Brazilian aircraft found in Guyana possibly owned by Brazil’s third largest bank

Last Updated on Tuesday, 15 August 2017, 10:31 by Denis Chabrol

The Brazilian-registered Beechcraft Kingair plane found in southern Guyana is bearing the registration number of a plane belonging to Brazil’s third largest bank, Banco Bradesco, sources said.

Director General of the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), Retired Col. Egbert Field said he has received such information and would be factoring that into efforts to ascertain the origin of the plane. “I heard that. I have my time working on it. I heard this from another source. We are checking that also,”he told Demerara Waves Online News.

The King Air B300 (350), according to information seen by Demerara Waves Online News, was delivered to Banco Bradesco on November 9, 2010.

The aircraft was spotted by Guyanese police on Sunday at an illegal airstrip at Santa Fe, North Rupununi. Three men exited the plane on landing and escaped.

Field said confirmed that the plane is bearing registration number, PR-IMG, but he hastened to point out that the authentic registration number may have been painted over.

The Guyanese Civil Aviation Chief said Brazilian authorities would be contacted to ascertain if that plane is in its registry. If not, he said the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) would be provided the serial number with a view to tracing the ownership of the plane. “Now that we have a registration of the aircraft, we can contact the Brazilian authorities to check who is the owner and also if it’s a legitimate registration and we start from there,” he said.

“The manufacturer has a serial number and we’ll be able to use that number to maybe track. It takes a little longer time because they have to go through a few paces but that is how we will know exactly who the aircraft belongs to,” Field said.

He said it was possible that the Beechcraft could be a stolen plane bearing a legitimate registration number of another plane.

Field said plane was damaged slightly and repairs would be conducted before it is flown to the city. “There is slight damage to one of the propellers but they the engineers are in contact with Georgetown to ensure that it doesn’t affect the safety of the aircraft because they want to fly out,” the GCAA boss said.