Aircraft Owners have a responsibility to Guyanese

Oct 03, 2015 Letters

Dear Editor,
I must formally highlight the hypocrisy of the Aircraft Owners Association of Guyana. Citing the article ‘Aircraft owners slam Denbow’s double standards’ in the Guyana Chronicle on Thursday October 1, 2015. I find it distasteful for the Aircraft Owners Association of Guyana (AOAG) to throw stones when their houses are made up of glass.
The Aviation business environment in Guyana can be likened unto a Mafia where three or four families control the entire industry. This matter I will address in another letter, for now let the focus be on infrastructure and safety development. The AOAG stated that they have in the past made themselves available to provide expert advice for the development of aviation in Guyana, but this is useless as it is not advise that is need but financial means.
Over the many decades that the Corriea and Ally families, the two biggest air operators locally have been in business their measurable contribution to aviation safety development in Guyana has been minuscule at best. All the contributions that these ‘owners’ have made were in their own self-interest and not that of public safety and love for country.
The revenue that is brought in on a daily basis by the pilots, maintenance and operations staff is astounding and yet the only major development that has been done is the upgrading of the Ogle Airport whose main shareholders are the Corriea’s, Ally’s and Mekdeci’s.
Pilots are sent out to brave harsh weather conditions, with heavily laden aircraft doing approaches in instrument meteorological conditions with no nav-aids other than their compass and GPS units for point to point navigation. For too long have the masses at Ogle been quiet due to fear of retribution from the ‘owners’. The main reason why the statements of Mr. Denbow are being brought into focus is not to promote any positive onward development but only as a rebuttal for him throwing shade at the Beech 1900 D aircraft that Trans Guyana recently commissioned.
Let’s take this into focus, with a take off configuration at seal level of flaps 17 degrees, 16000 lbs weight and temperature of a standard day in accordance with the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) standards the Beech 1900 D needs 3470 feet of runway for takeoff. There are a few out of the many bush airstrips in Guyana that can accommodate this comfortably and safely. Some of these strips include Mathews Ridge, Imbaimadai, Lethem, Kamarang and a few others along with the two international runways located on the coast.
In addition the average temperature and humidity factors in Guyana on any given day are above standard ICAO International Standard Atmospheric(ISA) conditions of 15 degrees Celsius, 1013.25 hectopascals with a lapse rate of 2 degrees Celsius at sea level. In fact most of the hinterland runways are higher in elevation than that of sea level, have high humidity and temperature coupled with them being unpaved.
All these environmental factors diminish your aircraft’s ability to take off in a short distance and climb out of mountainous terrain efficiently with weight. With this very broad synopsis of the Beech 1900 D’s performance I believe Mr. Denbow was within rights to state that the aircraft is not suited for operations in Guyana’s interior. But I digress.
The AOAG needs to look inward at the massive financial resources that they have collectively, and continue to amass on a daily basis to not just offer advise but to offer financial assistance to a government which inherited a fiscally raped nation so as to build the safety infrastructure that is needed to ensure not just public safety but the safety of the pilots and workers of the aviation industry in Guyana.
Let us not allow the Dwayne Jacobs’, David Bisnauth’s, Blake Slater’s and Nicholas ‘Nicky’ Persaud’s of our industry to have died in vain. Let us make a commitment to better aviation safety through simple acts as fencing our airstrips, donating solar powered marker beacons for obstacles, installing precision approach path indicators lights (PAPI) and functioning lighted wind socks to start. Let us work on gaining international funding to set up an air navigation and approach system for our mountainous areas.
For too long has there been corporate profiteering in Guyana’s aviation industry, where the men and women on the front lines are victimized, mistreated, and undervalued as they carry the few bosses on their shoulders. It is time to do more acting and less talking Aircraft Owners Association of Guyana!
Willfred Read

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Aircraft Owners have a responsibility to Guyanese

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