GDF had only one helicopter in service during MV Barima tragedy and search operations

A single helicopter – the Bell 407 – was in service when the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) launched its search and rescue operations hours after receiving reports that a passenger vessel – the MV Barima – was in distress out at sea on night of July 18.

This is according to GDF Captain Simon Gordon, who appeared before the MV Barima Commission of Inquiry (COI) today at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC).

Captain Gordon, who assists with assembling both crew and aircraft, in addition to maintaining flight logs, told the Commission that the GDF’s Air Corps fleet includes three helicopters – a Bell 412, a Bell 407 and a Bell 429.

However, in direct response to series of questions posed by Commissioner Hayden Pritchard, Captain Gordon disclosed that between July 19 when the GDF dispatched the first helicopter to the disaster site, and July 27 only the Bell 407 – a single engine helicopter – was “serviceable.”

“On the 19th [July] only one helicopter was used up until the 27th [July] because that was the only serviceable helicopter at the time and it so happen to be the single engine aircraft,” Captain Gordon explained.

An earlier witness, Lieutenant Colonel Anson Weeks testified that the Bell 407 helicopter was only able to conduct aerial reconnaissance along the coastline because civil aviation regulations prohibit single engine aircraft from operating offshore.

The Commission today would then be told that the two other helicopters – the Bell 412 and Bell 429 – are multi-engine aircraft and are capable of flying offshore but they were out of service at the time.

“The Bel 407 is our only single engine aircraft. The Bell 429 and the Bell 412 there are multiengine aircraft…The multiengine aircraft gives us more range, gives us more operating time and it also allows us to go further offshore because if one engine fails, the aircraft can still fly. If it is a single engine aircraft and that engine fails, that produces another casualty and another terrible situation,” Captain Gordon explained.

Lieutenant Colonel Kevin Langevine, who appeared subsequently, testified that on July 22, 24, and 25, he conducted three sets of aerial reconnaissance along the coastline using the Bell 407 Helicopter.

“I was instructed to depart Ogle to do a reconnaissance flight along the coastline, from Hampton Court to as far as Waini Point. The purpose was to look for any survivor and or bodies because at that time they had started recovering numerous bodies from the wreckage or the vessel,” Lieutenant Colonel Langevine told the Commission.

Lieutenant Colonel Langevine said they were flying “low and slow” “scanning” the coastline for survivors and remains of those who perished but came up empty handed as no discoveries were made on all three occasions.

According to the Colonel, the crew flew approximately 20-30 feet above the surface and used their “naked eyes” as they conducted their reconnaissance missions.

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