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The Jamaica Civil Aviation Authority (JCAA) has taken note of a statement by Captain Errol Stewart of the Caribbean Aviation Training Centre (CATC) published in the Jamaica Gleaner article dated 8 April 2019. In the article, Captain Stewart questioned several conclusions of the accident report into the fatal November 2016 crash.
The JCAA would like to take this opportunity to respond to some of Captain Stewart’s comments, in particular his statement that:
1. The JCAA felt conflicted because it was actually investigating itself;
In this regard, the JCAA noted that all investigations were conducted in accordance with international standards. The head of the investigation was appointed under the Civil Aviation Act and acted independently of the JCAA. The investigation was conducted jointly with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) of the United States. As the aircraft was manufactured and registered in the United States, the NTSB was the recognized party to the investigation. The aircraft engine manufacturer Lycoming and the aircraft manufacturer Cessna were technical advisors to the NTSB. Therefore, it would be disingenuous to suggest that the JCAA was conducting its own investigation given the involvement of the above third parties.
2. The ring gear shown in the report did not belong to the crashed Cessna aircraft because it was painted red, which indicates that the part mentioned was a counterfeit;
Regarding the ring gear image, the photo that appears in the official report is of the engine manufacturer Lycoming’s reference starter ring gear, not the actual part removed from the aircraft. The engine manufacturer installed the reference starter ring gear onto the engine crankshaft during the investigation to determine the size and specifications. Based on the measurements, the engine manufacturer determined that the engine’s internal timing was incorrect.
3. CATC could not have forged a work order for an engine that was not on the aircraft.
In response to Captain Stewart’s statement about the work order, the JCAA pointed out that during the investigation, investigators repeatedly requested the operator (CATC) to provide a copy of the authorization release certificate or work order related to the aircraft engine overhaul work. However, the documents were not provided. Therefore, the investigators then tried to obtain the work order from the engine repair shop specified in the engine log through the NTSB. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) contacted the specified engine repair shop, and the engine repair shop responded that they had never repaired the engine, so the engine overhaul document was forged.
4. In October 2018, an eight-page rebuttal was submitted to the JCAA questioning some of the findings, but it was never included in the final report.
The JCAA has no record of, and did not receive, the rebuttal document in October 2018 as Captain Stewart asserts. However, the JCAA received the referenced document on February 19, 2019. At that time,
The accident investigator reviewed the documents cited and determined that the concerns raised by Captain Stewart in the rebuttal document were not significant and therefore would not result in an adjustment to the findings and conclusions of the Final Accident Report.
It is worth noting that the final report made a number of recommendations to the JCAA. We acknowledge these recommendations, have evaluated them, and have already begun implementing them. We will continue to proactively implement processes and procedures to enhance safety in our aviation industry.
The JCAA believes that the publication of the Final Accident Report provides an opportunity for all designated parties to review their policies and procedures and make the necessary changes to ensure that tragedies like this do not occur again. We remain fully committed to our responsibilities as Jamaica’s aviation regulator and will continue to work hard with our partners to maintain high safety standards in Jamaica’s aviation industry.
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