Veteran Guyanese aviator Malcolm Chan-a-Sue dies

Last Updated on Monday, 22 November 2021, 9:41 by Denis Chabrol

Malcolm Chan-a-Sue

Veteran Guyanese aviator and aviation educator, Captain Malcolm Chan-a-Sue died early Monday morning, almost one month after a speeding minibus slammed into the car he was driving in Kingston, Georgetown.

Guyana’s aviation community was almost immediately plunged into mourning. Director-General of the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority, Retired Lt Col. Egbert Field expressed deep sadness at the passing of someone he regarded as a family-friend.  “His passing has really left a serious gap when it comes to aviation in Guyana because he continued to mentor and make available his experience to younger ones,” he said.

The GCAA boss described Chan-a-Sue as  a “stalwart” who gave at least 60 years of service to the sector and remained  active until the road accident on October 30, 2021 at the corner of Barrack and High Streets. “It’s God’s will. He has gone to fly with the angels,”  he said.

Lt. Col. Field hailed Captain Chan-a-Sue as “my mentor, my friend, my brother” whose abiding interest was always in the aviation sector. “Our families are so united when it comes to aviation. It transcends beyond aviation. We have a relationship, a very close bond and that is why it is so shocking and so devastating for me as a consummate professional to lose who I consider my father in aviation,” he said.

Captain Chan-a-Sue has been credited with training hundreds of pilots while he had been at the now defunct state-owned Guyana Airways Corporation (GAC). Many of them have since gone on to work in the Caribbean and beyond the region. “His training- you could gave rest assured that a pilot, having undergone that, could secure a job anywhere in the world that he goes because he is trained to the finest,” he said.

The GCAA Director-General singled out Captain Chan-a-Sue’s founding and oversight of the Caribbean-recognised Art Williams & Harry Wendt Aeronautical Engineering School as one of “his most sterling contributions in Guyana.”

Veteran Guyanese pilot, Captain Gerry Gouveia described Captain Chan-a-Sue as a treasured and “iconic” Guyanese figure who has contributed immensely to the development of aviation sector including the Eugene F. Correia ‘Ogle’ International Airport. “The aviation sector in Guyana became better because of him. Ogle Airport for what it is is today in terms of its compliance was because of him. He was a stickler for standards,” said Mr. Gouveia.

Former British High Commissioner to Guyana, Greg Quinn was also saddened by the passing of Mr. Chan-a-Sue. “Today I am heartbroken. I considered Malcolm to be more than a friend. It was an honour for me to support his work with the Art Williams & Harry Wendt Aeronautical Engineering School. I will miss our chats about aviation history,” he said.

Video evidence shows that Chan-a-Sue had stopped momentarily at the junction before proceeding west in the path of a speeding minibus.