GUYANA-Body of pilot found.

GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – The Rescue Coordination Center (RCC) on Monday confirmed that members of the Guyana Defense Force (GDF) Special Forces have successfully reached the crash site of the Air Services Limited Cessna 208 aircraft with registration number 8R-YAC.

In a statement, it said that the team recovered the body of the pilot, Captain Ryder Castillo, and is currently making preparations for extraction from the site.

“The Ministry of Public Utilities and Aviation, the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), and the Guyana Defense Force, join the wider aviation community in extending their heartfelt sympathies to the loved ones of the pilot,” it said, adding that the investigation is continuing.

Meanwhile, the Guyanese Pilots Group, in a statement, said that while Captain Castillo came from Nicaragua, he was “a Guyanese pilot”.

It said that he began his journey in military aviation as a member of the FAS-DAA and in 1987, trained as a young cadet at the National Aviation School (ENA), one of 24 aspiring pilots learning the discipline, structure, and responsibility that would shape the rest of his life.

“Like many military aviators, his path was not without hardship. After a personal incident that led to his departure from the military, Ryder did what true pilots do: he kept flying.” It said, adding that he transitioned into civilian aviation, building experience with La Costeña, before eventually finding his way to Guyana. This country has a way of testing every pilot who flies its skies.

“The jungle strips are unforgiving, the weather unpredictable, and the margins for error razor thin. But for those who endure, who show consistency, skill, and quiet professionalism, something happens; they stop being outsiders, they become one of us.”

The Group said that for nearly a decade, Castillo flew in Guyana with Air Services Limited (ASL), operating into the interior, moving cargo, supporting communities, and doing the kind of work that rarely makes headlines but is essential to the country’s life.

“He was, by every standard that matters in aviation, a working bush pilot, steady, reliable, and part of the fabric of the operation,” it said, adding that last Friday, “that routine was broken”.

The Group said that while flying Cessna aircraft 8R-YAC on a cargo flight between Mahdia and Imbaimadai, contact was lost.

“In a region known for its rugged terrain and dense jungle, the search that followed was never going to be easy. For days, teams pushed through difficult conditions, mountainous terrain, dense canopy, and the constant pressure that comes with time in a search-and-rescue operation.

“Today, Monday, members of the Guyana Defense Force Special Forces reached the crash site, and they found him. In aviation, we often say that a pilot is not defined by where he comes from, but by how he flies, how he carries himself, and how he earns the respect of those around him. By those standards, Ryder Castillo was not just a Nicaraguan pilot working abroad.”