The Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Caribbean Aviation Safety and Security Oversight System (CASSOS) and the Transport Safety Board of Canada (TSB).
From left: Director General de l’Aviation Civile Haiti, Olivier Phillip Jean; Director General of the Jamaica Civil Aviation Authority, Donald McPhail; Director for TSB Canada, ICAO Secretary General Dr Fang Liu; and GCAA Director General, Lieutenant Colonel (Ret’d) Egbert Field, during the signing of the MoU
In regard to aircraft incidents and accidents, this MoU will allow for investigations to be enhanced through the exchange of expertise, training, and the use of facilities among the member states of the CASSOS and TSB.
The MoU was signed on October 15, 2018 in Montreal, Canada on the sidelines of the 13th Air Navigation Conference.
Director General of the GCAA, Lieutenant Colonel (Retd) Egbert Field, signed the MoU on behalf of Guyana, which provides for improved investigative standards, policies, guidelines, procedures, training of investigators, and providing investigation support as requested by either party.
The MoU also provides for the exchange of information on investigation and operational experience, joint development of techniques, methodologies, standards and procedures, and initial training and refresher courses for investigators.
The Director General of GCAA welcomed the initiative to have the opportunities presented in the MoU for greater assistance in aircraft accidents’ and incidents’ investigations, as well as the training opportunities for investigators available to each member state from the Transport and Safety Board of Canada.
The member States of CASSOS include Barbados, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago; and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), which include Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
Currently, Paula McAdam is Guyana’s only aircraft accident and incident investigator. In 2017, Guyana had three aircraft accidents, two of which were fatal. Investigations into those accidents are still ongoing.
Meanwhile, on September 18, 2018, the GCAA inked yet another MoU, this time with the National Civil Aviation Agency of Brazil (ANAC), with the objective of providing managerial, technical and operational cooperation in the field of civil aviation with each other.
The MoU was signed on the sidelines of the Fourth World Aviation Forum of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (IWAF/4) held in Fortaleza, Brazil from September 17-19, 2018.
This agreement was also signed by Field along with the President of ANAC, Jose Ricardo Pataro Botelho De Queiroz. This MoU will see the two civil aviation regulatory bodies enhancing their existing relationship through knowledge exchange, technical cooperation, and best practice in developing, modernising, operating and maintaining the civil aviation systems of both countries.
Other areas of “mutual interest” include the development of a State Safety Programme (SSP) and Safety Management Systems (SMS), safety surveillance and oversight, aircraft certification, personnel licensing, aerodromes, and airworthiness.
Under this agreement, provisions will be made for training of personnel, institutional strengthening, human resources management, regulation of air transport, as well as economic regulation.
In this regard, officers of the GCAA and ANAC will also exchange their expertise in the various aspects of civil aviation, to provide training and/or technical visits either to Brazil or Guyana; and develop studies to benefit both countries in the field of civil aviation.
