Mazaruni plane crash…Victims’ remains brought to city, probe continues

Jan 22, 2014 News

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After three days in the Mazaruni Jungle, the bodies of the pilot and aircraft loader who perished in the Trans Guyana Airways plane crash were transported to the Ogle International Airport yesterday afternoon.

Though Guyana Defence Force Special Forces discovered the bodies among the wreck on Sunday, they were only able to execute the extraction after 11:00hrs yesterday. Extra caution was exercised whilst cutting the plane to access the bodies, because of the seven drums of fuel on board.
Relatives of the dead loader, Dwayne Jacobs and the Canadian High Commissioner Nicole Giles were at the airport when the bodies arrived. The pilot, Blake Slater, was a Canadian by birth and the holder of a Guyanese passport.
Since the horrific accident on Saturday, Trans Guyana Airways (TGA) held its first press conference yesterday at the Caribbean Aviation Maintenance Services (CAMS) boardroom.
The company’s Chief Executive Officer, Michael Correia said, “Any accident is hard for us to accept but this one, resulting in the loss of the life of two members of the family, is even harder for us to accept.”
He noted that Jacobs, 28, was a member of the TGA family for some 10 years. He had joined the company as a handyman on July 26, 2004, and as a result of his dedication to his job, he was promoted to aircraft loader, a position of considerable responsibility for the safety and security of the cargo.
And Captain Blake Slater joined the company about three years ago as a junior pilot and became command pilot on the Cessna Grand Caravan in April last year. He had a total of over 3,000 flying hours to his credit and 2,552 on the Caravan. He had enjoyed the reputation of being a thoroughly disciplined pilot.
“We pledge to do everything possible to determine the cause of this accident. We are fully cooperating with the local Civil Aviation Authorities and we will request whatever international assistance may be required,” Correia said.

He noted that while the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) will be conducting its investigations into the crash, TGA will be conducting its in-house probe.
Relating known details surrounding the crash, Correia said that on Saturday January 18 at approximately 10:55am, Captain Slater piloting TGA aircraft, 8R-GHS, radioed a distress signal which was heard by five pilots, including three TGA pilots who were flying at the time. The aircraft had departed Olive Creek for Imbaimadai on an approximately 15-minute flight. Unable to definitively say how low Slater was flying at the time, he noted it was not too long after the aircraft took off from Olive Creek that it started to experience difficulties and subsequently crashed.
According to Captain Andre Farinha, TGA’s Chief Pilot, all controlled systems, including record of the load, were in place before the aircraft departed Olive Creek. The aircraft was transporting seven drums of fuel which is equivalent to 2,800 pounds, which is a little below the maximum weight.
There was neither a cargo wall nor cargo net separating the load from passengers and as such the cargo moved to front of the plane. This made the extraction process difficult. However, the cargo was said to be tied to the ground.
Another matter of concern for the company is that the Emergency Locator Transmitter did not go off when the plane crashed. This piece of equipment was supposed to trigger when the aircraft came into heavy impact or manually.
Correia said that why the transmitter did not trigger would form part of the investigation. It is a requirement of the International Civil Aviation Authority, but this device has been known in several cases to fail, in the past. The spot tracker on the aircraft was helpful by generating about a minute from when the aircraft crashed.

According to Correia, “We shared in the frustration experienced over the length of time that it took to locate the aircraft in the first place. It took a little over twenty-four hours. And the frustration over the time it took to complete the recovery and extraction which was completed earlier this morning (Tuesday).”
Correia, who was on site at Olive Creek and directly involved in the search for the aircraft, said to locate the aircraft, the Search and Rescue team was dealing with an almost impenetrable jungle.
An emotional, Nicole Correia, Chief Finance Officer of TGA said that the company will have discussions with the families of the deceased about compensation. She noted that financial matters will be dealt with at the appropriate time.
She said that TGA is covered by insurance companies locally and abroad. The accident investigator will visit Guyana to conduct his work and report to the underwriter. The entire process may take under a year.

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