<p><strong><a rel="nofollow" class="highslide" target="_blank" href="http://edition.channel5belize.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Tropic-Air0003.jpg"><imgclass="alignleft size-medium wp-image-107048" title="Tropic Air0003" src="http://edition.channel5belize.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Tropic-Air0003-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225"/></a>A single engine Tropic Air plane left San Pedro this afternoon and crash landed on arrival at the Belize Municipal Airport. While the pilot was able to land the plane, he could not bring it to a complete stop and the aircraft came to rest in the nearby sea. The incident is attributed to the slick conditions of the runway. On board were five passengers, including a shooting victim who was being transported to the K.H.M.H. All escaped unscathed, but the aircraft is being deemed inoperable, a loss of four million dollars. News Five’s Isani Cayetano was at the municipal airport immediately after the plane crash landed. He files the following report. </strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<p><strong>Isani Cayetano, Reporting</strong></p>
<p>A domestic flight to Belize City, inbound from San Pedro this afternoon, crash landed at the Municipal Airstrip shortly after two o’clock, when it slid off the runway upon touchdown. Onboard the single engine aircraft were five passengers, including Carlos Najera who had been shot during an early-afternoon robbery on the island. According to John Greif the Third, President of Tropic Air, the commuter plane careened off the slick runway due to unstable weather conditions we have been experiencing since the beginning of the week.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Via phone: John Greif III, President, Tropic Air</strong></p>
<div id="attachment_107049" class="wp-caption alignright" style="width:160px;"><a rel="nofollow" class="highslide" target="_blank" href="http://edition.channel5belize.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/John-Greif-III.jpg"><imgclass="size-thumbnail wp-image-107049" title="Via Phone: John Greif III" src="http://edition.channel5belize.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/John-Greif-III-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150"/></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Via Phone: John Greif III</p></div>
<p><em>“Today, December fourth, at approximately 2:20 p.m. our flight number two-eighty-one was en route from San Pedro to the Belize Municipal Airstrip. As you know, the weather has been bad all over the country so the runway was rain soaked. The pilot landed and was unable to stop the aircraft and it ran off into the shallow water at the east end of the runway.”</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Fortunately, the pilot and his passengers escaped the accident unscathed. The aircraft, however, became waterlogged almost immediately; its prop and wings jutting out from the shoals. Moments later, authorities converged on the scene.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Via Phone: John Greif III</strong></p>
<p><em>“We are investigating, along with Civil Aviation, what happened. But our primary concern is the wellbeing of our crew; in this case it was one pilot and our five passengers. And one of the passengers was medevaced from San Pedro, we had actually delayed that flight and moved it around a little bit to try to get a gunshot victim off the island. So our primary concern is for the safety of our crew and our passengers but nevertheless we continue to try to determine exactly what happened.”</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>I<a rel="nofollow" class="highslide" target="_blank" href="http://edition.channel5belize.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Tropic-Air.jpg"><imgclass="alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-107050" title="Tropic Air" src="http://edition.channel5belize.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Tropic-Air-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150"/></a>sani Cayetano</strong></p>
<p>“Were there any injuries reported as a result of this incident?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Via Phone: John Greif III</strong></p>
<p><em>“No. Neither, we had everyone taken to the hospital and ironically three of the people were going to the hospital anyway. So there were no injuries reported or otherwise. They literally were no injuries.’</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>While it may be too early to determine the full extent of damages, Greif says the aircraft has been declared inoperable.<a rel="nofollow" class="highslide" target="_blank" href="http://edition.channel5belize.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Tropic-Air0001.jpg"><imgclass="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-107051" title="Tropic Air0001" src="http://edition.channel5belize.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Tropic-Air0001-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150"/></a></p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Via Phone: John Greif III</strong></p>
<p><em>“Visually it is not very damaged but anytime an aircraft gets immersed in saltwater it’s useless so it won’t be able to be reused.”</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Isani Cayetano: Can you speak to us about some of the safety precautions that can be taken by pilots in cases like these where the weather is one of the forces acting against a successful landing?</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Via Phone: John Greif III</strong></p>
<p><em>“Good question. We take safety and training very seriously here at Tropic. I don’t know if you remember, we reported it to the news about a year ago. We bought a caravan simulator so we have in our office in San Pedro a device that exactly mimics the inside of the caravan. It has ten or twelve flat screen TVs that mimic the look of the outside of the airplane so much so that when you’re taxiing in San Pedro you can see our terminal building from the San Pedro airstrip and everything. And all of our pilots spend several hours a month going through recurrent training, weather training, instrument training and all that. So we take the safety aspect of it very, very seriously.”</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>The <a rel="nofollow" class="highslide" target="_blank" href="http://edition.channel5belize.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Tropic-Air0002.jpg"><imgclass="alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-107052" title="Tropic Air0002" src="http://edition.channel5belize.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Tropic-Air0002-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150"/></a>primary issue, according to the experienced aviator, is the location and size of the airstrip itself. Despite ongoing work to expand the facility, landing in Belize City is somewhat dangerous.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Via Phone: John Greif III</strong></p>
<p><em>“The problem with the Municipal Airstrip is, I’ve been in aviation in Belize for over forty years. I started flying here when I was fifteen and the Municipal Airstrip is simply too short, it’s too narrow and it’s surrounded by water on all three sides. The government is expanding and lengthening it but it’s just taking forever to get that done. So in my opinion, the primary enhancement to aviation safety in Belize would be to finally finish with the Municipal Airstrip.”</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Isani Cayetano</strong></p>
<p>“In terms of an estimated dollar amount, can you give us the value of the aircraft that has been damaged?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Via Phone: John Greif III</strong></p>
<p><em>“Sure. It’s four million dollars.”</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>An investigation led by the Civil Aviation Department, as well as Tropic Air remains ongoing. <span style="font-size:13px;">Reporting for News Five, I am Isani Cayetano.</span></p>
View the full article
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<p><strong>Isani Cayetano, Reporting</strong></p>
<p>A domestic flight to Belize City, inbound from San Pedro this afternoon, crash landed at the Municipal Airstrip shortly after two o’clock, when it slid off the runway upon touchdown. Onboard the single engine aircraft were five passengers, including Carlos Najera who had been shot during an early-afternoon robbery on the island. According to John Greif the Third, President of Tropic Air, the commuter plane careened off the slick runway due to unstable weather conditions we have been experiencing since the beginning of the week.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Via phone: John Greif III, President, Tropic Air</strong></p>
<div id="attachment_107049" class="wp-caption alignright" style="width:160px;"><a rel="nofollow" class="highslide" target="_blank" href="http://edition.channel5belize.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/John-Greif-III.jpg"><imgclass="size-thumbnail wp-image-107049" title="Via Phone: John Greif III" src="http://edition.channel5belize.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/John-Greif-III-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150"/></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Via Phone: John Greif III</p></div>
<p><em>“Today, December fourth, at approximately 2:20 p.m. our flight number two-eighty-one was en route from San Pedro to the Belize Municipal Airstrip. As you know, the weather has been bad all over the country so the runway was rain soaked. The pilot landed and was unable to stop the aircraft and it ran off into the shallow water at the east end of the runway.”</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Fortunately, the pilot and his passengers escaped the accident unscathed. The aircraft, however, became waterlogged almost immediately; its prop and wings jutting out from the shoals. Moments later, authorities converged on the scene.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Via Phone: John Greif III</strong></p>
<p><em>“We are investigating, along with Civil Aviation, what happened. But our primary concern is the wellbeing of our crew; in this case it was one pilot and our five passengers. And one of the passengers was medevaced from San Pedro, we had actually delayed that flight and moved it around a little bit to try to get a gunshot victim off the island. So our primary concern is for the safety of our crew and our passengers but nevertheless we continue to try to determine exactly what happened.”</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>I<a rel="nofollow" class="highslide" target="_blank" href="http://edition.channel5belize.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Tropic-Air.jpg"><imgclass="alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-107050" title="Tropic Air" src="http://edition.channel5belize.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Tropic-Air-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150"/></a>sani Cayetano</strong></p>
<p>“Were there any injuries reported as a result of this incident?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Via Phone: John Greif III</strong></p>
<p><em>“No. Neither, we had everyone taken to the hospital and ironically three of the people were going to the hospital anyway. So there were no injuries reported or otherwise. They literally were no injuries.’</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>While it may be too early to determine the full extent of damages, Greif says the aircraft has been declared inoperable.<a rel="nofollow" class="highslide" target="_blank" href="http://edition.channel5belize.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Tropic-Air0001.jpg"><imgclass="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-107051" title="Tropic Air0001" src="http://edition.channel5belize.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Tropic-Air0001-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150"/></a></p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Via Phone: John Greif III</strong></p>
<p><em>“Visually it is not very damaged but anytime an aircraft gets immersed in saltwater it’s useless so it won’t be able to be reused.”</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Isani Cayetano: Can you speak to us about some of the safety precautions that can be taken by pilots in cases like these where the weather is one of the forces acting against a successful landing?</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Via Phone: John Greif III</strong></p>
<p><em>“Good question. We take safety and training very seriously here at Tropic. I don’t know if you remember, we reported it to the news about a year ago. We bought a caravan simulator so we have in our office in San Pedro a device that exactly mimics the inside of the caravan. It has ten or twelve flat screen TVs that mimic the look of the outside of the airplane so much so that when you’re taxiing in San Pedro you can see our terminal building from the San Pedro airstrip and everything. And all of our pilots spend several hours a month going through recurrent training, weather training, instrument training and all that. So we take the safety aspect of it very, very seriously.”</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>The <a rel="nofollow" class="highslide" target="_blank" href="http://edition.channel5belize.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Tropic-Air0002.jpg"><imgclass="alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-107052" title="Tropic Air0002" src="http://edition.channel5belize.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Tropic-Air0002-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150"/></a>primary issue, according to the experienced aviator, is the location and size of the airstrip itself. Despite ongoing work to expand the facility, landing in Belize City is somewhat dangerous.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Via Phone: John Greif III</strong></p>
<p><em>“The problem with the Municipal Airstrip is, I’ve been in aviation in Belize for over forty years. I started flying here when I was fifteen and the Municipal Airstrip is simply too short, it’s too narrow and it’s surrounded by water on all three sides. The government is expanding and lengthening it but it’s just taking forever to get that done. So in my opinion, the primary enhancement to aviation safety in Belize would be to finally finish with the Municipal Airstrip.”</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Isani Cayetano</strong></p>
<p>“In terms of an estimated dollar amount, can you give us the value of the aircraft that has been damaged?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Via Phone: John Greif III</strong></p>
<p><em>“Sure. It’s four million dollars.”</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>An investigation led by the Civil Aviation Department, as well as Tropic Air remains ongoing. <span style="font-size:13px;">Reporting for News Five, I am Isani Cayetano.</span></p>
View the full article