WORKERS of the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) were up to yesterday working around the clock to clear the debris from the area where a United States (US) registered aircraft crashed into a house in Sparendaam, East Coast Demerara on Saturday resulting in the death of the pilot and a surveyor onboard.

Director General of the GCAA, Mr. Zulfikar Mohammed advised that all the parts of the aircraft were being collected to be analysed at a later date, and that some of it, namely the aircraft’s two engines, will be sent overseas to be examined in order to determine what may have caused the accident.
“Investigation is ongoing. There is nothing we can determine at this early stage. The first thing people ask is what is the cause of the accident? We can’t tell you that now, we’re still in the process of gathering information,” he said.
He also related that earlier yesterday, members of the investigation team interviewed people around the area to get eyewitness reports.
Mohammed stated that both persons who perished in the accident have been identified, an American Pilot and a Canadian Surveyor. However, he said that their names could not be released at this time.
He advised that the authority is working through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which was supposed to make contact with the relatives of the deceased persons through the respective embassies.
According to him, a representative from one of the companies responsible for the Amaila Falls project has indicated that he is in contact with the family of the surveyor, but is not certain of the position with the pilot’s family. He said he was made to understand that the pilot’s son should be coming in the country shortly.
Meanwhile, Director of Civil Aviation Safety, Paula Mc Adam who is heading the investigation explained that the two engines and some other parts from the aircraft have been retrieved and sent to a sterile bond where they will be kept until arrangements are made to ship them to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in the United States.
She related that the NTSB is the government accident investigation branch in the US, which has the capacity to do the examinations and tests necessary to determine what went wrong to have caused the accident.
“I can’t say when they will be shipped but hopefully by the end of this week because we still have to build the crates. We have to make the contacts and determine how we will ship them if we’re sending them by air or sea,” she said.
Mc Adam stated that those decisions will be made shortly, but stressed that for now they are in a sterile place “under lock and key” in order to minimize further contamination of the engines.
Meantime, she said that she is unable to say what exactly was communicated between the pilot and the tower at Ogle, but indicated that they received reports of “popping sounds” emanating from the aircraft which indicated that engine failure was the possible cause of the plane’s deadly fate.
She further noted that from all indications, it appears that the crew was doing what they thought was the best thing to do, that is they were probably attempting to get back to the field but were unable to do so.
Minister of Public Works, Robeson Benn was also on the scene yesterday speaking with members of the investigation team and residents around the area.
According to the minister, government is providing assistance to the affected residents as far as possible while the investigations are ongoing. He noted that the Minister of Human Services, Jennifer Webster and representatives of the Guyana Relief Council were on the scene on Saturday and arrangements were being made to provide housing and foodstuff for the misplaced residents.
Meanwhile, Elizabeth Belle, who lives in a house next to the one which the plane crashed into, with her nine children and two grandchildren also suffered some damages to her property.
However, she told the media yesterday that persons showed up at her home on Saturday, claiming to render assistance but instead made off with several valuable items which were in the house.
According to the distraught woman, she is missing two laptops, an undisclosed sum of money and some other items which cannot be ascertained at the moment.
Nevertheless, she said that she was very pleased that Minister Benn and his team visited her home and promised to help in any way they can.
Seventeen-year old Normella Roland who lived in the house at Lot 78, Sparendaam Housing Scheme which was completely destroyed, said that she and her sister, who shared the residence with their step grandmother Florence Dyer-Tyndall, were not at home at the time.
She said that she was in a bus on her way home on Saturday when she saw the smoke, but thought that it was coming from a fire at the cane field. However, she received numerous phone calls advising her that her home was on fire which she confirmed after she arrived home.
She advised that she and her sister are currently staying with an aunt, but will soon be moving to their step grandmother’s son’s home.