floridacargocat
12-06-2004, 12:12 PM
An interesting newspaper article from The Bahamas regarding illegal operators and "friendly" pilots. http://bahamasb2b.com/news/wmview.php?ArtID=4469
After the recent accident (flight from North Eleuthera to Nassau), The Bahamian CAA is making another attempt in coordination with the FAA to improve the safety of air transportation.
Who is a legal operator? Most legal operators display their certificate number (FAA) on their website on on the aircraft they operate. Aircraft need to display either the certificate number or the name of the certificate holder. Legal operators offer their services (on-demand) within the limitations of their certificate, and are subject to the overview and control of the respective government agencies (like FAA or CAA). Furthermore, a legal US operator conducting business between the US and the Bahamas needs to have a Bahamian Operating Permit. Bahamian operators need to have the approval of the US DOT to conduct business between The Bahamas and the US.
Who or what is an illegal operator? Whoever is conducting business while not having the legally required authorization and/or certification. There are a lot of legal points to be considered, but I am aware of a concerted effort of the DOT and FAA to eliminate these illegal operators. The FAA has the authority to conduct searches and inspections of any US-registered airplane in any country.
Who or what is a "friendly" pilot? It is a pilot (with any type of rating, experience and competence), who is asking for a remuneration or compensation to transport a person from A to B with the remuneration/compensation exceeding the prorated share of the variable costs (fuel and oil). Example: A flight with a 5 pax seats aircraft from e.g. FLL to MHH takes about 1 hour 15 minutes and consumes let's say 45 gal of fuel (let's neglect the oil consumption). With a fuel charge of approx. USD 3.50/gal, total fuel costs would be USD 157.50.
Let's say this pilot took 2 friends, so we have a total of 3 souls on board, and the fuel costs would be divided by 3, so each person would have to contribute 157.50 / 3 = USD 52.5. If that pilot would be asking for more than that, he would exceed this limitation and then it would become remuneration or compensation, and he will become a "friendly" pilot.
And if this "friendly" pilot would do these flights frequently out and back into the US, he is creating an electronic trail. This pilot would still be declaring his flight(s) as private flights (non-commercial), but all the data are still entered into the US Customs computers (especially inbound). Commercial operators have to submit electronic manifests, private fliers submit their arrival reports, and the US Customs agents enter all the data manually into their computers.
And when a certain frequency has been reached, someone in US Customs might say "Let's have a look at this", and then the stone might start rolling downhill.
Furthermore, a very important aspect. In case of an accident, passengers using illegal operators or "friendly" pilots are not insured.
Hopefully the skies get safer in the very near future.
After the recent accident (flight from North Eleuthera to Nassau), The Bahamian CAA is making another attempt in coordination with the FAA to improve the safety of air transportation.
Who is a legal operator? Most legal operators display their certificate number (FAA) on their website on on the aircraft they operate. Aircraft need to display either the certificate number or the name of the certificate holder. Legal operators offer their services (on-demand) within the limitations of their certificate, and are subject to the overview and control of the respective government agencies (like FAA or CAA). Furthermore, a legal US operator conducting business between the US and the Bahamas needs to have a Bahamian Operating Permit. Bahamian operators need to have the approval of the US DOT to conduct business between The Bahamas and the US.
Who or what is an illegal operator? Whoever is conducting business while not having the legally required authorization and/or certification. There are a lot of legal points to be considered, but I am aware of a concerted effort of the DOT and FAA to eliminate these illegal operators. The FAA has the authority to conduct searches and inspections of any US-registered airplane in any country.
Who or what is a "friendly" pilot? It is a pilot (with any type of rating, experience and competence), who is asking for a remuneration or compensation to transport a person from A to B with the remuneration/compensation exceeding the prorated share of the variable costs (fuel and oil). Example: A flight with a 5 pax seats aircraft from e.g. FLL to MHH takes about 1 hour 15 minutes and consumes let's say 45 gal of fuel (let's neglect the oil consumption). With a fuel charge of approx. USD 3.50/gal, total fuel costs would be USD 157.50.
Let's say this pilot took 2 friends, so we have a total of 3 souls on board, and the fuel costs would be divided by 3, so each person would have to contribute 157.50 / 3 = USD 52.5. If that pilot would be asking for more than that, he would exceed this limitation and then it would become remuneration or compensation, and he will become a "friendly" pilot.
And if this "friendly" pilot would do these flights frequently out and back into the US, he is creating an electronic trail. This pilot would still be declaring his flight(s) as private flights (non-commercial), but all the data are still entered into the US Customs computers (especially inbound). Commercial operators have to submit electronic manifests, private fliers submit their arrival reports, and the US Customs agents enter all the data manually into their computers.
And when a certain frequency has been reached, someone in US Customs might say "Let's have a look at this", and then the stone might start rolling downhill.
Furthermore, a very important aspect. In case of an accident, passengers using illegal operators or "friendly" pilots are not insured.
Hopefully the skies get safer in the very near future.