Two US pilots die after plane crashes into Plaisance house

Apr 14, 2013 News

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By Dale Andrews 
Two foreign pilots perished when their twin engine plane went down on a house in the Sparendaam Housing Scheme, East coast Demerara just after it took off from the Ogle airport, yesterday.
The pilots’ unrecognizable remains were discovered among the rubble of what was once a wooden house occupied by the elderly Florence Tyndall and three others.
Miraculously, Kendall, who was in the house at the time of the crash managed to escape.
The crash sent scores of residents rushing to the area, but they could only stand back and watch as the American registered aircraft burst into flames, with the two pilots trapped inside.
Eyewitnesses believe that the two occupants of the plane lost consciousness or were killed when it crashed.
The American registered aircraft, a twin-engine Piper Aztec with registration number N27-FT, was on a technical survey mission for the Amaila Falls Access Road.
It had been in Guyana for the past week and according to senior local aviation officials, it had already done some surveillance missions.
Public Works Minister, Robeson Benn, who has responsibility for Civil Aviation, told members of the media at the crash site that the aircraft took off from Ogle with approximately six hours of fuel.
There are reports that it had completed another mission earlier in the day and had returned to Ogle to refuel for another sojourn.
Benn said that from initial investigations, one of the aircraft’s engines shut down.
“It looks like it lost an engine and then crashed,” the Minister stated.
He explained that a full investigation will be carried out by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to ascertain definitively, the cause of the crash.
“The site has to be secured, the bodies retrieved, and all proper and decent things done so that a proper investigation can be carried out,” Benn explained.
He declined to give the names or nationalities of the dead pilots until their families and relevant embassies have been informed.
“It’s an American registered plane, and we’ll clarify whether it’s an American crew or Colombian crew a bit later,” was all that the Minister was prepared to say when asked about the men’s nationalities.
The house owner Mrs. Tyndall, 69, was fortunate to be at the back of the house preparing for church when the plane landed on the front of the building.
The woman who was in obvious shock when she spoke to this newspaper said that she heard what sounded like gunshots.
“I say ‘Desiree (neighbour), is who shooting?’ Then I feel the house shake and then I see fire,” Mrs. Tyndall explained.
At that time she was not aware that an aircraft had landed on her house.  It was not until she exited the burning building that she realized the magnitude of what had happened. The plane had landed on the front western side of the house.
She said that neighbours subsequently came and started pulling out a few household appliances from the house.
She said that she did hear sounds of an aircraft having engine problems but did not pay it much attention, since according to her that was a normal occurrence.
“Is not till I hear something go ‘plax!’ again, I say ‘well wait, is land de plane land?’” Tyndall stated.
She explained that from time to time she would hear aircraft engines shutting down, only to restart and proceed on their way to the Ogle airport which is located about a mile away.
Another resident confirmed that it is normal for them to hear strange sounds coming from aircraft travelling overhead.
“This could have been worse because it was a three bedroom house and they (occupants) does deh all over inside. It is a real miracle that she (Tyndall) escape without a scratch,” the neighbour told the media.
Another neighbour, Lloyd Smith, was at work at the Ogle airport when the crash occurred. Initially, he thought that his house was in danger, judging from the location of the thick smoke that he saw after the plane went down.
“I left from work place and ride and come to see exactly is which house,” he said.
Smith explained that it was not long after the plane took off that it crashed.
“We watch it take off. It taxi on the runway and the take off and dem boys say it fall out de air. When we look we see a big black smoke up in de air,” he stated.
There are reports that the aircraft pilots ignored warning signs that all was not well with the engine.
Eyewitnesses recalled hearing what sounded like one of the engines backfiring just before takeoff.
Following the crash, CAA boss Zulfikar Mohamed and Minister Robeson Benn were joined at the scene by several top security officials. They included Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee; Commissioner of Police Leroy Brumell; Deputy Chief of Staff of the Guyana Defence Force, Colonel Bruce Lovell; Crime Chief Seelall Persaud, Fire Chief Marlon Gentle and Divisional Commander Eric Bassant and his Deputy, Stephen Mansell.
Minister Rohee, in an invited comment, was pleased with the response of the Police and Fire Service which both fall under his portfolio.
“I think that the response so far has been good. The main thing here now is to protect the property, protect the scene to preserve whatever evidence is there for the investigators could do their work professionally,” Rohee told Kaieteur News.
He did not rule out having ranks stationed at the location throughout the course of the investigations.

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