— cause of fewer aviation accidents, says GCAA director-general

GUYANA, over the last three years, has seen a reduction of accidents in the aviation industry. Such progress, linked to increased training and inspections, has set the country on a path to achieving 85 per cent compliance with the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) standards and recommended practices (SARPs) this year.

Director-general of the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), Lt. Col. (ret’d) Egbert Field, in an exclusive interview with the Guyana Chronicle, said significant improvements in the management of the country’s aviation industry has put Guyana way above the world average. Approximately 10 years ago, when the ICAO’s Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme (USOAP) was conducted here, Guyana had scored 44 per cent; however, in 2017 when another audit was conducted the country achieved a 66 per cent compliance level. The director-general said based on an estimate, the local aviation industry’s ICAO compliance, at the end of 2018, stood at 80 per cent.

“So officially we are at 66 per cent, now unofficially we are at 80 per cent. We are awaiting a formal audit from ICAO in order to really establish where we are,” he explained.
In 2018, the GCAA had approached ICAO to conduct another audit of the country’s aviation industry, but with the international aviation watchdog assessing a total of 192 states; such requests could not have been facilitated at the time. The local aviation authority, however, remains optimistic. In the absence of a complete audit, which includes an onsite visit, there is an interim system in which authorities such as the GCAA are allowed to submit requisite information on the industry’s operation for assessment. It is based on that assessment that an estimated compliance rate is determined.

While pointing out that the world average for ICAO compliance is 60 per cent, Field said he would like Guyana’s rating to rise to the 90s. Such achievement, he said, would be a strong indication of the “excellency” within the country’s aviation industry.

The GCAA director said increased training within the industry is among contributing factors to the improvements in the country’s compliance with ICAO standards and recommended practices. In the case of the GCAA, more than 100 persons were trained.
“We have done a lot of training. In 2018, we trained over 116 persons… and they did about 107 courses,” he pointed out, while adding that increased training is critical for the existence of a robust authority.

With increased training, particularly of inspectors, the GCAA since 2015 has been able to significantly increase the number of ramp inspections conducted. Ramp inspection is assessment of an aircraft on Guyana’s territory.
“In 2015, they only had nine of those inspections between Timehri and Ogle. In 2016, there was only about seven… [however] with the training done over the past two years, we have been able to do 205 ramp inspections for 2018 alone, and this is moving from 2017 – with a 122 ramp inspections,” the GCAA director-general detailed.

SAFER ENVIRONMENT
He said continuous inspections keep operators in check and foster a safer environment. “What additional inspections do, it means that there is more oversight, inspectors are able to see or to find non-compliant issues or non-compliant items and that increases the safety margin,” the director-general said.

He said as training and inspections increase, accidents within the aviation industry would decrease. In 2018, the civil aviation authority recorded two minor accidents and a major accident at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA), but there was no loss of life. It was explained that while an elderly woman, who was a passenger on Fly Jamaica Flight No OJ 256 when it crashed at CJIA last November, died after the accident, her death has not been “linked” or “could be attributed” to the accident.

Field said six accidents in which two persons died were recorded in 2019.
“We had six accidents in 2017 and two cases which were fatal, so you can see that drop when it comes to 2018,” Field told this newspaper. He pointed out that the accidents in 2017 were attributed to a shuttle operation which had not been approved by the GCAA. He said it was for that reason that the GCAA had suspended all shuttle operations until they were brought in line with the regulations governing the authority. Operators got the green light from the GCAA to carry out their shuttle operations once their manuals were reviewed, facilities inspected and flight patterns assessed, the director-general explained.

“For the past year, there was no death or no accident which could be attributed to the shuttle operation. That is what we have to do… we have to ensure that operations are properly approved, that we do proper oversight on them and once that is done, that impacts on the safety side of things, which means safety is improved, thus the fall in the accident rate,” Field said.
Close to 80,000 flights were conducted in 2018 compared to approximately 70,000 flights in 2017.

FULLY COMPLIANT
In 2018, a team from the United States’ Transportation Security Administration (TSA) conducted security inspections at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport and the Eugene F. Correia International Airport, and found that the airports have been fully compliant with TSA’s established standards. A report on the assessments conducted was submitted to the Minister within the Ministry of Public Infrastructure with responsibility for Aviation, Annette Ferguson.

The GCAA is now in the process of drafting new security regulations in accordance with the modern Civil Aviation Act, which was passed last November and replaces the Civil Aviation Act, Chapter 53:01. The Act makes provisions for enablement of the Chicago Convention and the agreement establishing the Caribbean Aviation Safety and Security Oversight System. It also provides for offences pertaining to the safety and security of passengers, aircraft and airports and for the regulation and control of orderly development in the sector.

The strides made in Guyana’s aviation industry have not gone unnoticed. When Guyana hosted the ICAO’s Air Transport Meeting and the Third African Diaspora Meeting last November, it was applauded for significant progress made in the area of safety, and for being a regional leader in the aviation sector.

The ICAO’s Council President, Dr. Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu, at the conclusion of the three-day meeting held at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, was among officials who took note of the country’s achievements.

“Within the context of our No Country Left Behind initiative, and in order for us in Montreal to reach all our member states and there are 192-member states, we need regional leaders; and Guyana has proven to be a regional leader, and that is one of the reasons why we believe that Guyana was able to host such an important meeting,” Dr. Aliu said.
During that conference, Guyana signed Air Services Agreements with Ghana, Singapore and Aruba. This year, it is expected that similar agreements will be signed with a number of other countries.

“We also moved towards initialising or doing preliminary stages of agreements with over 20 countries, which will include Colombia, Zimbabwe, Gambia, the Cameroons, Jordan, Mozambique, Rwanda and Sri Lanka. So there are a number of other countries that we have begun our priority work with and hope to move toward onward to this year,” the GCAA director-general said.

At the end of the conference, Minister Annette Ferguson, Minister within the Ministry of Public Infrastructure, was invited to hold the post of Vice-Chairperson for the ICAO’s Second High-Level Conference on Aviation Security (HLCAS/2) held at the ICAO Headquarters in Montreal, Canada in November, 2018.

The aviation authority has also planned to install an instrument-landing system at the newly renovated CJIA, as well as an Automatic Terminal Information Service (ATIS,) which will provide critical information to pilots on the weather, runway navigation information.
But the industry is not without its challenges. Field told this newspaper that the sourcing of qualified personnel for certain positions and finances are the primary challenges. He said finances are needed to hire highly qualified persons, to hire and train more inspectors who will be required to travel to the aerodromes that are spread across the country.