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Another plane door opens while craft airborne
Passengers onboard a flight bound for Port Kaituma, Region 1, were shaken up on Sunday when the door of the twin-turbo prop Caravan they were traveling in opened minutes after taking off from the Ogle International Airport.
A passenger, a 53-year-old businessman who opted not to be named, explained that he had to hold on to the door and he managed to get it closed before the aircraft returned to Ogle. The Berbice resident said he was heading to the interior location to conduct business and had boarded the SkyWest flight in the morning hours on Sunday.
A twin-turbo prop Caravan
He explained that the plane took off normally, but about three minutes into the air, passengers felt a “heavy breeze” and noticed that the door on the left side of the plane was unlocked. The man said no one moved, so he decided to release his seatbelt and hold on to the door shouting to the captain, “Stop, completely forgetting that we were in the air.”
The man said that he was finally able to close that door and was convinced that he had done so after hearing a “click”. Soon after, he alleged, passengers alerted that the door on the right side of the plane also became loose and he was able to move across and close that one also.
He claimed that the flight returned to Ogle and passengers disembarked so that the door could be looked at.
Another passenger, who also wished not to be named, confirmed that an incident took place onboard the hinterland-bound flight.
The businessman said that he is dissatisfied since the Company did not engage passengers following the incident. He claimed, “No official came to apologise or say anything because our flight was delayed and this thing was scary.”
He added that when he contacted SkyWest about his return flight, he was ‘handled” by a harsh woman who hung up the phone on him before he could have made his inquiries.
Kaieteur News was greeted with the same tone when the publication made calls to the Company to ascertain the facts of the matter. A woman who later identified herself as the “maid” told this publication that she is the Public Relations Officer when a request was made to speak to someone in authority.
She blurted, “Why ya’ll ain’t call Trans Guyana? You ever hear SkyWest own plane?”
Trans Guyana’s spokesperson Kit Nascimento was at the time unaware of the incident. He explained that while Trans Guyana would charter their aircraft, the agency is fully responsible for its maintenance and its crew.
After ascertaining the information, Nascimento explained that there was an incident which resulted in the plane having to return to Ogle. He said the flight which took off at 07:17 hours, returned to Ogle at 07:20hours when the rear door on the Caravan became loose.
He said that the pilot immediately turned the plane around and landed when the door began to rattle. Engineers tended to the aircraft and found that there was a faulty latch which was replaced. The plane then took off with no further incident, Nascimento stated.
The Trans Guyana spokespersons also clarified that the agency is not affiliated to Skywest, other than the charter. He said that Trans Guyana did not receive any complaints from passengers regarding Sunday’s incident.
Thirteen passengers including the pilot were said to be onboard the flight.
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