Thursday, July 31, 2008

CRASH LANDING...WHERE IS THE RUNWAY?

CNC 3 and TV6 both ran stories in their 7pm newscasts on the 'crash' landing of a light aircraft at Piarco airport's runway on Wednesday (we don't know if C News ran the story).
Both stations showed shots of the arrival terminal at the airport and passengers inside the terminal, but not once did we a shot of the runway, whether the airplane was still out there or not.
So you sent your cameraman to the airport and he did not get a shot of the runway or of the hangars where the plane may have been towed to?
Or you used file footage of the airport and did not include a shot of the runway?

No mention was also made by either station or the newspapers of the last emergency landing at Piarco, when a Tobago Express airplane's landing gear also failed to engage; that was about two years ago.
This is not an everyday occurrence, people!

And the newspaper reporters also give conflicting information on the 'crash' or 'emergency landing'.
Michelle Loubon of the Guardian tells us the aircraft "sustained damages after running off the Piarco runway...", and that "two pilots and one engineer were aboard...".
She also tells us that the Director of Civil Aviation confirmed that the plane landed and veered off the runway when the right landing gear failed to lock into place.

While 'PC' of the Express tells us "neither (pilot Dipchan) Shuhla nor flight engineer Denix Dass, the only other person aboard the plane during the flight, was seriously injured in the crash."

So how many people were really on board the airplane? Maybe one disappeared into thin air when he realised the plane was about to crash?

There's no mention of the story in the Newsday.
Oh, and Miss Loubon, 'damages' is used when referring to awards in court cases. Surely your sub-editor knows that?