[www.inewsguyana.com] – Caribbean Airlines (CAL) says it has reviewed the final report of the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority’s (GCAA) investigation into the July 30, 2011 Flight BW 523 aircraft touchdown accident at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport and feels that the investigation has been thorough.
The final report of investigations into the accident was presented to the local media on Friday last and found that human error was largely responsible for the incident that caused irreparable damage to the Boeing 737 – 800 aircraft and injured several passengers.
CAL said it worked with the GCAA to uncover all the facts as they related to the incident and appreciates the opportunity granted by the GCAA to make submissions during its investigation and respects its final conclusions.
The findings of the report reiterated that the Captain was a veteran pilot and the First Officer was experienced.
“CAL is committed to working with our flight crew to ensure they meet the required regulatory standards. The Captain of flight BW523 remains employed by CAL as a first officer. The First Officer of the flight left employment at CAL in 2012. All regulatory requirements vis-à-vis the crew were met following the event,” the airline said in a release.
CAL says too that it has examined the findings of the report and has already incorporated all of the recommendations. “Based on the report’s findings, CAL has re-emphasised the airline’s commitment to working with our flight crew to ensure their effectiveness. Additional training was also covered during initial and recurrent training for CAL’s pilots.”
The majority of personal injury claims arising from the incident have been resolved, CAL has reported; adding that it cannot comment specifically on the findings of the report as there is
According to lead investigator, Paula McAdam, communication and coordination in the cockpit had broken down during the landing phase [a critical phase of the flight] based on recordings recovered from the cockpit voice recorder. She said too that both the “veteran” pilot and co – pilot along with the crew were interviewed and no explanations were forthcoming.
The flight data recorder was also recovered and used during investigations. The report stated that “the probable cause of the accident was that the aircraft touched down approximately 4700 feet beyond the runway threshold, some 2700 feet from the end of the runway, as a result of the captain maintaining excess power during the flare and upon touching down, failure to utilize the aircraft’s full deceleration capability resulted in the aircraft overrunning the remaining runway and fracturing the fuselage.”
McAdam reminded that while the “flight crew’s indecision as to the execution of a go around contributed to the accident,” both the pilot and co – pilot were tested for drugs, alcohol and other substances and found to be negative.
Among the other findings of the crash, which saw one passenger suffering a broken leg, were that the aircraft had no mechanical defects, the crew did not command maximum brake pressure when it was necessary.
The report pointed out too that the wet surface of the runway did not inhibit the braking capability of the aircraft.
The cross currents that impact the aircraft navigation are higher up! You won’t feel them on the ground! Those winds are an issue mostly on approach to landing
I always knew that the pilot would be blamed! Seems like the Captain was demoted and the FO fired even before this ‘final review’. Only those two men in the cockpit knows what exactly transpired.
“flight crew’s indecision as to the execution of a go around contributed to the accident,” says to me that the Captain didn’t get real time info in order to decide whether to land or abort and go around!
I still think he did a super job in saving lives and should be commended!
On August 20th 2014 at Timehri the CAL flight I was on was to touch down at about 5 AM.
The plane was about to land but then had to scrambled to get back in the air.
The pilot announced it was high winds and could not land.
Pilot said will attempt second landing but if cant land will head for Trinidad.
After circling in the air for a period of time the CAL flight landed the second time without incident.
But what was most amazing is that when passengers came out they felt no high winds. The high winds just disappeared just like that.
This news media can take the date given here and ask those in Authority about what really took place on the morning of August 20 2014 at about 5 AM.
It was scary to know that the plane I think had touched the runway but had to scrambled to get back in air.