What happened
On January 18, 2014, a Cessna 208B, registration 8R-GHS, crashed during a series of shuttle flights in Guyana. The flight was part of a two-day operation involving multiple trips between various airstrips. On the preceding day, the pilot had been operating a different aircraft, 8R-GHT, which experienced a hard landing at Ekereku Bottom due to severe winds. Although an engineer inspected the aircraft and cleared it for flight, a brake seizure occurred during taxiing. Following instructions from the base, the pilot was assigned the aircraft 8R-GHS to finish the scheduled shuttle service.
On the morning of the accident, the pilot departed Kamarang Airstrip at 10:30 UTC, accompanied by an engineer and a loader. After dropping the engineer at Olive Creek, the pilot and the loader performed several shuttle legs between Olive Creek and Imbaimadai Airstrip. After completing several successful trips and refueling the aircraft, the pilot began a new series of shuttles. During the second takeoff of this final sequence, the aircraft crashed. The accident resulted in two fatalities, claiming the lives of both the pilot and the loader.
Findings
Prior to the accident, the pilot had expressed significant concern regarding a hard landing experienced on a different aircraft, 8R-GHT, the previous day. While the aircraft involved in the fatal crash, 8R-GHS, had not been subject to that specific landing incident, the pilot was operating under a heavy workload of repetitive shuttle flights.