Aeronautical engineers will be held accountable for accidents – Minister

…as 40 graduate

Forty persons graduated from the Art Williams and Harry Wendt Aeronautical Engineering School on Monday but not before being warned by the Minister within the Public Infrastructure Ministry, Annette Ferguson, that they will be held accountable for any accidents that may occur under their watch. “Being (an) aircraft engineer is critical to the aviation industry because lives, many of us who depend highly on moving from Georgetown to the vast interior, you would have to ensure that the maintenance of those aircraft are of high standard because if anything is to happen, you the engineers would be the ones who would be held accountable,” the Minister cautioned.
The graduates were further encouraged by Minister Ferguson to ensure that they uphold their credibility, integrity and character, as she wished the students well in the career they are about to enter.
She specifically acknowledged the women who took up the career while saying

that she hopes more young people can become involved in the sector.
Most of the students who graduated from the programme did so with distinctions. The persons who graduated also took part in the academy’s prize giving ceremony with other students who took different courses.  The ceremony was a significant one, as the Engineering School celebrated its 25th Anniversary, and 80 years of British Guiana’s First Private Commercial Airline (May 1938 – May 2018).
The Ab-Initio Training Programme offered by the School is a Level 6 – Associate’s Degree. This along with its approved training for an Aircraft Maintenance Engineer’s Licence, is now able to bridge the gap between Air Transport Certification for Licences and that of higher education.
A total of 5 Modular Students have also applied for their licences. So far, there are 38 full passes for both written and oral examinations.
The success rate is notable for this school, with the highest number of passes at the Aircraft Maintenance Engineer’s Licences Examinations by the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority.
The graduates were wished well by the School’s Director, Malcolm Chan-A-Sue and Chairman, Captain Ronald Reece among other executives.
The School was certified on July 24, 2006 by the Trinidad and Tobago Bureau of Standards for its ISO 9001:2000 Quality Management Systems. It transitioned in year 2010 to the ISO 9001:2008 Standards and as of this year, July 2018, it is compliant to the new ISO 9001:2015 Standards. It meets and exceeds all annual audits done by the Trinidad and Tobago Bureau of Standards – which is its Certification Body – as well as Internal Audits by the Guyana National Bureau of Standards.
This pioneering institution which opened its doors to training in Aircraft Maintenance Engineering in 1993, is approved as an Aviation Training Organisation (ATO) by the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), the Caribbean Aviation Safety Oversight System of Caricom (CASSOS), Jamaica Civil Aviation Authority (JCAA), the Civil Aviation Safety Authority of Suriname (CASAS) and the Trinidad & Tobago Civil Aviation Authority (TTCAA). The School is also a member of the Flight Safety Foundation, based in Virginia, USA.
The Institute is also approved under the Rules and Regulations of the Guyana Aviation Requirements and is working together with the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority to develop and transition to the Training Guidelines set out in the International Civil Aviation Organisation, (ICAO) Doc. 7192, Part D1.