7 News Belize

Tropic Air President: It Won’t Happen Again
posted (November 17, 2017)
Government issued a statement saying, quote, "Upon takeoff from the Placencia Airstrip, the left landing wheel made contact with a passing vehicle that had managed to bypass one of the lowered barriers." End quote.

Tropic Air's release says, quote, "Tropic Air in coordination with the Belize Airports Authority and the Belize Department of Civil Aviation are looking at how this vehicle passed in front of the departing aircraft and what measures need to be implemented immediately to prevent another such occurrence."

That's what we spoke to Tropic Air President John Greif about today via telephone from San Pedro:...

John Greif, President - Tropic Air
"The driver went past the warnings, and apparently past cars that were parked waiting for us to depart, so...we really don't know what we could have done differently."

Jules Vasquez, reporter
"What would you say about the skill of the pilot?"

John Greif
"Well somebody said he's the Sully of Belize. Because it took an incredibly skillful pilot to, have practically no time, being only feet above the water to make a safe landing."

Jules Vasquez, reporter
"How do we prevent a recurrence?"

John Greif
"Well, Jules, that's really where we need to dig deeper. We had thought that there were enough safety barriers in place to prevent this from happening. But obviously, we were wrong, so, I think as a community the aviation community has to, take a hard look at this."

Jules Vasquez, reporter
"Let's speak about the, the barrier itself. Was it assuredly working at the time of this morning's accident?"

John Greif
"I've gotten both reports, Jules. There are two of em: one of them is on the north side, and one on the south side of the runway. And I've gotten some reports that only the south one went down, but then I've also got reports that they both went down, so...I really, can't comment on that."

Jules Vasquez, reporter
"Does Tropic Air need to exercise more vigilance in terms of assigning a staffer, to actually be there with a manual direction, or stopping of traffic in the event that the barriers aren't working reliably?"

John Greif
"But if there were no barriers at all, there are plenty of signs warning of low flying aircraft and don't traverse this point without checking to see if the runaway is clear. And as I said it is my understanding that there were other drivers that were stopped and waiting for us to depart."

Jules Vasquez, reporter
"Is there any thought on perhaps moving the switch. I know the switch is not remote and you actually have to go into a box to open it and the box is a little ways off. We always have to factor in the human element, that sometimes people are lazy and just say "man, it's alright.""

John Greif
"Yep, that would certainly be a solution. To put the switch on the barrier itself and then if the barrier doesn't go down, the operator stays there and physically blocks the traffic."

Jules Vasquez, reporter
"And are you certain that that did not happen in this case? Insofar as, maybe it was just a neglect of responsibility and just saying, man, "it will be ok," and then, the unexpected occurs."

John Greif
"Knowing that staff there, Jules, that staff is one of our groups of stars, so I doubt that would have been the case, but like I said, I've gotten conflicting reports and having not seen it or there being no video available I really couldn't say."

Jules Vasquez, reporter
"What sort of emotional rollercoaster did you go through this morning?"

John Greif
"It's a real emotional rollercoaster. Because the first thing you think of is anybody hurt, are there any fatalities? Are there any injuries? And then an incredible surge of relief when you find out that not only were there no fatalities, but there were no serious injuries. So, it's a real emotional rollercoaster."

Greif says that all the passengers were assessed to be "ok", and a few of the passengers wanted to see Doctors in Belize which the airline facilitated.

We could not get comment from the Civil Aviation Department.

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