Director general of the T&T Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) Ramesh Lutchmedial has been named chairman of the Caribbean Aviation Safety and Security Oversight System (CASSOS). He was unanimously elected at a meeting on May 5 in Grenada. He is also the chief executive officer of the CAA and later this year will celebrate an aviation career which spans 42 years. In 2009, when CASSOS was launched in Guyana by Caricom, Lutchmedial was elected vice-chairman. CASSOS is the first multi-lateral alliance of its kind in Caribbean aviation. Its primary objective is to assist Caribbean countries to meet their obligations on the Convention on International Civil Aviation (Chicago Convention, 1944).
On Thursday, CAA chairman Kimchand Rampaul hosted a cocktail reception in Lutchmedial's honour at the Hyatt Regency, Port-of-Spain. Before his colleagues and close friends Lutchmedial recounted his barefooted boyhood days in B almain next to the Camden Airfield. He said: "Living next to the Camden strip is what sparked my interest in aviation. "As a young boy I saw aeroplanes taking off and landing there.
"I always wanted to be a pilot but coming from a very poor family, such a dream could not be realised."
Lutchmedial is also a licensed aircraft engineer (UK standard).
Among those who showered praises on him were Industrial Court president Cecil Bernard, Major General Ralph Brown and senior management officials of the CAA who all described him as "a visionary." Lutchmedial said as chairman he hoped to make a significant contribution to the development of civil aviation. As director general, Lutchmedial spearheaded the establishment of T&T's safety oversight system to meet the International Civil Aviation Organisation standards, which resulted in T&T attaining Federal Aviation Administration Category One status in 2005. He was also responsible for the modernisation of the Piarco air navigation infrastructure with the construction of an ultra-modern Civil Aviation Complex, a new Area Control Centre, Training Centre and Control Tower. That project is nearing completion and is expected to be commissioned soon. (RKR)