CAL crash-landing… Preliminary report suggests Guyana not at fault - Jagdeo tells T&T TV
September 14, 2011 | By KNews | Filed Under News
Source - Kaieteur News
The scene shortly after the crash-landing
Guyana has brushed aside reports that the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) Timehri, is far from international standards and that this may have contributed to the crash-landing of a Caribbean Airlines (CAL) plane that broke in two.
As a matter of fact, Guyana’s President Bharrat Jagdeo told a Trinidad television station, that a preliminary report may suggest other reasons for the crash-landing.
According to a Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) story yesterday, Jagdeo who is in Trinidad for an Economic and Trade Cooperation Forum, made it clear that bad lighting had nothing to do with the crash.
“I don’t want to go into details of the report but it had nothing to do with the airport being too dark, which I have seen, the runway being too short, that there were rainy conditions and the visibility was poor. Rather Guyana’s safety record speaks for itself over the years.”
“I have heard in some sections of the media that there are safety issues at our airport. Planes have been landing there for the past 70 years and we have never had any such situation,” he said, adding that “bigger planes have landed there; the L-1011 has landed in Guyana frequently and safely.”
According to the CMC report, Jagdeo said that visibility at the airport at the time of the incident was well beyond what was necessary for pilots to safely land an aircraft.
“Visibility was eight kilometers so I see this repeated in yesterday’s (Monday) newspapers about rainy conditions. Visibility was eight kilometers,” he stressed.
Jagdeo said he would not as a politician release the preliminary report, leaving it instead to the technical people.
“I will allow the technical people to put out the report but I just wanted to correct that impression which I see has been peddled widely in the Trinidad media,” he added.
Regarding the preliminary report, the President disclosed it will be made public shortly.
The plane had picked up passengers from New York, Florida and Port of Spain and the crash-landing occurred around 1.25 am (local time) on July 30 at CJIA. There were no deaths. Initial reports had suggested the Trinidadian pilot landed too far up the runway and overshot it as a result.
Caribbean Airlines disclosed that the pilot who was commanding the aircraft at the time has been flying to Guyana for the past 25 years.
The United States National Transportation Safety Board and Guyana’s Civil Aviation Authority were called in to probe the crash.
The aircraft was acquired by the company in 2007 at a cost of US$38 million.
September 14, 2011 | By KNews | Filed Under News
Source - Kaieteur News
The scene shortly after the crash-landingGuyana has brushed aside reports that the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) Timehri, is far from international standards and that this may have contributed to the crash-landing of a Caribbean Airlines (CAL) plane that broke in two.
As a matter of fact, Guyana’s President Bharrat Jagdeo told a Trinidad television station, that a preliminary report may suggest other reasons for the crash-landing.
According to a Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) story yesterday, Jagdeo who is in Trinidad for an Economic and Trade Cooperation Forum, made it clear that bad lighting had nothing to do with the crash.
“I don’t want to go into details of the report but it had nothing to do with the airport being too dark, which I have seen, the runway being too short, that there were rainy conditions and the visibility was poor. Rather Guyana’s safety record speaks for itself over the years.”
“I have heard in some sections of the media that there are safety issues at our airport. Planes have been landing there for the past 70 years and we have never had any such situation,” he said, adding that “bigger planes have landed there; the L-1011 has landed in Guyana frequently and safely.”
According to the CMC report, Jagdeo said that visibility at the airport at the time of the incident was well beyond what was necessary for pilots to safely land an aircraft.
“Visibility was eight kilometers so I see this repeated in yesterday’s (Monday) newspapers about rainy conditions. Visibility was eight kilometers,” he stressed.
Jagdeo said he would not as a politician release the preliminary report, leaving it instead to the technical people.
“I will allow the technical people to put out the report but I just wanted to correct that impression which I see has been peddled widely in the Trinidad media,” he added.
Regarding the preliminary report, the President disclosed it will be made public shortly.
The plane had picked up passengers from New York, Florida and Port of Spain and the crash-landing occurred around 1.25 am (local time) on July 30 at CJIA. There were no deaths. Initial reports had suggested the Trinidadian pilot landed too far up the runway and overshot it as a result.
Caribbean Airlines disclosed that the pilot who was commanding the aircraft at the time has been flying to Guyana for the past 25 years.
The United States National Transportation Safety Board and Guyana’s Civil Aviation Authority were called in to probe the crash.
The aircraft was acquired by the company in 2007 at a cost of US$38 million.