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Ogle plane crash…Investigators request pilot’s phone records from GT&T
By Zena Henry
The Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) has written the Guyana Telegraph and Telephone Company (GT&T) requesting that the entity make available phone records of the pilot who was operating the Cessna 206 on the day it flipped at the Ogle International Airport.
Following allegations that the pilot was texting during take-off, the GCAA has sought from GT&T the pilot’s phone records to ascertain whether he was in fact using his cellular phone while the aircraft made its way along the airstrip for departure.
GCAA Director-General Zulficar Mohamed
Director-General of the GCAA, Zulficar Mohamed, told Kaieteur News yesterday that as part of the investigation process, the agency has contacted the phone company for the pilot’s phone information relating to the day and time that the accident occurred.
Mohamed said that as the probe continues, investigators are seeking to cover all angles before they release any information. Mohamed also asserted that he is not in total agreement with statements made by one passenger as it relates to the pilot’s actions during take-off since, “her story does not corroborate with the statement (she gave).” While Mohamed did not wish to go into further detail, he suggested that what the woman told Kaieteur News may not be the case.
The Aviation Director also told this publication, when asked, that information into the accident, or any plane crash under probe is not public knowledge until the investigation is over. He related that the agency is not obligated to release any information until the completion of the probe.
“We cannot go around making statements without checking all the angles,” he reiterated.
As it relates to the pilot’s licence, Mohamed said that it is custom that during an investigation, pilots’ licences are suspended. He said, however, that there is a limit to the amount of time the document is suspended. He was however unable to “say off-hand” if the pilot’s licence had been released in this case.
The passenger, Zoreena Ali, has however maintained her story that she gave statements to investigators pertaining to the pilot using his phone while taking off for the interior location of Kato in Region Eight. She said that days after the accident had occurred, investigators had collected statements from her relating to the matter. She said even the company responsible for the ill-fated aircraft had requested statements from her in relation to the accident.
Kaieteur News understands that Shemika Monroe, another passenger on board the flight had given statements to the same effect. This publication has been unable to contact the woman to ascertain the information as fact. Ali said however that she was seated in the co-pilot’s seat and had a clear view of what the pilot was doing.
Reports are that the pilot, Raul Seecharran, has categorically refuted allegations pertaining to him using his phone while on duty. He claims, according to sources, that his seat went backward and he lost control of the light craft which crashed within the airport’s boundary.
Persons within the aviation field had contacted Kaieteur News expressing anger over the information being known, but not being made public. It is alleged that the pilot’s licence was returned to him last Friday.
In early January last, the Fenix Airways aircraft was heading to the interior with three passengers when the pilot reportedly lost control and the aircraft veered off the runway, flipped a few times and came to a halt upside down. Seecharran and Monroe, five months pregnant at the time, were kept overnight at private hospitals for observation, while Ali and another male passenger were released after doctors tended to minor injuries.
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