RETIRED Lieutenant Colonel Larry London, former head of the Guyana Defence Force’s (GDF) Air Corps, has been named chairman of the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority’s (GCAA) board, a source close to the GCAA has disclosed.
London and seven (7) other members of the new board will be sworn in on Friday before subject Ministers David Patterson and Annette Ferguson. Forming the eight-member board are former Chairman Hugh Denbow, Attorney Sadie Amin, pilot and former Guyana Airways Corporation (GAC) Deputy Manager Astel Paul, retired judge of the Caribbean Court of Justice Duke Pollard , Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) Ramesh Ghir, an unnamed representative of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) and Director General GCAA (ag), Chitranie Hiralall, who has been acting in the post since the retirement of former Director-General Zulficar Mohamed, Ex-officio member (DG)
This publication understands that the board at their first meeting is set to consider “housekeeping matters.” However, issues deemed critical to the management of the aviation sector, including the appointment of a Director-General, Guyana’s compliance with the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) standards, Guyana regaining a Category One status by the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and strengthening the human resource capacity of the GCAA are also likely to be discussed.
The Guyana Chronicle was told that there were some initial disagreements on the composition of the board, which falls under the Ministry of Public Infrastructure, headed by Minister, David Patterson, which caused a delay in the appointment. Born in New Amsterdam, Berbice, Lt Rtd. London attended Victoria High School, excelled in Track and Field and also captained the Berbice Under-17 football team. His military career spanned some 20-odd years. He was trained in the USA, UK, France and the USSR and gained both the Commercial ‘Fixed Wing” and Commercial Rotorcraft Pilot’s Licences with Instrument and Instructor Ratings. Some of the appointments held in the GDF Air Corps were as Officer Commanding (OC) Fixed Wing, Chief Pilot, and Training Pilot, and as, Commanding Officer from 1979-1987. During his service, he played a pivotal role in the selection of students for training as pilots and aviation engineers. He holds a BSc (Professional Aeronautics) and an MSc (Aviation Management) both from the Embry Riddle Aeronautical University.
He is married to Donna London and is the father of six. Back in 2013, the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) had renamed and dedicated its Air Corps headquarters in honour of London. The headquarters is now known as Air Station London. Air Station London is a military facility located at Timehri, within the environs of the Cheddi Jagan international Airport.