‘God cared for us’
Lincoln Gomez
Lincoln Gomez

– pilot of West Demerara plane crash recounts final moments before going down

“I BELIEVE a miracle happened to us. We could have died but somehow, somehow God cared for us”

Those were the words of Captain Lincoln Gomez, the pilot who, along with a police officer, survived Monday night’s plane crash aback the Canal Number Two Polder on the West Bank of Demerara.

Gomez recounted to the Guyana Chronicle on Friday, the events of the final minutes before the plane he was flying, a Cessna 182 bearing registration N8704T, crashed within a clear patch near some trees in the muddy landscape on Monday night around 19:00hrs. Police Constable Mark Grimond, the lone passenger, also survived the crash.
The pilot, who is recovering in the city, said he tried his best to bring the plane to safety.

DEPARTURE FROM ARAU
He recalled that he left the western border village of Arau around 17:05hrs on Monday for the Eugene F Correia International Airport at Ogle. Onboard was the body of Christopher Matthews, a foreign missionary who died earlier in the day after falling off a mountain side at Arau.
Gomez said he waited for close to an hour prior to departure for the police officer who travelled as an escort of the body to the city. Among the pilot’s pre-flight checks, was to measure the fuel to ensure it was enough to last the flight, and he figured there was enough fuel to last the flight.

The pilot instinctively thought about delaying the flight to the following morning from Paruima, and he remembered telling this to the police rank. He said his plan was to fly over to the neighbouring village of Paruima from Arau, however, the deceased was beginning to produce a stench and he finally decided to fly.
He said the take-off and flight out of the area went well as he planned. He noted that he was asked by the air traffic control (ATC) facility at Timehri to maintain 7000 feet while he was 75 miles from the CJIA.

As he reached closer to his destination, he was instructed to descend to 2000 feet. “I was checking the fuel gauge but I was confident I had enough to reach Ogle,” he said. He said while he reached closer, he remembered passing near the CJIA on the way to Ogle, noting that the moonlit night provided him with some guidance of where he was. Then things took a drastic change.

THE ENGINE DIED
“Suddenly the engine started to idle,” the pilot said. He said at that point he decided to trouble-shoot the problem, noting that he figured maybe there was not enough fuel in the tanks. “I started applying what I learnt in training within minutes and in the meantime, just imagine the plane is descending,” he said. In his thoughts, he figured that the engine was utilising much more fuel than what was on the indicator in the panel in front of him, but he had little time to dwell on this thought.

NOTHING MORE CAN BE DONE
The pilot noted that when he figured that there was nothing more he could have done, he declared an emergency, by shouting “MAYDAY!” to the control tower and told the air traffic controller his position. The controllers tried to ask him if he can make it to another aerodrome. The closest aerodrome they noted is the Hampton Court airstrip on the Essequibo Coast. But that was too far.
“During the time we were descending, the policeman was seated next to me and he realised there was no power in the plane, he realised something is wrong and he started shouting and asked me to go to the river but there was not much power, we were gliding,” Gomez said.

Gomez said that he started to pray in his mind, asking God to be with him in those final minutes. “I think I prayed suddenly saying Lord help us, it is something sudden,” he said.
He said the entire episode from the time the engine died to his last recollection, lasted some five minutes. The aircraft was gliding and heading for the forest below.
“I only remember we hit some trees and when I open my eyes, I saw the plane was upside down, I just couldn’t believe where we were. I was so amazed we were in an open space, then I believed that God led that plane right into that spot, otherwise if we went into the trees, we could have died,” he said.

Gomez said he tried to find an instrument which he could have clicked so that an alarm would be triggered for the authorities to find him but the confusion was too much. He recalled looking for his flashlight and during this time, he remembered telling the police officer where to find the flare gun. The police rank moved him from the plane’s cockpit, he surmised.

Gomez said the policeman handed him the phone and he was able to indicate to the authorities where they were using a global positioning satellite system (GPS) device. He said his colleagues told him they were able to locate his exact position and they provided the geographical coordinates to the control tower.

A HELICOPTER, EMERGENCY SNACK AND THE RESCUE EFFORT
He said a helicopter passed overhead and its occupants were able to locate the injured duo with a powerful light. The injured pilot anticipated that the rescuers in the chopper would have descended with a rope to extract them but moments later, the chopper flew off and the duo felt disappointed.

The men were unaware that the helicopter had landed more than a mile away in the thick forest and Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Special Forces men braved the torrid terrain to find them.

Gomez said he decided to eat a snack which he had in an emergency bag on the plane, while the police rank sat beside him on the wing of the plane next to the corpse. The police officer’s mouth was damaged so he could not eat. “We were there on the wing and we were in pain, we were weak and tired, we were sleepy and I had difficulty moving but I had the GPS in my hand and we waited,” he said with a smile.
Gomez said after several hours, they heard men shouting in the distance and the police rank fired the flares once more as the voices come closer. They were then rescued and taken to safety.

The pilot expressed appreciation to the army ranks who rescued them. The all-round efforts of the authorities were also praised.

“I am very grateful at this time, because I believe a miracle happened to us,” he said adding that, “Although we were badly hurt, we are still alive and only God has to take all the credit for keeping us alive.”

TEARS OF JOY
The pilot said that he met his wife and children, who travelled to the city to be with him in the days after the accident. He said there were tears of joy when he held onto his wife and children. “We cried and I told them I am as good as dead, but God has been merciful,” he noted with a smile.

As regards the future, Gomez said he has some amount of thinking to do. “That’s a good question. Each individual has the right to decide what to do in life depending on the circumstances,” he said with a smile.
He said on one hand he learnt a lesson, but on the other hand he has to imagine being in the air once more.

The Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) has since interviewed him as they investigate the accident. The aviation umbrella body is also investigating another plane crash, this one fatal, which occurred on Thursday afternoon.

Former air traffic controller Randy Liverpool, the pilot and only occupant of a Cessna 206 aircraft bearing registration 8R-GHB, crashed and died while attempting to land at Eteringbang close to the Venezuelan border.

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