Fly Jamaica, CAL planes involved in minor crash at Guyanese airport
AN INCOMING Caribbean Airlines Limited (CAL) aircraft hit a stationary Fly Jamaica Airlines (FJA) plane at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport in Guyana around 6:40 a.m. yesterday.
The incident occurred on the ramp as the Boeing 737-800 aircraft operating flight BW 527 was coming in from New York. The right wing of the CAL aircraft made contact with the tail cone of the Fly Jamaica aeroplane.
Images of the FJA aircraft showed substantial damage to its tail cone.
The tail cone usually serves as an exhaust pipe.
In reaffirming commitment to crew and customer safety, CAL subsequently stated via a press release that all persons had safely disembarked.
The airline also advised that the vessel had been temporarily withdrawn from service while the investigation runs its course.
Director of the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority, retired Col Egbert Field, told Demerara Waves Online News: “Neither of the two planes would be allowed to leave Guyana until investigators have completed their work, repairs are done and they are certified again as being airworthy.”
He further said: “I have asked that the aircraft remain in position so that our team of inspectors can conduct their investigations which would entail taking the measurements etc to ensure, checking to see whether the aircraft were properly parked on the taxi-line position; all these things will come out from the report.”
In confirming the incident, Jamaica Civil Aviation Authority Director General Nari Williams Singh told The Gleaner: “We are awaiting a more fulsome report from Fly Jamaica shortly, them being a Jamaican carrier.
“We have not had any reports of injuries at this point.”