Latest update April 1st, 2025 5:37 PM
GCAA gets $85M flight simulator; training school certified
Guyana’s aviation sector is now equipped to offer improved services.
The Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) on Thursday commissioned its recently
Director General, GCAA, Colonel (Retd.) Egbert Field, presents certificate of accreditation to Courtney Frank, Manager of Civil Aviation Training School.
acquired simulator. The entity’s training school was also formally certified.
Minister within the Ministry of Public Infrastructure, Annette Ferguson, who was present at the Timehri, East Bank Demerara facility, said that “civil aviation must also develop as Guyana develops. The government has invested in both training of air traffic controllers and the provision of equipment and systems to facilitate those training”.
“GCAA invested $85M to procure this state-of-the-art equipment with features such as position for tower, ground and radar controllers, three pseudo-pilots, also 180 degrees display with ability of 360 degrees in 72 monitors, and recording and playback of audio and video for training exercise. This expensive equipment would not have been achieved without a formal and certified institution to carry out such training,” Minister Ferguson explained.
The civil aviation training school, formerly known as Air Navigation Services, was originally established in 1979 and was approved then by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) as an Approved Training Organisation (ATO).
Minister Ferguson highlighted that although the school failed to keep its ICAO certification,
A view of the newly-commissioned flight simulator room set up in the control tower at CJIA.
it continued to provide training to ICAO standards.
However, the certification process means that the institution would now be able to offer courses approved and recognized by the international civil aviation industry, Minister Ferguson noted.
Former Acting Director, GCAA, Chaitrani Heralall, who initiated the idea of having the simulator, stated that in 2009 when GCAA started the air navigation services modernisation programme, it became critical to have a simulator that is comparable to the operation environment, to reduce the gap between training and operations.
Heralall pointed out that GCAA has been successful in acquiring the simulator after trying for many years.
“I’m very pleased that all the hard work has paid off and the government has provided the funding for the simulator.”
Director General of GCAA, Retired Colonel Egbert Field is also proud of the accomplishment. He indicated that training costs the institution millions of dollars – this year some $113M was
Minister within the Ministry of Public Infrastructure, Annette Ferguson tests the newly-installed simulator.
allocated for training. He is confident that with the certification of the civil aviation training school, training costs will now be affordable.
“I’m happy that the two main items – simulator and training school – have been completed and will continue the work done by civil aviation authority…It (training school) will commence training with the normal air navigation services, but as we develop more courses they will fall under the umbrella of the school which will include safety management systems, dangerous goods training, and other courses which relates to aviation,” Field underlined.
The training school and the simulator are expected to enhance Guyana’s capacity to produce more trained and skilled personnel in the aviation sector.
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