Missing aircraft’s possible crash site located

Dec 20, 2008 News

One month after the search for the aircraft that went missing in the Mazaruni was ended, pilots believe that they have found the crash site.

Yesterday, one of the more prominent domestic pilots in Guyana, Capt Gerry Gouveia, in a conversation with a former local pilot, Miles Williams, who currently resides in Florida, USA, spoke about a number of pilots examining the hundreds of photographs they took during the extensive search of the Mazaruni.

They believe that, after scrutinizing these aerial photos of the area, they have identified what is possibly the tail of the Beech King aircraft plane protruding from amongst some trees in the jungle.

The aircraft was plotting potential mineral deposits at the time of the crash. It was reportedly near the escarpment in the Middle Mazaruni, and often flew over the escarpment to plot turns, since it was “flying lines.”

One reason for the crash was that the pilot apparently was taken by surprise at the elevation of the escarpment, which borders the Middle and Upper Mazaruni. Capt Gouveia suggests that the pilot underestimated the steepness of the escarpment and was forced to climb faster than he actually could, and the aircraft stalled, then dived down into the dense vegetation.

He noted that the aircraft might have plummeted vertically, nose first, hence the failute to create any significant clearance in the vegetation and so make the crash site easily visible.

Although the locally-organised air and ground search was halted, Prometheus Resources Guyana Inc. continued flying, taking aerial pictures which were later posted online and scrutinized by a barrage of pilots.

The sight of the possible tail section has prompted local pilots to fly into the coordinates where the tail is believed to have been spotted, to make visual contact. This could be done today, Capt Gouveia said.

The Beech King Air N87V, chartered from Dynamic Aviation Group Inc by Terraques Ltd, disappeared on November 1 while conducting geographical surveys in the Mazaruni area.

Missing and presumed dead are US pilot James Barker, First Officer Chris Paris, also from the US, and Canadian technician Patrick Murphy.

When the search for the missing US aircraft was called off, Minister of Transport, Works and Communication, Robeson Benn, had expressed condolences to the men’s families and stated that the Government had done all that it could to locate the victims.

“As difficult as it may seem, we have expended all the resources, the time and the effort that we could at this stage.

There is nothing more that we can do,” Benn told journalists during a press conference. “We aren’t in a position to recover them. We have no specific knowledge of their whereabouts.

“That is distressing in itself, but I want to assure the public, the organisations concerned, and the families of the occupants of the aircraft that we have done everything that we could under the circumstances, and that our thoughts and hopes and best wishes are with them.”

Minister Benn had disclosed that an investigation will be conducted into the circumstances surrounding the mishap.

Following the announcement by Benn, spokesman for Prometheus International, Shazadh Khan, told Kaieteur News that the company was not abandoning the search.

“We are going to cut ‘lines’ (trails) and search the survey area. We will continue for a month.

Whatever we find, we will bring out.” Benn said that there were 200 hours of aerial search that covered some 28,260 miles.

The aircraft, with fuel for five and one half-hours, was scheduled to operate in the Chi Chi-Imbaimadai area for approximately four and one-half hours before returning to the Cheddi Jagan International Airport.