Shenia Roberts
Journal Staff Writer
The newly Formed Bahamas Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (BAOPA) a union created to protect the best interest of pilots and aircraft owners, is raising serious concerns about a proposed exam for pilots. They say it does not appear relevant to aviation in The Bahamas and that the European derived examination conflicts with the USA’s federal aviation administration system that governed Bahamian pilots for decades.
This new development comes just weeks after association members say they initiated a line of communication between the Ministry of Tourism, Investments and Aviation, and the Civil Aviation Authority Bahamas (CAAB) voicing their general concerns.
BAOPA members said in a statement that “our communications to the relevant authorities did not only voice our concern regarding the irrelevant exam, seemingly impulsively, carbon copied from a European jurisdiction, but they also contained suggestions that would better suit the aviation environment in The Bahamas.”
In their proposal, the association members suggested that the relevant authority create a standardized Bahamian based examination to meet the needs of Bahamian pilots. They emphasized that the idea is neither farfetched nor new as a similar process was completed when The Bahamas converted national examinations from British General Certificate of Education (GCE) exams to the Bahamas General Certificate Secondary Examinations (BGCSE).
In addition to these requests BAOPA leader Mornell Brown shared his thoughts on the matter saying, “the exam is wrong and irrelevant, the exam bares no resemblance to aviation here in The Bahamas and is based on another region.”
Brown also shed light on the fees stakeholders incur saying that “over the years we have noticed a steady increase in fees, however, there has been a significant increase in fees in the last year with no prior warning and no justification as to why these are increasing.”
BAOPA members are asking officials to revisit their decision as they say the proposed examination is not only irrelevant to the circumstances in our country but that it will also result in several experienced pilots being grounded and unable to fly.
