The strike by air traffic controllers is proving to be detrimental, in that the Cheddi Jagan International Airport was forced to be closed from 18:00hrs yesterday to 05:00hrs this morning.As a result, two Caribbean Airlines flights to Guyana from Trinidad were cancelled, leaving several Guyana-bound passengers stranded in Trinidad.There was only one person operating the radio which controls traffic between the tower and airplanes traversing Guyana’s airspace; but when his shift ended last evening, there was no replacement.There is,Harvard Crimson Jerseys, also, only one engineer manning the equipment at the airport, hence when his shift ends, if an equipment failure were to occur, it could likely be catastrophic.All air traffic controllers have been off the job since Friday, having served notice that they were protesting a number of outstanding issues, among which are salary increases for 2008 and outstanding payment of retroactive overtime imbursements.This newspaper was told that the persons manning the control tower at the CJIA are the Director, Chitrani Heeralall, and managers Rickford Samaroo,Wholesale NFL Jerseys, Roy Sookhoo, Colin Johashen, and Adrian Bashier.The five are working 12-hour shifts, with no support staff, and as such aviation safety is severely compromised.Ogle aerodrome is completely shut down, as no one turned up for duty yesterday.Pilots taking off from that airstrip are doing so at their own risk, as only when they are airborne can they log their flight routes to the control tower at the CJIA.This,Jerseys NFL Wholesale, too,Cheap MLB Jerseys, is now compromised.Prior to proceeding on strike, these routes were logged with CJIA before the planes took off.The control tower at Ogle would file the flight plan with CJIA. Now, with the present industrial action, the five officers manning the major airport can only be? given surprise notifications of a departing flight from Ogle on a mere 10 minutes’ notice.A source said that this places additional strain on the operators at CJIA.Just before the strike, the Civil Aviation Authority issued a bulletin stating that it will not maintain contact with any aircraft 75 miles from the airport.Just two months ago,Cheap Adidas Hockey Jerseys, an aircraft crashed outside the 75-mile limit. Had this notice been in place then, the crash would never have been reported.Meanwhile, the controllers have said that they are prepared to stay away for as long as it takes to get what they deserve.