Crash-landing at Piarco

Forty-six terrified passengers — men, women and children — were last night thanking their lucky stars for pilots Daniel Kawal and Barry Sadeek, whose skills prevented a major disaster and loss of lives, as a Tobago Express aircraft Flight 534, crash-landed at Piarco yesterday at 1.10 pm. There was no injury to passengers although the the aircraft was damaged. The plane landed roughly on the runway and exits were quickly opened, and passengers who had been briefed on the emergency situation, quicky exited the aircraft. The exercise of getting the passengers off the aircraft took mere seconds and they were shuttled to the Tobago Express terminal by ambulances where they were medically treated.

First word of the drama began at 11.51 am when pilot Kawal, who was preparing to land at the Crown Point Airport in Tobago, realised that the nose gear safe light was not illuminating. As Kawal flew over the Crown Point Control Tower, the air traffic controller confirmed his worst fears — that the gear in the aircraft was not functioning. In accordance with operating procedures, the pilot circled Crown Point and redeployed the landing gear, but still the nose gear did not function. Attempts to extend the gear manually also failed. Kawal circled Crown Point several more times and then took a decision to return to Piarco, which had better facilities for dealing with an emergency. He alerted Civil Aviation in Tobago of his decision, and they contacted the Command Centre in Trinidad and mobilised more than 150 police officers, fire units, ambulances, doctors, nurses and other support personnel.

As mobilisation took place on the ground, Kawal and three crew members pacified passengers in the aircraft, and urged them  to remain calm, assuring them that all procedures were in place for the emergency landing. By then, Piarco Airport was on full emergency and the airport was temporarily shut down to all incoming and outgoing flights. Flights coming  to Trinidad were diverted to Tobago. The Director General of Civil Aviation  and his team of trained accident investigators witnessed the crash-landing. As it landed, the aircraft travelled 500 feet on the runway at Piarco causing sparks to fly before it came to a stop. Passengers were immediately evacuated. Louise Broomes, 54, and Althea Alfred, 54, of Tobago, were treated for high blood pressure while Anthony Harlein, 34, of Morvant was also treated for hypertension by a team comprising doctors Mohammed, HariKrishna and Singh, and three nurses.

The aircraft was towed to Hanger Ten where civil aviation investigators are in the process of determining the cause of the landing gear failure. Ellen Lewis Adamson, Corporate Communications Manager of the Airports Authority, held a press briefing yesterday and said that from 1.07 pm to 3 pm, the airport was temporarily closed to deal with the situation. She added that three flights were re-routed because of the airport closure. She praised all those who responded in record time and believes that a recent exercise to deal with disaster preparedness assisted the mobilised team of persons yesterday. At Piarco, some of the passengers were seen crying and hugging each other while being treated for shock by the team of doctors.

Outside the Tobago terminal building, anxious relatives gathered, awaiting the arrival of the passengers. Prabha Singh, one of the affected passengers who was interviewed by Newsday in the washroom of the airport, broke down and cried as she spoke briefly of the ordeal. She was going to meet her husband in Tobago. She said everything was fine, with everyone relaxed, when minutes before reaching Tobago, the pilot informed everyone that an emergency had occurred and advised them to keep calm. She said passengers feared for their safety and began praying. Some passengers began crying, while others expressed confidence in the pilot, but fears increased when the pilot decided to return to Trinidad to land the aircraft which resulted in further panic.

Singh said that persons suffering with high blood pressure complained of pain in their necks, while others hoped for the best. As she recalled how she went into a state of shock when the aircraft crash-landed at Piarco, Singh again began crying and could not continue the interview. Affected passengers were prevented from speaking with the media and were allowed to leave the airport through back exits. The area in front of the Tobago terminal was cordoned off with barriers. Cpl Ignacio of the Piarco Police Station is investigating.

CRASH-LANDING AT PIARCO
‘Like nothing I ever saw’

By KHRYSTAL RAWLINS

“It was like nothing I ever saw before.” This was the statement of Reynold Diaz at Piarco International Airport, when Tobago Express flight 534 crash-landed. He praised the landing by the two pilots saying it was professionally and flawlessly executed under the circumstances.  As the drama developed, Diaz quickly got out his digital camera and captured the landing even though he was a distance away from the plane. Diaz told Newsday it was shortly after 1 pm when a colleague told him he saw police officers blocking off the Golden Grove Road leading to the airport. “He wanted to find out what was going on so he contacted the Airport Authority. They told him they were expecting a potential crash-landing, so we went out to the main gallery in our building where we could see the entire runway,” Diaz said.

Not more than three minutes later, Diaz said the events unfolded right before their eyes. “I believe we got there just in time. On the tarmac there were dozens of police officers, EHS personnel and fire officers. “Everyone was there. In the next couple seconds, we saw the aircraft approaching, but what was most noticeable to us was the fact that there was no landing gear to the front of the aircraft. “All the others were out but the front wheel was definitely not deployed at that point,” Diaz said. “As excited as I was at the time, I was very worried. I never saw anything like this before in my life. All sorts of things were running through my mind. I was concerned about the people on board,” he continued.

According to Diaz, a few seconds later, he and his colleague just saw the aircraft literally “hit the runway.” “There was just a little spark to the front where the landing gear ought to have been. But despite the fact that the landing gear was absent, the landing was indeed flawless,” he said. “I couldn’t believe the way things moved,” he added. Diaz said as the plane stopped, doors to the aircraft flung open, passengers jumped to the ground, and were able to do so because the aircraft is a low one. “No one waited for the staircases to be attached. Persons were just panicking. Everyone seemed very anxious to get out. They jumped out and were running from the aircraft,” said Diaz.

As a regulation, aircraft land on the runway and approach “gates” where passengers alight and are automatically within the enclosed area of the airport. This, however, did not happen yesterday.  Passengers just ran from the aircraft as fast as they could. Diaz noted that a recent fire drill at Piarco may have contributed to the professional handling of yesterday’s situation by the protective services and airport personnel. “About two or three weeks ago, there was a fire drill and honestly, the employees handled the real case scenario much better than the coordinated drill. “There was no panic. All the passengers were immediately attended to by members of the EHS, police and fire officers. Everything was flawless. The entire aircraft was cleared in about thirty seconds,” Diaz said.