The Sint Maarten Department of Civil Aviation, Shipping and Maritime Affairs (SMCAA) is now entering its sixth day of the investigation into the crash of Skyway Airway Short SH36 aircraft that crashed just off the coast of Sint Maarten on the October 29, 2014. The search for large parts of the aircraft is still on-going.
In this regard, SMCAA have requested and received assistance from the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico with search and recovery equipment, and expert personnel to aid the department in the search for the aircraft.
The first team of experts arrived from Puerto Rico on November 5, 2014. This team consists of experts in search and rescue and recovery. A vessel equipped with state of the art sonar equipment will also be arriving from San Juan on Friday November 7, 2014.
The SMCAA investigation team has already plotted an area where it is believed that wreckage of the aircraft is located on the seabed. A Global Position System (GPS) that was found during the search and rescue operation was sent to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to retrieve the tracking information.
The information from the GPS assisted in narrowing the search area. SMCCA is hopeful that with the assistance of the experts from Puerto Rico, the location of the aircraft will be found and steps can then be taken for the retrieval of the wreckage.
The SMCAA is receiving support from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) who is currently conducting a separate but parallel investigation at the Skyway Airways maintenance base located in Florida and San Juan.