Government yet to grant permit for Helicopter landing

MONROVIA-The helicopter belonging to  Dr. Daniel  E.  Cassell,  BELL 430 ZT RJA, landing permit which  order was granted by the supreme court  is yet to be honored as the group pays  a daily rental charge of  US$200 per day  to the Ghanaian  Civil  Aviation Authority by  the Kwenyan & Associates in.

The Justice in Chamber,  Supreme Court, Judge Yusif D. Kaba, invited  the two parties to a conference on October 20, 2021 and ordered the LCAA to permit the aircraft to land in Liberia, pending the outcome of the conference. But  LCAA refused.

As a result of that,  the helicopter  has been unable  to land at the airport and is currently in Ghana paying  charges. Moreover, the drugs onboard the helicopter  expiration was drawing near, a situation which has led to  many people raising concern.

Kwenyan & Associates   is owned by Dr. Cassell,  who  is the Standard Bearer of the opposition People’s Liberation Party (PLP).

According to his group, he  decided to bring into the country a helicopter,  for the purpose of  helping him and his company to distribute drugs to the remote part  of the country,  but his request to land was  denied by the  LCAA  for what  they termed as  the authority to carry out due diligence.

Due to that, the group, represented by Mr. Tarplah Doe went to court to seek redress. But before that, on September 29, 2021, Cusmos Construction Corporation wrote the Director of the LCAA informing him about the construction of a hangar for the purpose of housing BELL 430 in Margibi County, based on the minimum specifications as directed by the Bell manufacturer as regards the size of the helicopter and the technical advice provided by the duly approved maintenance engineering entity, NAC of South Africa, which has been appointed as Aircraft Maintenance Operator (AMO) for ZT-RJA.

The helicopter  is said to be in good technical standing based on its record. The  Kwenyan & Associates requested the helicopter’s clearance  from the International Flight Clearances Pty. Ltd.  It   revealed  that  between South Africa, where the aircraft came from, to Ghana, where the aircraft is currently stationed, went   through Cameroon, Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Namibia, Angola, DR Congo, Gabon, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Ivory Coast and Ghana, without any hindrance to landing or overflight.

Earlier, one  of the areas of contention was a permission from South Africa  if  the Helicopter was technically worthy. It later proved that it was in air worthy.

The registration certificate, which was authorized by the South African Civil Aviation Authority, noted, “It is hereby certified that the aircraft described above has been duly entered on the South African Civil Aircraft Register in accordance with the Convention on International Civil Aviation dated 7 December 1944 and with the Civil Aviation Regulations, 2011, as amended.”

When this paper contacted the LCAA for comment, a senior officer said: “the matter  is before the court and we cannot speak to it. When all  is done from the court side we will  address it.”