2023 Guyana Defence Force helicopter crash
Bell 412EP · Crashed, under investigation
From Camp Ayanganna, Georgetown, Guyana to Arau, Guyana
Event
- NTSB case
- GAA24WA052
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Unknown · led by another country; figures from NTSB notifications
- Event fatalities
- 5 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 7
- Survivors
- 2
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- 2 serious · 0 minor (NTSB)
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Military
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Not recorded
Bell 412EP
- Aircraft type
- Bell 412
- Category
- Helicopter
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- 8R-AYA
- Operator
- Guyana Defence Force
- Onboard fatalities
- 5
- Route
- From Camp Ayanganna, Georgetown, GuyanaTo Arau, Guyana
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Non-U.S., Non-Commercial
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Maneuvering
- Defining eventThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Controlled flight into terrain/object (CFIT)
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Destroyed
Cause areas
No findings designated as a cause are recorded in the NTSB data yet.
Not plotted · Not plotted: the Wikipedia article gives no coordinates, and its site names no town or airport that matches exactly.
From the Wikipedia article
On 6 December 2023, a Bell 412EP helicopter operated by the Guyana Defence Force crashed in western Guyana, killing five out of the seven on board. The crash happened about 30 miles east of Arau near the Venezuelan border. The helicopter carried senior GDF military officers, and was reportedly conducting "border operations".
The crash occurred during a political crisis between Guyana and Venezuela regarding the Guyana–Venezuela territorial dispute. The crash marked the deadliest incident in Guyana's recent military history since the Rupununi uprising in 1969.
Timeline
Under the command of Col. Michael Shahoud, Commander of the 1st Infantry Battalion, the helicopter was bound for a military outpost in Arau, situated on the Venezuelan border, to survey GDF defenses in the area, bolstered as a result of the December 2023 Venezuelan Esequiba referendum. The army helicopter was piloted by Lt. Col. Michael Charles, with forty years experience.
The GDF Bell helicopter took off from Camp Ayanganna at 08:00.
At 11:00, the Bell helicopter stopped for refuelling at Olive Creek Airport, located in central Esequiba.
Contact was lost at 11:20, approximately 30 miles east of Arau, near a hamlet of Ekereku, in a mountainous area with dense jungle.
On 7 December, at 14:30, the crashed helicopter was found. Five of the seven on board were found dead, with two survivors; Corporal Dwayne Jackson and Lieutenant Colonel Andio Michael Crawford (Special Forces Squadron).
Text from the Wikipedia article “2023 Guyana Defence Force helicopter crash” (revision 1362601731, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article
Sources
Wikipedia article: 2023 Guyana Defence Force helicopter crash
- Revision
- 1362601731 · 2026-07-05 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q123699000
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
NTSB record GAA24WA052
- Event ID
- 20231211193504
- Case number
- GAA24WA052
- Dataset
- full-current
- Source SHA-256
- 5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "2023 Guyana Defence Force helicopter crash" (page 75510961, revision 1362601731); merged with NTSB case GAA24WA052 (events / aircraft)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- Wikipedia: none
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports); gaps and aircraft details from NTSB record GAA24WA052
- Operation
- operator named as an armed force or military unit in the infobox
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia: Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- Wikipedia: not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (2)
- One occurrence in two sources, merged: the Wikipedia article "2023 Guyana Defence Force helicopter crash" and NTSB case GAA24WA052, matched by the same aircraft registration and date. For this event outside the United States Wikipedia's values are used where the two differ; each value names its source.
- No bulk values were replaced by the NTSB case API.