Latest update May 19th, 2026 12:35 AM
Latest News
- Guyana’s goldfields significantly underexplored – Australian gold firm
- Hess recovers full investment in Guyana – 2025 financials
- Venezuela demands compensation from T&T over 10-barrel oil spill
- Trump delays ‘scheduled attack’ on Iran, crediting ‘serious negotiations’
- Chinese woman killed in BV accident
GDF pilots in deadly crash lacked ratings to fly Bell 412 in low visibility — leaked report
(Kaieteur News) – The two pilots onboard the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Bell 412 helicopter in December 2023 which crashed and claimed the lives of five persons lacked the necessary certifying instruments to operate the aircraft through low visibility.
This was revealed in the draft final report into the deadly helicopter crash. The report has not yet been made public by the government of Guyana or the agencies responsible for investigating the crash.
The five men who died in the December 8 2023 helicopter crash (News Room photo)
On December 8th, 2023 five of seven occupants of the Bell412 helicopter died when the aircraft crashed in the jungle between Arau and Ekereku in Region Seven. Those who died are: the pilot-in-command, veteran aviator Lieutenant Colonel Michael Charles, Colonel Michael Shahoud, Lieutenant Colonel Sean Welcome, Staff Sergeant Jason Khan and Brigadier (ret’d) Gary Beaton. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Andio Michael Crawford, a pilot on board the aircraft, and Corporal Dwayne Johnson survived the crash.
The report said that pilot Lieutenant Colonel Charles and co-pilot Lieutenant Crawford, were trained and type rated on the helicopter and had valid pilot and medical licences and were in good health.
However, the report noted that “Neither pilot possessed a valid instrument rating for the Bell 412 Epi helicopter or any other type of helicopter or aircraft and may not have been adequately prepared for an Inadvertent Instrument Meteorological Conditions (IIMC).”
“The perusal of the captain’s records indicated that he did not hold an Instrument Rating for over 25 years (last instrument rating expired in 1998). The helicopter was being utilised in the Private Category for military and State purposes,” it was stated.
Pictures of the Crash Site (Compliments of The Guyana Defence Force)
The findings also pointed to a steep cockpit gradient due to the wide disparity in experience and military rank between the captain and co-pilot. It stressed that there was a need for proper cockpit and crew resource management and adequate instrument rating training for flight crew on the Bell 412 EPi. It was stated in the findings that the “cockpit gradient” was very steep by both experience and military rank and that cockpit resource management and cockpit management was “unacceptable.”
Notwithstanding the pilots’ lack of instrument rating for the Bell 412 helicopter, the report states that the aircraft itself was in excellent working condition prior to and during the accident flight.
“The helicopter had no known defect (except for the weather radar), and the engines, rotors, electrics, and avionics were operating optimally up to the time of the accident,” the report compiled by Aircraft Accident Investigation Department of the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) said.
The helicopter was designed and certified to be flown by a single pilot under instrument flight rules.
“It was also designed to be flown by two crew, with two pilot seats, two sets of controls, two autopilots and two sets of flight instruments, such as the helicopter could be fully controlled and flown from either the right or the left pilot’s seat,” the report states while noting that in “normal operations” the captain is seated in the right-hand seat, and generally flew the helicopter with the assistance of the copilot in the left-hand seat.
At the time of the accident, Charles was the pilot flying (PF) and pilot-in-command (PIC) and seated in the right-hand pilot seat, whereas the co-pilot was navigating and performing pilot-not-flying (PNF) duties and seated in the left-hand pilot seat.
According to the report, the aircraft departed Base Camp Ayanganna in Georgetown on an unscheduled military resupply mission and made a refuelling stop at Olive Creek before continuing west to Arau. Approximately 25 minutes after leaving Olive Creek, the helicopter flew from Visual Flight Rule (VFR) conditions into Inadvertent Instrument Meteorological Conditions.
It said that, “The helicopter entered low scattered clouds in a mountainous area which subsequently became dense and opaque (IIMC). The helicopter impacted trees about 38 nautical miles northwest of SYOC, fell to the ground, caught fire and was burnt down.”
Further, the report highlighted that the aircraft was not listed on the GDF’s Air Operator Certificate (AOC) as it was operated in the “Private Category” and not governed by the restrictions of a commercial AOC or by the conditions of the GDF Flight Operations Manual.
It was found that prior to and up to the time of the report, the GCAA had “no flight operations inspector current” on the Bell 412 helicopter to adequately carry out regulatory surveillance and oversight activities.
On the day of the deadly crash, the aircraft had been transporting military personnel along with cargo consisting of provisions, such as sugar, rice, salt, wheat flour, and other “unknown” items. However, the report outlines that, “The true payload of the helicopter for the accident flight was not known; consequently, the investigation team was unable to determine if being overweight was a factor and may have contributed to the accident.”
An emergency locator transmitter (ELT) signal was received at approximately 11:19 hrs. on December 8, 2023, the approximate time of the accident. However, due to the rough and heavily forested terrain and the heavy clouds on the mountainside in the vicinity of the accident, the extraction of the rescue team and the survivors was delayed until two days after the accident.
Also, the accident investigation team was unable to visit the accident site and the wreckage due to the dangerous terrain and inclement weather. It was determined that access to the site by the investigation team would pose serious and detrimental risks to the safety and life of the investigation team.
Captain Charles and four passengers died, while the co-pilot and third crew survived with burns and other minor injuries. As for the helicopter, this was severely damaged after impacting large trees and subsequently burnt out by post-crash fire.
Moreover, flight data recovered from the cockpit voice and flight data recorder revealed that most of the recordings were obscured or masked by the helicopter engine and rotor noise. It was also stated that there here was no recording from the crew’s microphone.
It was found that the performance remained stable for both engines and appeared synchronized, not exhibiting anomalous behavior or fluctuations. This is consistent with proper delivery of power from the engines to the main and tail rotor systems. It was further stated that the engine and rotor performance remained stable, and there was no evidence of mechanical failure. However, about a minute before the end of the recording, both autopilot systems disengaged suggesting that either the autopilots were inadvertently switched off, or both autopilots failed.
Notably, the report notes that in accordance with Annex 13 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation, it is not the purpose of this investigation and the Final Report to apportion blame or liability. The sole objective of this investigation and the Final Report is the prevention of accidents and incidents. Times in this report are dual indicating both Guyana Standard Time (GST) and Universal Time Coordinated (UTC).
Share this:
Discover more from Kaieteur News
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Similar Articles
One thought on “GDF pilots in deadly crash lacked ratings to fly Bell 412 in low visibility — leaked report”
Leave a Reply
THE BLUNT OF THE DAY
Sports
Features/Columnists
Sir. Ronald Sanders
The GHK Lall Column
Weekend Cartoon
Somebody nah like dis Govament hiding dis report, so dey leaked it.
LET’S HEAR THE DRUM ROLL. HEAD MUST ROLL, HEAD MUST ROLL.