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GCCA to probe for breaches in ‘Mavado’ 19-hour flight

Aug 20, 2013 News

By Zena Henry
Officials of the Guyana Civil Aviation Authorities (GCCA) are set to investigate whether aviation breaches occurred when dancehall star ‘Mavado’ was reportedly flown some 19 hours from Jamaica to Guyana on board a single engine Cessna Caravan.
Aviation Authorities say it is too early to pronounce on what aviation rules may have been broken, but Director of Aviation Safety Regulation, Paula McAdam told Kaieteur News yesterday that contact will be made with the pilot and his seniors to ascertain among other things, why the pilot had been operating for so many hours. While it is only an allegation by the superstar, that his flight took 19-hours to get to Guyana, the GCCA said it will be looking into the matter.
Veterans in the aviation field, say that is it possible that the pilot that took David Constantine Brooks, who stage name is ‘Mavado’ on the island odyssey, may have breached legal flight time. They say that the pilot who brought the ‘singjay’ (singer /DJ) to the Guyanese shores may have been operating longer than he was legally permitted to.
A senior pilot who spoke to Kaieteur News via telephone said that a pilot and his crew, if included, are allowed to operate an aircraft for a certain amount of hours, while another amount of resting hours is mandatory before the crew can be back in the sky. As it relates to the type of plane and the number of crew members, the regulation in this regard becomes even stricter, the Captain said.
He pointed out that in the field of aviation, safety is a key factor. “Everything revolving around aviation has one key link… safety. So flight and duty time is just as important as the smooth running as an airline’s equipment.”
It was further explained that certain countries may have different duty time for a pilot, while an airliner might also have their specified flying time too. A former Safety Manager at Air Services Limited (ASL) recalled that the designated flying time in Guyana is somewhere around 16 hours. This might change for special reasons, especially in a case of a search and rescue, where extra hours may be put in, he said.
Having mentioned the 16-hour fly time, the former safety head said that a pilot is therefore required a minimum of 10 hours rest before he can operate another aircraft. If the case of the ‘Mavado’ saga checks out, he opined that the pilot could well be in breach of aviation rules.
ASL senior official, Yacoob Ali, told Kaieteur News yesterday that while it is unknown why the pilots would have stopped in Trinidad and Tobago during the flight from Jamaica to Guyana, it is regular for ASL pilots on that route to stop in Curacao for fuel before making their final destination.
He told the newspaper that it was the artiste’s promoters who chartered the jungle-operating 14-seater Turboprop Caravan. He said two senior Captains were on board the plane, while defending that there is a portable lavatory on board the cargo-transporting aircraft.
In relation to the pilot’s extended duty time, he said there could have been many reasons for the delay, such as poor weather. Additionally, Ali vowed that while he feels nothing is amiss, the necessary checks will be made to ascertain what transpired during the Jamaica-Guyana flight.
‘Mavado,’ a prominent face on the dancehall scene, lashed out at Slingerz promoters after claiming a 19-hour long flight in what came nothing close to “private jet” which he claimed he was promised, to transport himself along with 15 band members. The DJ had missed his Saturday last performance at the National Stadium and blamed it on the organizers.

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