Despite being praised for his quick thinking by passengers, the Roraima Airways pilot who crash landed the trislander aircraft near the Haags Bosch Landfill site along the East Bank of Demerara (EBD) in August 2021 now faces suspension.
While the suspension is only for a period of time, Director General of the Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) Egbert Field said on Monday during a press conference that penalties have also been imposed on the operator.
Field was at time providing an update on investigations into several aviation incidents in 2021, saying that most of those investigations are complete locally but international verification of the findings are outstanding.
This is the situation with the Haags Bosch incident.
“Recommendations put forward in the Haags Bosch crash landing will see penalties being applied to the operators and the pilot involved.
“Those penalties have been activated and the pilot is now in suspension for that accident for a particular period,” Field related.
He would not say the extent of the penalties which are likely fines or the length of the suspension.
Hours after the landing, the pilot was praised for his quick thinking by the three passengers who were on board. The three passengers – a man, woman and two-year-old child- nor the two pilots were seriously injured.
It was revealed that fuel starvation led to the Roraima Airways plane crash on August 14, 2021.
Minister of Public Works Juan Edghill in brief comments said such an incident needed to be taken seriously.
“You can’t be playing guessing games and we still need to determine why no fuel was going to the engines.”
The plane had left Imbaimadai in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni) on the morning of the incident and was expected to land at the Eugene F. Correia International Airport, Ogle, East Coast of Demerara. However, after it began experiencing difficulties, the pilot made a call and crash-landed at the landfill site.
