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CJIA runway in excellent condition – says Aviation Director
The Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) is equipped with a runway that is in excellent condition, said Director of Aviation Safety Regulation, Paula McAdam. She expressed her conviction that “there is no fault that I can put on the runway at Timehri.”
She was at the time commenting on the Caribbean Airlines crash at CJIA last year which rendered one person an amputee when the aircraft went skidding off the runway.
Paula McAdam
McAdam is currently a part of a team that is working to finalise a report on the tragic incident which had raised several questions about the CJIA runway.
She related during an interview that a draft of the report has already been completed. There has also been a meeting with the National Transportation Safety Board of the United States (NTSB). According to McAdam, “they made some comments and we are still working to finalise the report.”
She said that the Timehri runway is considered a bit short but it is more than adequate for the aircraft type that crashed at CJIA. Moreover this is one of the areas that the local aviation team has been examining, the Aviation Director added.
On July 30, 2011, a CAL Boeing 737-800 aircraft crash landed at the local airport shortly after midnight. The aircraft, which overshot the runway, stopped short of a ravine, its nose cone segment breaking off.
The incident was described as “a miracle landing” as all 163 people aboard—including six crew members—survived.
A number of people were taken to hospital, and Guyana health authorities reported that three people had to be admitted for treatment. One passenger later had to have a leg amputated. Subsequent news reports from Guyana and in the Wall Street Journal alleged pilot error.
This view has been substantiated by McAdam who categorically noted that “that the airport is adequate to take this aircraft so there was nothing wrong with the runway…it is grooved, there was no standing water, it was well lit, it was well marked as it should be marked…it was even marked with reflective paint so there is no fault that I can put on the runway at Timehri,” she insisted.
A final report on the crash-landing is outstanding almost 18 months after the incident but there are reports that it is expected early next year. But according to McAdam the highly anticipated report would in fact require input from the oversight Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) for CAL which is based in Trinidad. 
“We are waiting for that but the investigation is going very well if I do say so myself…” This view was forthcoming even as she reflected on an American Airline accident in Jamaica which occurred about six months before the crash in Guyana.
A report on that incident is yet to be completed, McAdam said, adding that “until you actually get involved with writing an accident report of that magnitude it is only then that you can appreciate what you have to do.”
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