President Irfaan Ali and Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley arrived at the Eugene Correia International Airport from a trip to Brazil. After an uneventful landing, as the aircraft was taxiing to the ramp for passenger disembarkation, the nose wheel of the aircraft exited the paved area of the taxiway. In aviation terms, this is known as a “taxiway excursion.”
The media report of the incident has garnered widespread interest because of the efforts of National Security Advisory Gerry Gouveia, to discredit a report about the incident by veteran Guyanese journalist Gordon Moseley.
Mr. Mosley reported that “GDF Aircraft carrying President and Barbadian PM “slipped off” runway at Ogle.” This caused Gouveia to respond, “This is a very inaccurate story penned by News Source Guyana.”
According to Gouveia’s Facebook post, this was a minor incident, “The aircraft was taxi-ing very slowly, turning off of the main runway into the taxi in poor visibility when the nose gear exited the concrete taxiway, slightly.”
The Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) on its Facebook page then issued the following statement, “the entire aircraft remained firmly positioned on the taxiway with only the nose gear slightly in the grass. All the passengers disembarked the aircraft safely and calmly through the normal exit.”
The Barbados Government Information Service also issued the following statement on their Facebook page, “The Prime Minister’s Office wishes to make it absolutely clear to Barbadians that at no time during her recent overseas trip was Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley on a plane that was involved in any accident. “It is fake news!” the Prime Minister said tonight.”
The appearance of some sort of damage control with a convoluted explanation, when there was no need, created an extended life of the story and is bound to raise eyebrows in many quarters.
We can get into the semantics of the English language but the facts as submitted by Gordon Mosley, Gerry Gouveia, and the GCAA the aircraft’s nose wheel exited the taxiway. This action caused the aircraft to stop short, and passengers exited the aircraft on the taxiway.
This taxiway/runway excursion, according to regulations must trigger a process. According to “FAA JO 7210.632A, ATO Occurrence Reporting, requires an occurrence report for any instance in which an aircraft unintentionally maneuvers off the runway/taxiway.”
The aviation industry is inherently safe because of the diligent men and women, the technology, policies, and processes including reporting, inspections, training, risk mitigation, etc. If any one of the pieces of the safety matrix is ignored, neglected, or subverted, the risk mitigation strategy will be flawed.
The aviation professional must always remain credible, the industry is built on trust, from the mechanic performing the smallest of tasks and the inspector having to trust that the task is completed in accordance with the manufacturer’s maintenance manual, the flight crew who have to trust the mechanics, the inspectors, the ground crew, air traffic controllers the manufacturer of the equipment, etc. and the passengers who have to place their lives in the hands of everyone associated with the industry.
When we attempt to complicate the explanation of a simple incident we cause others to distrust our character and every area of our responsibility. This incident could have been simply been put to bed by a simple press release (see example below) by Gerry Gouveia especially because of his role as National Security Advisor and a senior member of the aviation community.
Upon landing at the Eugene Correia International airport after a trip to Brazil, the aircraft in which President Irfaan Ali and Prime Minister Mia Mottley were traveling experienced a taxiway excursion where the nose wheel exited the paved area of the taxiway. The aircraft was a short distance from the passenger ramp and the VIPs exited the aircraft unaided, then entered their waiting vehicles and departed the airport. As a precaution and per regulations, emergency vehicles were deployed for the unscheduled stop of the aircraft on the airport maneuvering area, but there was no need for intervention.
Again per regulations, the aircraft was inspected and no damage was found, it then proceeded on to the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, which was the next leg of its journey.
An investigation into the event will be completed to learn about the cause and provide recommendations.
No one was in danger, no equipment was damaged and there was no need for action by emergency personnel. All VIPs continued on with their schedule.
