Finance Minister Colm Imbert says an “inaccurate measurement of the amount of fuel in the left tank” of a Caribbean Airlines plane is what led to an emergency landing at the Piarco International Airport on Monday night.
Speaking in the Senate on Tuesday, he said there was nothing wrong with the Caribbean Airlines aircraft that had to make an emergency landing at the Piarco International Airport on Monday, noting that it was simply what he called an “inaccurate measurement of fuel.”
“The captain managed to pilot the aircraft safely and landed well. There were no injuries or anything of that nature to the passengers, and the aircraft has since been withdrawn from service. But it appears the problem arose from inaccurate measurements of the amount of fuel in the left tank of the aircraft.”
Minister Imbert said the incident occurred around 10pm on Monday involving Caribbean Airlines aircraft 9Y TTC, with the emergency landing declared for flight BW1541, en route from Tobago to Trinidad.
The Minister assured that all civil aviation procedures were, and are being followed.
“One of the engines basically ran out of fuel, which caused the captain to make the mandatory announcement in accordance with Civil Aviation regulations to the passengers that they should get into the position that is recommended for emergency landing.”
He also noted that at least three employees of the airline are “not in active service at this time.”
“There are three persons involved, the pilot and two technicians, with respect to the whole question of how much fuel was in the particular tank that fed the particular engine that had the problem. So they have been, I don’t want to use a word withdrawn from service, but the aircraft has been withdrawn from service, and these three individuals are not in active service at this point in time, which is normal when you’re doing an investigation.”
Minister Imbert said Caribbean Airlines will now follow all the established procedures in accordance with Civil Aviation rules and regulations and their own internal industrial relations procedures to ensure everyone involved receives a fair hearing and the root cause of the problem is determined.