third is a pilot, like he is.
During his years flying for the GDF, he was among the pilots present in the aftermath of the infamous Jonestown massacre in 1978.
“It was traumatic for a young man who had never been to war to see such tragedy,” he recalled. The massacre in Region One claimed the lives of nearly 1,000 people.
Captain Field retired from the GDF in 1996 with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, and joined Guyana Airways Corporation (GAC), where he became the first Guyanese captain of the GAC’s Boeing 757 aircraft. After being trained in the United Kingdom as an instrument and type rating examiner, he was designated as a check airman for the then Civil Aviation Department in 1992, and was later appointed Chief Pilot/Director of Operations of the succeeding Guyana Airways 2000 Boeing 757 International operation.
Captain Egbert Field has accumulated over 18,000 flight hours in his career, and is qualified to fly several aircraft, including, but not limited to, the Beech King Air 200, the Skyvan, Y-12, the Hawker Siddeley 748, the Russian-made Tupolev 154, the Airbus 320/321, and the Boeing 707 and 757/767.
In May 2019, he was honoured by the Government of Guyana with the Golden Arrow of Achievement Award (A.A.) for his long and exceptional service in aviation, as a military and commercial pilot, and as an administrator in regulatory aviation.
As an airline pilot, Lieutenant Colonel Field was designated Executive Pilot to three Presidents over 13 years, flying Heads of State and other dignitaries to and from their destinations.
In 2002, he moved to the regulatory side of aviation and became the first Flight Operations Inspector of the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), a body which he now heads as Director General more than two decades later.
Captain Field joined the Jamaica Civil Aviation Authority (JCAA) in 2004 as an operations inspector with responsibility for the oversight of Air Jamaica Limited as its Principal Operations Inspector. He became the Manager of Flight Operations Oversight for the Authority in 2007, before rising to the position of Director of the Flight Safety Department of the JCAA.
“It feels like yesterday (that) the DG (in Jamaica) said, ‘We have a position here that has been open for one year and three months, and we couldn’t find anybody who fits the bill. You fit the bill, and we need an Operations Inspector for Air Jamaica,’ and I began working on that beautiful island,” he expressed.
One of his memorable experiences during his tenure with Jamaica Airways is being in Haiti when the 2010 earthquake struck, because he was a firsthand witness to its destruction.
In 2016, Field returned to head the GCAA, where he recorded some of his major achievements, including a lifetime achievement award from the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in air transport.
“This made me feel proud, as I am recognised not only locally, but also internationally,” Field said.
Among other achievements he highlighted are: moving the agency to 77% compliance with international best practices; hosting one of the largest ICAO air transport ceremonies in 2018; and increasing the number of trained and experienced individuals capable of presiding over the industry, including local Air Navigation Controllers.
Recently, the GCAA announced that Guyana achieved an overall score of 66.36% in the effective implementation of ICAO standards. The audit covered the Convention on International Civil Aviation and the safety-related provisions of its Annexes in legislation, organisation, personnel licensing, aircraft operations, airworthiness of aircraft, aircraft accident and incident investigation, air navigation services, and aerodromes and ground aids.
With aviation expanding exponentially in Guyana, with more aircraft, passengers, and airlines, Field, as Director General, said, “I would like to see Guyana move from where we are now to a world-class level, and I want safety to be enhanced within the industry as well.”
He noted that Guyana’s development hinges on the expansion of the aviation industry. “Why does it hinge on aviation? Most of our precious minerals are in the interior, and now offshore,” he advised.
At the age of 72, he still spends a full day in the office, working to safeguard and improve the industry. In the next ten years, he envisions more regional airports being developed, a flight school being established, a national airline being reintroduced, and more airlines and aircraft serving the growing industries.
