If you’ve ever been approached by a pilot offering his air services in exchange for gas fees or a small cheque for perhaps $100, he may have been operating an unlicensed flight service.
It’s not a new practice, but it is one that local aviation officials continue to voice concerns about.
However, officials say they are addressing the vexing problem of “air hackers” or uncertified air charter operators working at Nassau International Airport.
Flight Standard Manager Patrick Rolle told The Bahama Journal recently that his department is working in conjunction with the Ministry of Tourism to bring order to operations at the airport.
The Ministry is making special identification logos, he said. These logos will be placed only on certified aircraft.
Mr. Rolle also said that the Ministry has also agreed to set up an official web page to publish the names of legitimate charter operators.
“I had a meeting with tourism [officials] and [they are] going ahead with the publishing of the logos and they will also put all of the legal operators on a web page so that persons who want to have charters-will have a selection from the web page that will be operated by the Ministry.”
He also pointed out that Flight Services will publish a passengers rights list. This list will highlight some of the things that passengers should know prior to traveling with a charter company.
“When going on a flight these companies should be certified first of all, and they should have the necessary documents in the aircraft to show that,” Mr. Rolle said.
“Once all of this is in place the public will realize that those [registered] persons have been certified by flight standards and that should give them some comfort in flying.”
According to Mr. Rolle, registered air charter operators were pleased to learn of the news that officials are taking steps to preserve order at the airport.
He said that legal operators feel that hackers should be weeded out.
“The legal operators are happy about this because they realize that if everyone is operating on a fair footing then it means that their operating costs would be less because they would be operating against guys who in some cases have no insurance, are doing little maintenance and who are not really conscious about safety,” Mr. Rolle said.
Earlier in the year Flight Standards officials appealed to illegal operators to go through the necessary certification process.
According to Mr. Rolle, only four individuals came forward and they are now legitimate operators.
At the time of the appeal, authorities indicated that there were probably up to 30 unlicensed operators flying passengers through The Bahamas.
Mr. Rolle said that in some cases persons flying airplanes have no pilot licenses, but were trained by friends.
He noted that this is a scary situation because in cases of emergencies, these “pilots” may not know what to do.
Until authorities are able to verify the complaints about the various hackers, officials at the Department of Civil Aviation cannot do anything about the situation, said Anthony Dean, chief operating officer at the Department of Civil Aviation, in an earlier interview with The Bahama Journal.
He had said the Attorney General’s Office appeared not to have the professionals needed to deal with civil aviation infractions.
“If there were an aviation lawyer in place, more people would be prosecuted for various offenses committed in the air,” Mr. Dean said. “We need someone who is going to convince the courts that there is a case in respect to aviation simply because many magistrates don’t understand aviation.”
Legitimate air charter companies are reportedly losing significant business to these hackers, who reportedly undercut posted prices and are able to operate cheaply because they have no overhead costs, said one company owner.
By: Stephen Gay, The Bahama Journal
