Latest update March 28th, 2024 12:59 AM
Aug 02, 2011 News
-local aviation expert urges visitors not to be deterred by mishap
Despite last Saturday’s near-disastrous crash at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Captain Gerry Gouveia says that Caribbean Airlines has a good safety record and feels that travelers should not be deterred from using the airline.
“Caribbean Airlines is one of the safest in the world. Caribbean Airlines has never had an incident like this. The pilots are highly trained; they’ve had a clean record of safety. This is a bump on the road for them.”
A pilot for some 35 years, Gouveia also noted that aviation is “the safest mode of transportation in the world.”
While an official report is still pending on what caused the crash, Captain Gouveia noted that “man, the machine and the environment,” were the principal factors in aviation accidents.
“I do not believe we had an environment problem. There was no heavy fog; there was some rain but it wasn’t heavy. The runway properly lit (and was) recently done over. The runway length is quite sufficient for a plane of this size…so the two things we have to look at (as causes) are the machine and the man.
“Seventy to 80 percent of aircraft crashes are due to human factor. These planes are equipped with a flight recorder, and it would record every movement, so that when the team from Washington takes it, the team will be able to replay it and know what happened to the aircraft.”
And in his view, the response by emergency teams was commendable.
“The most fortunate thing was that it (the plane) did not catch fire. The good thing is that our rescue team was there, and prepared (in the event of the plane burning). Never in our aviation history have we had an accident like this.
“Our fire and rescue team was on standby, a cadre of doctors was on standby with ambulances. At every landing, the fire service is on standby. The fire and rescue team saw the plane not stopping and got to the top of the hill but could not get to the bottom.
“A lot of people came and helped passengers from the aircraft.
“For many years, I have been critical of our emergency systems (but this time) our search and rescue teams worked. The crash tested our system; our emergency teams responded and luckily there was no fire.”
THIS IDIOT TELLING GUYANA WE HAVE NO SAY IN THE 50% PROFIT SHARING AGREEMENT WE HAVE WITH EXXON.
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