Luther Orlando Charles, chief executive of Domestic Airways (Georgetown Ogle), has been given a week to pay a GYD200,000 dollar (USD958) fine for failing to provide an occupational safety officer at Guyana's Ministry of Social Protection with information about the crash of a Cessna (single piston) that killed pilot Randy Liverpool, the Stabroek News reported.
The ruling on August 22 comes on top of a fine of GYD75,000 (USD359) charged the day before for occupational health and safety violations, including failing to give notice of the pilot's death on February 21, 2019, for five days. Charles pleaded guilty to three of four charges that were read to him by Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan at Georgetown Magistrates' Court on August 21. His sentencing has been deferred.
Liverpool was the sole occupant of the aircraft registered to Domestic Airways, which crashed a few kilometres short of the airstrip at Eteringbang near the Venezuelan border after a flight from Ekereku, according to the Guyana Chronicle. The carrier's fleet includes Britten-Norman BN-2 and Cessna Aircraft Company light aircraft.
The four charges brought against Charles followed an investigation by the ministry’s Occupational Safety and Health Department. The chief executive allegedly failed to keep a register of accidents as required by law until February 25, a charge the defendant pleaded not guilty to. However, he pleaded guilty to not giving written notice of the accident until February 25, failing to provide information about the accident to the department's chief officer until February 25, and neglecting to make an application to the department within 30 days.
The defendant told the court that he had not been aware of the department's existence, as aviation in the country is regulated by the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GyCAA), from which he had secured an Air Operator's Certificate (AOC) in January 2018. Charles stressed that he had been a pilot for 18 years but was new to aviation management.
He said that the GyCAA was conducting its own investigation into the accident and that he had been advised not to divulge any information about it. This, he added, had prevented him from giving information to the department.
