Another plane goes down at Eteringbang

Aug 09, 2017 News

– Pilot escapes with minor injuries

It is becoming increasingly clear that flying to the hinterland of Guyana is no child’s play.

Almost two weeks after a deadly crash that killed an experienced Roraima Airways pilot near the Eteringbang airstrip, Region Seven, another incident has occurred.

This time, the pilot of a single engine Cessna aircraft has managed to stay alive after his plane went down in the same area shortly after takeoff.

Kaieteur News was told that Captain Dominic Waddell, 32, of Wing’s Aviation, was on a shuttling mission.

According to the regulator of the sector, the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), it has launched an investigation to ascertain the circumstances leading to the crash of the single-engine CESSNA aircraft-bearing registration number 8R-GPR.

“The accident occurred at approximately 11:00hrs today August 8, 2017. Preliminary reports indicate that the plane was on a shuttling mission from Eteringbang to Ekereku when the incident occurred. The pilot suffered minor injuries.”

Officials from the Accident and Investigation Group supported by a team from GCAA as of yesterday afternoon were preparing to fly in to start their investigations.

Lucky: Captain Dominic Waddell

“Further information on this latest incident will be announced when it becomes available.”

Persons said that from initial indications, the plane was already in the air, when after takeoff, it started to go down.

With an increase in gold mining and other activities in recent years, the use of small crafts to access hinterland areas have become popular but have not been without incidents with a number of crashes, some of them deadly, recorded.

Late last month, Roraima Airways’ Chief Pilot, Collin Winston Martin, tragically died when the Britten-Norman Islander aircraft he was attempting to land at the Eteringbang airstrip, nose-dived into thick vegetation, a short distance from the runway.

The 40-year-old Martin, a former Guyana Defence Force (GDF) officer, assumed the role of chief pilot at Roraima Airways in 2015 following the death of Captain Alvin Clarke.

According to information received, Martin was heading to Eteringbang from Ekereku where he had shuttled fuel for miners when the tragedy occurred. He was flying alone.