– onsite inspection for ASL crash ruled out due to terrain
As it continues its investigations into three recent plane crashes, the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) is facilitating the transport of samples from the wrecked Roraima Airways plane that claimed the life of Major Colin Martin, overseas.
This was disclosed by Director General of the GCAA, Egbert Field, during a press conference on Thursday. Field related that the engine and propellers of the Britten-Norman island aircraft Martin was piloting would be transported to the National Transportation and Safety Board (NTSB) in Washington, United States, as part of the investigation.
“In the first accident, involving a Roraima aircraft (in which) the pilot Colin Martin died, the aircraft was found nose down. In relation to that accident, we have retrieved the engines and the propellers and they were brought to the Eugene F Correia airport for safe keeping. It is now awaiting exportation to the NTSB,” he related.
“In such cases it is the responsibility of the operator to ship the engines. But they are kept under safe keeping. We have the lock and the seals, so it is about to be sent to the National Transportation and Safety Board in Washington.”
Fields noted that the authority had completed all its interviews with the various eyewitnesses. Giving a synopsis of the events preceding the accident, Fields stated that the pilot flew from the Eugene F Correia airport in the morning and executed a total of 19 shuttle flights.
“We are investigating,” he related. “And we are paying close attention to the flight and duty time limitations in this accident.”
Wings Aviation crash
Meanwhile, he also gave an update on the airplane crash that occurred on August 8, involving Captain Dominique Waddle. Waddle, who is attached to Wings Aviation, survived this crash when he went down early in August.
“We have also retrieved this engine and the propellers, which are secured at the Eugene F Correia airport and are also awaiting exportation to the NTSB. We have interviewed the standby witnesses and in this case, we have noted facts from the interviews that this aircraft flew to Eteringbang loaded with drums of fuel.”
“Some of the drums were not secured. Thus, we are looking at areas surrounding the engines, but also shifting load and other factors.”
ASL crash
Field said that the final crash site where ASL Captain Imran Khan lost his life, was almost inaccessible for GDF special forces. He noted that the GCAA’s own inspectors have thus far been unable to access it.
In fact, Field ruled out any of the GCAA’s inspectors accessing the crash site. He stated that as a result, the authority would be pursuing its investigation from an analysis of the pictures the army took.
In addition, he revealed that officials from Captain Khan’s company and the station from which the aircraft took off would be interviewed.
The last crash had involved Captain Imran Khan, 41, of Essequibo Coast, Region Two, who had been attached to Air Services Limited (ASL). At the time, he was flying from Chi-Chi to Mahdia when his Cessna 206 (8R-GFM) aircraft went down.
On August 8, 2017, a single-engine Cessna aircraft, piloted by Captain Dominique Waddell, was taking off from the Eteringbang airstrip in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni) when it crashed. The Wings Aviation plane was on a shuttling mission from Eteringbang to Ekereku when the incident occurred.
On July 25, 2017, Captain Collin Martin, a retired Guyana Defence Force Major, was piloting a Roraima Airways aircraft when it crashed killing him almost instantly. Martin perished after the Britten-Norman Island aircraft he was operating crashed on landing at Eteringbang. (Jarryl Bryan)
