CJIA was not to blame for crash

Aug 02, 2011 Editorial

The world is now aware that a plane crashed at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport early Saturday morning. The photographs from the crash site were widely distributed and exhibited on just about every network in the world. Unlike some of the crashes reported from around the world this one did not have any fatalities and only four hospitalizations.
The country rallied around the victims except for a taxi driver who also made international headlines. He reportedly raced to the crash site and actually charged one of the people from that plane to transport her to the terminal. This is the worst episode of the rescue effort and is being dubbed as the most unGuyanese thing that could happen.
What is amazing is that there are people who are justifying the actions of the taxi driver. In their view, the critics of the driver’s action are not aware of the level of poverty that exists and they certainly do not understand what must operate inside the home of the driver.
Then there are those who say that morale in the country is so low that people have lost the things that made them distinctively Guyanese.
However, there should be no excuse. We were considered among the most hospitable people in the world. We have been known to open our homes to strangers, place an extra plate at the table for a hungry visitor and to go out of our way to help those in distress.
Taxi driver apart, the crash highlighted some other things about this country. For one, it exposed out lack of readiness for such disasters. Like every poor country, we simply do not have emergency vehicles at the airport. There may be a reason for this and one sure reason is that crashes have been rare, almost unheard of. There was one occasion in the 1980s when an aircraft ran off the runway and became bogged down in the sand trap at the end of the runway.
In the past, planes coming in to land would always see a fire tender and at one time an ambulance driving parallel to the aircraft. This has not been the case in recent times. The ambulance disappeared and this disappearance would have coincided with Guyana’s decline in prosperity during the latter part of the last century.
Perhaps the authorities may wish to replicate what was and what really should be. There should also be a clinic within the confines of the airport. Some of the people who walked off the aircraft complained that they did not see an ambulance at the scene and that none arrived until hours later.
This is not true because people who had raced to the crash scene within thirty minutes of the plane disintegrating said that they saw ambulances at the scene and they saw volunteers removing the seriously injured.
On the plus side, the government constructed a modern health facility closer to the airport and this proved a most beneficial exercise. By the time the injured began to arrive the doctors were there as was the complement of nurses. And they dealt with most of the injured who presented themselves for medical attention.
We have not been blind to comments out of Trinidad and Tobago. We now hear from people in the twin-island who claim that they have always been apprehensive about landing in Guyana at nights. They also try to tell fellow Trinidadians that visibility was an issue.
But they were good enough to report a comment by an aviation expert who noticed that the movable panels on the front of the Boeing 737 wings were not extended as required. The devices are designed to help planes decelerate and reduce speed at touchdown. Safety experts said that without the benefit of the movable wing panels, it could have been difficult for the pilots to stop the plane in time.
Investigators are to examine if there were any problems with the plane’s hydraulics, brakes or other systems, and whether that possibly could have contributed to the accident.
Although the investigations are ongoing we in Guyana are certain that the conclusion would be pilot error. Eyewitnesses are adamant that the pilot came in too high. The people on board also talked about the plane not decelerating.
One thing on which all are agreed, a miracle occurred in Guyana.

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CJIA was not to blame for crash

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