The Bahamas Aircraft Owners and Pilot Association over the past 6 weeks, has watched and listened with great interest and disappointment to the fallout of our communications dating back to October 6, 2024, and most recently November 9, 2024. Our readiness to dialogue with both the Minister of Aviation as well as the office of Civil Aviation
Authority Bahamas, to discuss issues affecting the Bahamian aviator has been regrettably unanswered, for reason(s) we are not able to comprehend, especially as the BAOPA is a legal entity established to represent aircraft owners and pilots who daily exercise their talents to transport Bahamians and tourist alike to etch out a living to support their families, providing an invaluable service to our country here in the Commonwealth of The Bahamas.

We were surprised by comments made by the Minister of Aviation I Chester Cooper when asked by reporters about the position of The BAOPA regarding an exam for the Bahamian pilot, an exam crafted in Europe for Europeans seeking a first-time aviation license.

The Minister of Aviation comments spoke to the following;
Ø Safety
Ø Airlifts
Ø Airport rating

Historically there is no theoretical examination that is used in aviation to test the practical aspect of SAFETY. And on that note, we would like to suggest that use of words such as safety in aviation should not be casually mentioned so as not to create panic among the flying public.

The number of AIRLIFTS into the Bahamas is not tailored or demolished in any significant way by the Bahamian pilots, whose talents are primarily exercised within the borders of this archipelago, the Commonwealth of The Bahamas. The RATING that our Lynden Pindling Airport receives is primarily an assessment of the facility and security protocols, again the Bahamian pilot has and will never be included in this equation.

We understand that the Ministry of Aviation and or the CAAB has reached out to, or has had dialogue with the Bahamasair Union of Pilots, as an organization that represents roughly 85 out of the approximately 500 pilots here in the Bahamas. To date, BAOPA has received no response from either office. This is a telling posture from both the Ministry of Aviation and the CAAB, which speaks volumes in regards to any respect given to the BAOPA, which represents the vast majority of pilots here in The Bahamas.

Again, we ask the question…How did we get to this point, where Civil Aviation Authority Bahamas seem tunnel vision and compelled to;
i) Impose an exam on Bahamian aviators, which from all indications appears not relevant to aviation here in The Bahamas, as it is an examination literally lifted directly from Europe.

A pilots training is a pilots training, there is no need to internalized and or commit to memory information from any jurisdiction that an aviator would find themselves working. Rather, it is incumbent upon any pilot operating an aircraft in any country, to acquaint him or herself with standard procedures, from arriving, to approaches to land and departing from an airport. All of these procedures known in the industry are known as PLATES (ARRIVAL, APPROACH AND DEPARTURE PLATES) and are readily available in printed and or electronic format, the latter
being a method that perhaps every pilot utilizes today.

Now a question or two for the CAAB.

1. Is the Bahamas an issuing state; one that grants pilots licenses from Private Pilot to Airline Transport Pilot and Aircraft Mechanic license?
2. If so, when did The Bahamas become an issuing state?
3. If we are not an issuing state, on what basis does CAAB grant a pilot a Bahamian pilot or Aircraft Mechanic license?

The Bahamas is NOT an issuing state, hence the crux of the dilemma along with a few other issues that CAAB find themselves in. Bahamian licenses are issued/validated purely on the basis on a foreign license (pilot or mechanic) that is presented from another jurisdiction/country, which in the case of virtually every Bahamian aviator and mechanic, would be the United States of America, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

A few years ago, CAAB issued to pilots of two Bahamian companies type ratings after these pilots completed training in France and Switzerland (Europe) respectively. The audit which the office of CAAB cannot seem to get right, was not an EASA audit or an ICAO audit, but rather an FAA audit, which discovered the infraction that CAAB issued illegally either boldly or ignorantly type ratings for pilots of these two companies on their Bahamian VALIDATED
licenses, technically the CAAB without any authority placed ratings on an FAA licenses, which validates a Bahamian licenses, as the Bahamas is NOT an issuing state, meaning that we do not have framework in place to provide for training and testing of pilots and or mechanics. Because we do not have the necessary support in place, we cannot test.

Over the years there has been an occasion or two where a pilot lost their FAA license. Again, the Bahamas is not an issuing state, yet The CAAB once again boldly and or ignorantly issued Bahamian licenses to individuals who lost their licenses, another finding of the recent FAA audit.

Clearly these missteps of the CAAB appear to have resulted in the authority rushing to heal the self-inflicted wounds, but in a very shoddy manner. Concurrently, stakeholders; respect for CAAB along the way continues to decline. However these stakeholders remain committed to see a more responsive, transparent and impartial aviation authority.

For more information, contact BAOPA President Mornel Brown at (242) 557-3498. A Whatsapp message is most convenient, as he may be in the air flying at the time you wish to call. You can also contact Pilot Drexel Munroe, BAOPA member at (242) 447-2207.

Source: Felicity Darville

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