Plane pain - Legal action on the cards as flight school tragedy leaves students’ families with million-dollar debts
Published:Friday | March 29, 2019 | 12:00 AM
Damion Mitchell, Integration Editor
The mothers of the two student pilots killed in the November 2016 flight school plane crash are reliving nights of anguish, anxiety, and anger following the publication of a 60-page report detailing a litany of regulatory and operations shortfalls that led to the tragedy.
To compound the pain, they say they have been left with millions of dollars of debt just over two years after their sons, Danshuvar Gilmore, 19, and Ramone Forbes, 17, were killed when the Caribbean Aviation Training Centre-owned Cessna aircraft went down in Greenwich Town, seconds after take-off from the Tinson Pen Aerodrome in Kingston.
Flight instructor Jonathan Worton also died.
“I am going full speed ahead,” Dawn Singh-Gilmore told The Gleaner yesterday by telephone from her St Ann home when asked whether she was contemplating legal action.
According to the results of an investigation undertaken by the Jamaica Civil Aviation Authority (JCAA), the engine of the Cessna aircraft, which lost power shortly after take-off was fitted with wrong and malfunctioning parts.
It also details aviation rule breaches, poor oversight, inefficient accountability systems, and a weak emergency-response protocol.
READ: Report reveals crashed flight school plane was fitted with wrong, malfunctioning parts
Singh-Gilmore, an education officer, says her pain has been worsened by the arrogance of some stakeholders.
“Somebody needs to answer to the families how it is that we are going to be redressed,” she demanded.
The educator said that outside of funeral expenses, pain, and suffering, she has also been incurring medical bills since the tragedy.
“I have had to pay medical bills based on my emotional condition. I have had to take leave from my work to deal with this situation because I could not remain in my home environment knowing that my child died the way he did. Now, who is going to pay for that?” she asked.
Ramone’s mother, Jacqueline Forbes, who is a teacher, fought back emotions to detail her financial rut.
“It is heart-rending,” Forbes said. “I tell you, it’s hard on me because I have to be paying back loans that I borrowed to send Ramone to school.”
Forbes, too, demanded that someone be held accountable for the apparent negligence on the part of the JCAA and the flight-training school.
The Gleaner was not able to make contact with the authority’s director-general, Nari Williams-Singh, or flight school operator Captain Errol Stewart as their cell phones rang without answer yesterday.
In the meantime, the parents said they are hoping that Transport Minister Robert Montague will reach out to them.
The families of the victims last had audience with Montague last August in a heated meeting to review the findings of the crash report.
However, Singh-Gilmore said that it did not end well as tempers flared and tears flowed.
READ: Report exposes Tinson Pen response failure after plane crash fire
In the interim, the mothers are expecting that persons who failed to administer their duties will be brought to book.
Speaking yesterday on ‘Beyond the Headlines’ on RJR 94 FM, Jason Worton, the brother of Captain Jonathan Worton, also demanded accountability.
“I feel as though someone has been sleeping on the job,” Jason said.
A day after the November 10, 2016, tragedy, a former student at the Caribbean Aviation Training Centre, now living overseas, said he left the institution because of a number of safety issues that were being neglected by the school’s management.
He asked not to be named but said that planes were not being adequately serviced and that there were issues with insurance coverage.
According to the student, there had been previous complaints about the same Cessna aircraft that crashed.
He also said that there were management and administrative issues at the flight school.