Up Front
CAL Mechanics Grounded
The licenses of twomechanics attached to the islands' national carrier, Cayman AirwaysLimited (CAL) was suspended last week by the Cayman Islands CivilAviation Authority (CICAA). The suspension apparently stems froma 4 March incident, where flight 301 destined to the island fromHouston, Texas, developed mechanical problems.
According to an informed source, this is the third such incidentin recent weeks to reach the airline, which is already facingmass criticisms in recent months, with concerns ranging from highairfares to limited seat capacity. The source said the planeshad to make emergency landings in the three incidents.
But CAL only responds to the latest incident.
In a release yesterday, CAL stated thatFlight 310 from Houston experienced a situation where one engine"did not respond properly to control inputs."
The engine, it stated, continued to operate"normally" in the cruise segment of the flight.
The release said contrary to prior mediareports, "standard and Boeing procedures require a precautionaryshutdown of the unresponsive engine prior to commencing an approachfor landing. This was carried out approximately 10 minutes priorto landing." This, it said, lead to "internal investigation".
CAL said it had "initiated it's owninternal investigation" and while doing so was informed 19March, that the CICAA that two mechanic's licenses had been suspended.This, pending the outcome of an investigation of the events surroundingthe engine shutdown.
"Cayman Airways is cooperating withthe CICAA, and cannot comment further until the investigationis complete. Further information will be forthcoming pending completionof the investigation," the release stated.
Apparently boosting the fading trusts amongits passengers, the release also stated, "Cayman Airwaysconsiders the safety of its passengers to be paramount, and wouldlike to assure tem that during this incident the safety of thepassengers concerned was never compromised."
A pilot attached to CAL told Cayman NetNews that while there is internal rivalry in the Maintenance Department,he does not believe that it (rivalry) would constitute such aproblem.
He described the situation as "rare",claiming it has never occurred before.
"Two engines are running but one wantsto go faster than the next. This will make the plane hard to maneuverand as a precautionary measure, the pilot would then have to shutdown the engine," he explained as to what happened in the4 March incident.
He is however, hoping that the level oftrust will continue among the its flyers.
"If one of our planes went down thatwould be the end of the company. The management recognizes thatand makes sacrifices to ensure that CAL runs in good, sound condition,"he told Cayman Net News.