NATA to make safety procedure submission this week

Ban on interior shuttling

The National Air Transport Association (NATA) has now been asked to get the input of every single air transport operator at the Eugene F Correira International Airport before submitting their safety procedure manual to the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA).
President of NATA, Annette Arjoon-Martins told Guyana Times  on Saturday that the organisation is currently consulting with the operators to make a submission early this week to the GCAA, with hope of having the ban lifted.
“The general procedures of Roraima Airways, they will add in theirs. Air Services Limited will also submit their shuttle procedures and a private operator (Orland Charles) he will submit his too. So there is still a lot of work and basically, we will have those submitted by early next week,” she stated.
Arjoon-Martins claimed that this instruction was given following the move by Trans Guyana Airways to go ahead and submit its own safety procedures, instead of submitting collectively with NATA. The NATA head feels that they should have been done as one standard industry procedure. But she said now that the GCAA has asked for additional information, the organisation will go with the instructions.
“I was hoping that we could have done it as an industry. You could imagine how challenging it will be to get a procedure from NATA, Trans Guyana and others. How do you mesh that? We can’t force anybody to do anything to do anything,” she added.
The GCAA Director General, Lieutenant Colonel (retired) Egbert Field told sections of the media on Friday that Trans Guyana could have the shuttle ban lifted before the other operations, following a demonstration of the operational procedures involving their hinterland shuttle flights.
Trans Guyana was the only operator, whose manual came up to par with the GCAA requirements. Field said the Authority received the manuals of all local operators on Thursday and immediately commenced inspection of their operational procedures. He said Trans Guyana’s manual was found to be acceptable and the Authority granted its approval.
Meanwhile, the NATA head also told this newspaper that Field has given his assurance that he will have his team work overtime, so that the process could be expedited. Once the GCAA are pleased with the submissions, they could lift the suspension.
The GCAA on Wednesday ordered that all domestic shuttle operations be suspended until operators can provide Standard Operational Manuals and other documents showing how they conduct their business. These documents would have to be reviewed and approved by the GCAA before operations can be resumed.
This move comes in light of the three recent crashes in the local aviation sector that resulted in the deaths of two pilots. All of the planes crashed while on shuttle operations. The GCAA met with domestic operators, but the decision to suspend shuttling did not go down “too good” with the operators.
Field noted that the decision is necessary, since shuttle operations have expanded over the years, and this is the first time it is going to be fully regularised. The GCAA boss acknowledged the impact the decision would have on the mining industry as well as on some Indigenous communities.This newspaper was told by a senior aviator that a meeting was held on Thursday evening with pilots from across the country, to put things in order to lift the suspension.
Also a high-level team from the Eugene F Correia International Airport met with GCAA officials on Thursday to come to an amicable solution in regard to getting to the root causes of the recent accidents and to strengthen the safety system at the airport and with its operators.