Director General of the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), retired Lieutenant Colonel Egbert Field disclosed that measures are being put in place to impose penalties on intoxicated crew members on air services.
He noted that the perpetrators would be fined and penalised if they are found operating under the influence of alcohol or intoxicating substances.
These provisions fall under the revised Civil Aviation Bill which is before a parliamentary committee that should finalise changes by the end of this month. Field also related that people found trespassing on runways while an aircraft is in operation would be fined.
“These are new items included in the Bill which seek to address care of aerodromes in the interior. There are a number of items in the Bill that will make things clearer than the last Civil Aviation Act. The last Act was implemented when we were just being formed into an authority so many things were not included. Over the years, we have seen changes in aviation thus, this Civil Aviation Bill will include all those items drawing on our experience,” Field told State media.
According to the report, stakeholders in the aviation industry and GCAA’s staff were instructed to present regulations to the Director General who will peruse them before presenting them to the subject minister by July 15.
“Regulations are difficult to put together when it comes to the aviation industry, especially one unique as Guyana. Because we derive or formulate our regulations from what the ICAO [International Civil Aviation Industry Organisation] puts out in its annexes. But those are really international regulations. We have to retool the regulations and annexes into ours to accommodate the size and operation we are doing in our domestic industry,” he said.
