While a difficult trend to monitor, officials say about 30 to 50 such individuals are flying passengers throughout The Bahamas and the United States for a fee.
According to Patrick Rolle, Flight Standards Manager at Nassau International Airport, there may be instances in which a private pilot would simply approach a prospective passenger and offer air service, in exchange for gas fees. There have also been cases, where such persons would simply accept a cheque for perhaps $100, he said.
Mr. Rolle further pointed out that unlicensed operators or ﾓair hackersﾒ as theyﾴre commonly called, can usually request such low fees, considering that ﾓmost of themﾒ do not have to bear the brunt of overhead expenses.
They are not paying for facilities and in most cases they might not be carrying out proper maintenance, he said.
ﾓThere are procedures laid down for legal operations. They say that your airplanes must be checked ﾑxﾴ amount of times, your pilots must be instrument proficient and they must have annual checks to ensure that their proficiencies are being maintained,ﾒ Mr. Rolle told the Bahama Journal Thursday.
ﾓWhereas, when you go to an unlicensed operator, youﾴre not sure what this guyﾴs doing. Youﾴre not sure whether the person has a pilotﾴs license at all. They were trained by a friend, and thatﾴs where it gets scary, because in an emergency, would that person really know what to do?ﾒ
Initially speaking on the issue in the House of Assembly Wednesday, Transport and Aviation Minister Glenys Hanna-Martin further addressed the problem during an interview with the Bahama Journal yesterday
ﾓAmazingly, there are people who go up to Nassau International Airport and contract persons who are not licensed to take them to various islands and outside The Bahamas,ﾒ she said.
ﾓAll I can say is that if a person flies with someone who is not properly licensed for commercial air carriage and not properly regulated, that they are taking a very great risk.ﾒ
The problem has led aviation officials here in The Bahamas to have a series of discussions on the issue with Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) officials both in Miami and Fort Lauderdale over the past four to five months.
ﾓWe are getting together to do some joint coordination in trying to stop the unlicensed operations that are going between the islands and the U.S.,ﾒ Mr. Rolle said.
ﾓBut coordinating it is where the difficulty lies, because there are so many destination points in The Bahamas. The idea of selecting the most appropriate starting point for this and the man-hours involved are some of the issues weﾴre having.
ﾓWe also have to make sure that we are not contravening any international rules pertaining either to The Bahamas, the United States or the International Civil Aviation Organizationﾴs (ICAO) regulations.ﾒ
The Department of Civil Aviation is about to embark on a public education programme to alert the public on the risks associated with air hackers, an exercise that will continue, ﾓas long as it takes for Bahamians to get the message.ﾒ
ﾓOne of the things that we will do is issue yearly renewable stickers to the operators, which would be placed on the small airplanes so that passengers can determine who are or are not legal operators,ﾒ Mr. Rolle said.
Aviation officials are reporting some successes in addressing the issue.
A few weeks ago, some illegal operators sat down with a delegation from the FAA and the Flight Standards Department to discuss how the hackers could best become involved in the airportﾴs standards practices, Mr. Rolle said.
ﾓSince then, weﾴve had some applications coming in from guys who have determined that they are going to try to do this right,ﾒ he added. ﾓSo I think the message is getting around that this type of operation will come to a halt in The Bahamas, and as we get into 2005, we will be putting more pressure on illegal operators.ﾒ
There are penalties for unlicensed flight operations, but Mr. Rolle indicated that catching hackers in the act could prove challenging.
ﾓIn 99 percent of the cases, the passengers who have to give a statement to verify that they paid monies, would always deny that the thing actually happened,ﾒ he said. ﾓAnd so physically proving that this is happening happens to be a big barrier.ﾒ
Macushla N. Pinder, The Bahama Journal
