CITING the need to bring greater independence to the Aircraft Accident and Incident Investigations Unit of the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), new GCAA Director General, Lieutenant Colonel (Ret’d) Egbert Field, has told the Guyana Chronicle that moves are already being made to have this unit delinked from the GCAA.Identified as a priority for the GCAA, Field said, this development would be significant toward ensuring transparency and professionalism when aviation accidents and incidents are investigated; and it is also a requirement that would contribute to Guyana scoring well with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which is preparing to visit Guyana next month for an audit.

Field is adamant that the GCAA cannot be closely linked to the accident unit. He said that unit must be an independent party fulfilling that aspect of aviation management. “This is tantamount to us investigating ourselves,” Field said, explaining that this cannot be the case. He said that aviation stakeholders are supportive of this move, with some even suggesting that the investigation unit be housed separately from the GCAA.

“The Authority has taken steps to have the unit delinked from GCAA. We have at the moment an Accident Investigations Act that speaks to the unit being headed by an independent person who reports directly to the minister, and (there is need for the unit) to have its own budget under the ministry,” Field noted.

He explained that the GCAA cannot be directly involved in accident/incident investigations, since the report could very well implicate the GCAA if that body is liable, and can relate to policies or management issues. In relation to a possible occurrence of an accident or incident, Field said, “It could very well be that the Authority failed to do something, or needs to address something; and this would have to be reflected in the report.”

Field said that, in a nutshell, the unit in question must be independent, and function in that way. The international practice is reportedly that independent arms investigate accidents, since the GCAA would be investigating itself should it perform that task.

In the past, accident and incident investigations were done and the report would have gone to the Director General, then the minister. Stakeholders had complained bitterly, with some questioning the independence and integrity of accidents/incidents investigations done by the very people who might have to share or accept culpability.

In 2014, a number of aircraft accidents and incidents forced stakeholders to demand independence of the investigation unit. The accidents included the death of a Canadian pilot and local cargo handler due to alleged overweight and unstrapped objects, and the toppling of a Cessna by an allegedly “texting,” pilot. The Aircraft Owners Association of Guyana (AOAG) had stated then that the GCAA needed to be investigated whenever there was an aircraft accident, because of its position as the regulatory civil aviation body. The AOAG had also called for the presence of Flight Operations Inspectors (FOIs).

It was related also that failure to separate the investigation unit from the GCAA was leaving room for corrupt practices, since there were suspicions and later allegations made by stakeholders of money being paid for desirable findings. The GCAA had responded to concerns and questions in a statement that described allegations as an “obfuscation of the facts”. The GCAA had said that Guyana, as a signatory to the Convention on International Civil Aviation, is mandated to carry out a safety investigation in conformity with the protocols and procedures set out in Annex 13, which speaks to safety investigation with the sole objective of preventing accidents and incidents.

“It is not the purpose of this type of activity to apportion blame or liability,” the GCAA said.

The Authority said at the time that while there were no in-house FOIs, it had a readily available one from the Caribbean Aviation Safety and Security Oversight System (CASSOS). The current GCAA head has already noted that two in-house FOIs will be employed.

The Accident and Incident Investigation Unit is currently supervised by senior aviation personnel Paula Mc Adam, who has extensive experience and knowledge in aviation accident investigation and safety.