In terms of the international aviation community and Caribbean regional passenger traffic, the basic facts are known by now;
a. Caribbean Airlines (CAL) Flight BW 523 en route for Piarco, Port-of-Spain with passengers from the USA, Canada and Trinidad and Tobago, overshot the Timehri runway and thudded onto a grassy ravine on the early morning of Saturday 30th July, 2011;
b. The Boeing 737-800 aircraft then split in two roughly (and thankfully) at the “seam” which separated the First and Economy Class sections of the plane;
c. Miraculously there were no fatalities amongst the 157 passengers and six crew members aboard;
d. There was a slight drizzle, but the modern CAL US$38 million aircraft landed at enormous speed, with both aircraft industry professionals and passengers on board testifying that the airplane’s pilots had probably decided on “reverse thrust and massive braking” to remedy a speedy, faulty landing on the 7,500 feet runway.
The above information and sequence constitute the bare and basic account of what could have been an enormous aviation tragedy in a challenged land and economy, already beset by too numerous road traffic accidents, almost daily fires and other negativties of a criminal nature. Indeed, Guyana should give thanks with both the visiting Trinidad Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar and her CAL executives dubbing the absence of fatalities “a miracle”.
Consequences of the crash naturally had to follow. And they did. They ranged from cause, allegations, blame and long-term implications. Even before the experienced pilot and crew returned to their native Trinidad, sources there were hinting that Georgetown/Timehri’s sub-standard facilities always posed problems for the best of pilots, perhaps not aware that only earlier in the year the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) had deemed the runway in excellent condition and even the issue of “poor visibility” could be countered by meteorologists and staff of the airport’s modern Doppler Radar System.
BEYOND BLAME…
The question of “who-or-what-was-to-blame” for the crash-landing, shifted from blame to cause in a week after the “miraculous tragedy”.
Teams of investigators are working to identify causes and reasons because it is important to isolate these to pre-empt and prevent future accidents.
Even as Guyana’s Minister of Works and Transport Hon. Robeson Benn was explaining that a Final Report from a full and comprehensive investigation of the Crash could take as much as one year, preliminary and initial indications are loaded heavily towards “PILOT ERROR” as the main cause.
Anecdotal, but allegedly first-hand information from local first – responders as well as the taxi-driver who took the pilots and crew to hospital, has the pilot “apologising” to his crew.
And investigating team’s, from America’s National Transportation and Safety Board (NTSB), the Guyana and Trinidad Civil Aviation Authorities, the Boeing Aircraft Company and CAL itself are diligently conducting their forensic probes. Eventually they will reveal all that was found, in terms of such issues as to why the movable panels on the front of the Boeing 737 wings were NOT extended as required; therefore deceleration had to be difficult; as to whether the plane’s hydraulics, braking and other systems were activated in keeping with landing procedures; the unavailability of the Instrumental Landing System (ILS); the Timehri runway lighting system and all that the Black Box recordings indicate in the USA. Only when all of this is objectively and professionally assessed, along with pilot’s truthful, factual evidence, will the causes be known.
And despite Minister Benn’s castigation of some allegedly “sensationalising” of reports by some media, Guyanese commentators have actually been cautioning the Trinidadians and indeed, the CARICOM family, about hasty blame-games.
This excerpt, I do think, is indicative of rational responses; is timely and constructive.
From the STABROEK BUSINESS: “In both cases serious economic issues arise. On the one hand several countries in the region depend on extra-regional visitor arrivals to sustain tourist industries that are struggling to recover from the recent global economic and financial crisis. On the other, one need hardly say much about the importance of intra-regional travel from the standpoint of actualizing the goals of the Caribbean Single Market. These are serious economic industries that have to do with expanding existing Caribbean business enterprises, creating new ones and increasing investment and employment opportunities for people in the region. Then, of course there are the implications of all this for the regional airlines, not least Caribbean Airlines, which have been going through difficult times.
If, and understandably so, the CAL incident is likely to linger in our minds for some time, the last thing we need is an intra-regional quarrel over who or what is to be blame for the incident. Thankfully, as a local aviator pointed out in an interview with this newspaper, international aviation standards are not set by individual countries so that it is not a matter of apportioning blame but simply waiting for the competent authority to make a professional determination. That is what we must do in this instance. Already, there are aviation official in Guyana who have become fretful over the “noises” that have been emanating from Trinidad and in these circumstances tempers can easily flare.
The problem here is that we can easily lose sight of the bigger picture, that picture being, first, the need for us to work as a region to help provide people who fly in our region with assurances regarding our excellent aviation safety record; that apart, there is the need for us to remain focused on the challenges facing the regional airline industry and the economic implications of these challenges for the region – some countries more than others – and not to allow the CAL incident to give cause to distraction that might be far costlier than the CAL incident itself.
This writer endorses those level-headed, analytical views coming out of Guyana.
GOOD FOR THE FUTURE…
“Out of evil cometh good” sometimes. Is this not a catalyst for intense regional co-operation in the aviation sector? Even as the industry grapples with the challenges of air-travel complexities, welcome competition from REDJET and so on, a great case could now be made for CARICOM co-ordination of standards at every airport in the Community.
Improved emergency producers, facilities and trained staff must now be a priority for all governments and aircraft industry private sector players, including those in Guyana.
Guyanese newspapers reminded everyone of a very similar runway incident in Jamaica a few years ago when an aircraft belonging to American Airlines suffered a fate very similar to that of the CAL Boeing. The point was to remind all that no country is immune from aircraft mishaps. That is an important fact.
The miracle at Timehri seems to suggest that since a catastrophe was avoided, all authorities should CO-OPERATE – for a sustained safe, future. In the skies and on the ground.
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