GEORGETOWN, Guyana – The Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) said today that its preliminary investigations into the crash of a Caribbean Airlines (CAL) aircraft last July indicate that the airline made a “long landing” at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport.
In a statement, GCAA said that “at this stage it appears that the primary contributing factor in this accident was that the aircraft made a long landing and touched down with insufficient runway remaining to come to a safe stop”.
The GCAA, which was the lead agency in the probe along with American and Caribbean experts, did not elaborate on what might have contributed to the bad landing on the 4 500-foot long runway.
The plane, a U.S.-made Boeing 737-800, carrying 157 passengers and six crew members, overshot the 7,400-foot runway, crashing through a chain-link airport fence and ending up on a dirt road around the airport. The plane broke in two just before reaching a 200-foot ravine.
The Caribbean Airlines jet , operating as Flight 523, was en route from New York.
The crash was the worst in recent history in Guyana, and is one of only a few serious incidents involving the Trinidad-based airline, which is the single largest carrier in the region.
None of the passengers was killed but one man had to have his leg amputated.
GCAA said that a final conclusion could be expected in another year and that “detailed analyses will examine several other aspects of this flight to identify any other possible contributing factors in order to learn from this accident and to help identify any measures which may assist in the prevention of future occurrences”.
The US-based National Transport Safety Board (NTSB) and Caribbean Aviation Safety and Security Oversight System (CASSOS) are also conducting an investigation into the incident.
“At the end of the analysis phase findings and conclusion and safety recommendations will be developed,” the GCAA added. (CMC)
