The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

TRANSPORT and Aviation Minister Glenys Hanna Martin said yesterday that it could take several months before the investigations into the Learjet 36 crash in Grand Bahama, which claimed the lives of prominent pastor Dr Myles Munroe, his wife, and seven others, is completed.

She urged family members and the public to be patient while awaiting a response.

Speaking during yesterday’s House of Assembly session, Mrs Hanna Martin confirmed that a team, including the Bahamas Department of Civil Aviation, will meet in Washington DC at the headquarters of the National Transportation Safety Board next month “to further process the investigation and to commence a formal analysis of the data achieved from the” recently obtained cockpit voice recorder and digital electronic engine monitors.

“I’ve been informed,” she said, “that an investigation of this nature will require not only a detailed analysis of the cockpit recorder and the electronic engine control monitor, but an analysis of other elements, including all other surrounding circumstances of the crash which will be relevant to the investigation. And, if necessary, an analysis of aircraft parts by the manufacturers, a process I’m advised, that could take several months.”

The November 9 crash sent shockwaves throughout the country as tributes poured in from around the world to the founder of Bahamas Faith Ministries International.

The plane, which left Nassau at 4:07pm, collided with a crane at the Grand Bahama Shipyard around 5:10pm, subsequently crashing into a nearby junk pile.

The Tribune understands that as the jet was preparing for landing, its wing clipped a crane, causing the plane to roll, invert and then crash. That incident likely lasted between nine and ten seconds, according to a Tribune source.

The source added that the pilot attempted to land at least once during bad weather. The plane, however, was also low on fuel, which might help to explain why the pilot did not return to Nassau.

Dr Munroe was talking on his cellphone with pastors of BFMI when his jet crashed.