I was just about to tweet about the Caribbean Airlines plane crash that occurred today, where a Caribbean Airlines plane that overshot the runway at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport in Guyana, broke in two, injuring 17 persons...
...when upon doing a Google search, I saw an article from the Daily Mail reporting that there was another Caribbean Airlines crash:
We are deeply saddened to hear of the fatalities and injuries and our hearts go out to the injured, their families and the families of those who've died.
What Caribbean Airlines needs to do immediately, is:
1) Issue a statement re these crashes
2) Begin investigations to ascertain what caused these crashes.
3) Hire and rehire all the Jamaican maintenance staff that belonged to Air Jamaica, to work with them.
Air Jamaica had a perfect safety record during its 42 years of operation, due to the expertise of its maintenance staff, ground crew and pilots.
They can teach the Trinidadians a thing or two about how to maintain airplanes that are over ten (10) years old.
(Trinidad owns Caribbean Airlines, which took over Air Jamaica in April 2010 ) .
In the meantime, people, until Caribbean Airlines can give you a valid reason for continuing to travel with them, please be very wary of flying with them.
Insist instead on flying in an Air Jamaica plane (which is now under the Caribbean Airlines brand).
REDjet may be another alternative...their fares may be cheap, but please bear in mind that they use 20-year-old planes whose safety record was in question by both the Trinidadian and Jamaican Transportation Ministries a few weeks to a few months ago.
================= Update Start ================
Everyone, I was alerted by an avid Trinidadian reader of this blog, that the Daily Mail article above, re the Caribbean Airlines plane crash in St. Barthelemy (St. Barths) may be in error.
This person has provided me with a listing of commercial airlines that fly to St. Barths.
There is an Air Caraïbes that flies to St. Bathelemy (St. Barths), that the Daily Mail could have mistaken for Caribbean Airlines.
The Daily Mail article that I referred to, above, unfortunately has no date assigned, so when I picked up the article, through Google and the article said "4 hours ago", with yesterday's date.. and the paper's date heading (which was yesterday), appeared, it seemed like the article's date heading.
I assumed that the Daily Mail article was current and correct.
I've checked Caribbean Airlines' website...they don't have any flights to St. Barths.
What I will do is issue an apology immediately, if this information re this crash in St. Barthelemy is incorrect.
But to my Trinidadian friends, I will not retract my statement re Caribbean Airlines hiring and rehiring Jamaican maintenance crew, pilots and ground crew...I think it's a mistake for them to get rid of some of the best people who understand how to maintain and fly, 10+ year-old aircraft.
...Their safety record proves it. :)
Friends, I will do some more research and get back to you.
To my Trinidadian friend who pointed this out...thanks for the "heads up"...deeply appreciated! :)
================= Update End ================
(I would like to thank stinksud for the use of their YouTube inset video above , entitled,"Caribbean Airlines Crash Landed in Guyana July 30th 2011". We apologize for the poor quality of the video above).
Gillian
Sources Include
1) Article,"Terror at CJIA… Caribbean Airlines plane crashes on landing", JamaicaObserver.com, July 30,2011
2) Article, "20 dead in Caribbean plane crash", Mail Online, July 30,2011
3) AirJamaica.com, accessed July 30,2011
4) FlyREDjet.com, accessed July 30,2011
5) Letter of the Day, "Air Jamaica must keep safety record", by Lennox Parkins via Jamaica-Gleaner.com, July 11,2011
6) Article, "Safety concerns holding up REDjet license", Jamaica ObserverOnline, June 16,2011
7) Air Jamaica Press Release: IOSA Registry: "Air Jamaica added to the IOSA Registry" , March 13,2008
