Pilot feared dead as plane crashes by admin – massive search and rescue operation launched BY BHISHAM MOHAMED The Cessna Caravan that went missing on Saturday The Cessna Caravan that went missing on Saturday A Canadian pilot, Blake Slater, is feared dead along with another Guyanese man after a Trans Guyana Airways (TGA) aircraft went down on Saturday morning in the vicinity of Olive Creek; a densely forested area in the Middle Mazaruni, while shuttling cargo from Olive Creek and Imbaimadai. Civil aviation authorities have since kicked into gear an expansive search and rescue mission involving six aircraft, including two helicopters and four Cessna Caravans. Nine Special Forces officers and nine crew members are involved in the search mission. The missing aircraft, a single engine, 13-seater Cessna Caravan with registration number 8R-GHS disappeared out of the sky at about 10:56h without a trace. The last contact with the pilot of the aircraft was “Mayday” (emergency call) which was transmitted to another aircraft within the area at the time. The aircraft departed Olive Creek for Imbaimadai at about 10:54h with one other person on board. The aircraft spent overnight at Olive Creek and commenced the shuttle operation on Saturday morning. It is suspected that the plane might have crashed some 10-14 miles off Olive Creek, based on the coordinates that were received. Press conference Public Works Minister Robeson Benn (second from right) with other officials and the media being briefed by Head of the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) Zulficar Mohammed on the status of the search and rescue operations for the missing aircraft Public Works Minister Robeson Benn (second from right) with other officials and the media being briefed by Head of the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) Zulficar Mohammed on the status of the search and rescue operations for the missing aircraft At an emergency press conference at the control tower of the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA), Director of the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) Zulfikar Mohammed explained that at about 10:56h, air traffic control at CJIA received a report from another aircraft that one of the Trans Guyana Cessna Caravans reported going down after taking off from Olive Creek. He added that several calls were immediately made by other aircraft, but were all unsuccessful, hence the GCAA Rescue Coordination Centre (RCC) was immediately activated by the Air Traffic Control Centre. Touching more on the issues was Rickford Samaroo, a senior air traffic controller who confirmed that the tower had received information about the shuttle operation. During the exercise, another airplane heard from the pilot via radio contact that he was having difficulties and was going down. “The pilot tried to get the position from where the airplane was going down and managed to hear the coordinates for the airplane which we recorded and used to plot the position based on the assumption that the aircraft was flying directly between Olive Creek and Imbaimadai,” he explained. Time lapse In addition, Samaroo said that they used the time lapse between the two messages – one from when the airplane departed and the second from the pilot who called “Mayday” – to plot the possible position of the aircraft. He added that RCC dispatched the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Special Forces with search and rescue units – one Cessna Caravan from Trans Guyana Airways two helicopters from GDF and Air Services Limited. In addition, he revealed that a Trans Guyana Cessna Caravan departed at 13:10h with three crew members and eight Special Forces officers along with equipment and survival kits. The helicopters also departed around the same time. They arrived at Olive Creek at 14:15h and 14:52h respectively. He added that two other aircraft that were in the area commenced reconnaissance immediately over the area and soon after, another aircraft from Air Services Limited joined the search mission. The GCAA director also said that the team on the ground at Olive Creek are interviewing persons who might have seen the aircraft go down or might have heard the sound as it went down, while at the same time explaining that the area is mountainous and heavily forested. No signs He said that up to 16:00h on Saturday, there were no signs of breakages or smoke in the area, but said that once the aircraft is sighted, the ground response team will be activated. “It will be difficult to search the area by air in the night so once we do not get any position response from the teams, we will have no choice but to abort the mission and continue when the sun comes out, he said. In a release issued by the GCAA, the company stated that “at the end of the day, following ground and air search based on information received; there has been no sighting of 8R-GHS Trans Guyana Cessna Caravan”. It added that the air search for the aircraft has been terminated for the day at 18:00h due to the poor lighting, but will resume this morning at 06:30h. “A check with the U.S. Mission Control Centre (USMCC) from which information concerning aircraft ELT signals is transmitted, has informed that they have not received any signal from the aircraft’s beacon,” the release added. In addition, an aircraft will be deployed to overfly the area of interest tonight to look for any signs of the missing aircraft. Previous accident On November 2, 2008, the Beech King Air N87V, chartered from Dynamic Aviation Group Inc by Terraques Limited, disappeared while conducting geographical surveys in the Mazaruni area. After 17 days of search and rescue operations, the plane was never found. Missing and presumed dead were U.S. pilot James Barker, First Officer Chris Paris, also from the U.S., and Canadian technician Patrick Murphy. The aircraft, with fuel for five and a half hours, was scheduled to operate in the Chi Chi-Imbaimadai area for approximately four and a half hours before returning to the Cheddi Jagan International Airport. The aircraft was plotting potential mineral deposits at the time of the crash. It was reportedly near the escarpment in the Middle Mazaruni. admin | January 19, 2014 at 12:51 am | URL: wp.me/p43ofN-cen Unsubscribe to no longer receive posts from Guyana Times. Change your email settings at Manage Subscriptions. Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser: guyanatimesgy/?p=47019
Posted on: Sun, 19 Jan 2014 06:02:18 +0000
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