Starbow Not Banned

Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) says Starbow, a domestic airline has not been banned from operating in Ghana.

According to the Authority, Starbow Airline has air operator’s certificate that is valid till August 8, 2015. Starbow aircraft that was destined for Takoradi recently made a quick emergency return from its journey to Takoradi after it experienced hydraulic warning signals 6000 feet in the sky.

Two passengers aboard the aircraft were injured when the plane force-landed 20 minutes into the journey.

This is the second of such an incident involving a flight of the airliner. Martey Boye Atoklo, Acting Deputy Director-General (Technician) at GCAA, at a press conference in Accra, said due to the incident, the Authority has grounded the remaining serviceable aircraft for further safety checks before they would be released.

“Starbow started with four aircraft, British aero space 146 series aircraft has been scraped, the second one had engine problems and is on the ground, the third one is what had the hydraulic problems this Tuesday.

“What we have done is that as a precautionary measure we have grounded the remaining serviceable aircraft out of the four. We think that we should take a closer look at remaining aircraft.

“Until we are satisfied with our inspections, it will not be released to Starbow,” he said.

Mr Boye Atoklo said the Authority had asked Starbow to present seven documents on the aircraft that had been seized and parked at the hanger, adding that “Once they submit the documents, we will begin with our checks. As it is now we can’t tell when the aircraft would be released for operations.”

The fact that Starbow aircraft has been grounded does not mean it cannot operate, the company could hire other aircraft to serve its customers, he said.

Source: Cephas Larbi [email protected]