How many aviation mishaps over the past few weeks. Maybe these light aircraft need to pay more attention to weather alerts and stay on the ground during unsettled weather like it was this morning with high winds and blinding rain.

May their souls rest in peace.

Again with these small charter aircraft. More lives lost because of greedy pilots flying like Storm chasers. Im sure the conditions were enough to cancel the flight yet they still proceed. smh

I don’t know if I agree with the ‘greedy ‘ comment in light of there being lives lost. And let us not forget they were not all Bahamian charter pilot. The pilot who went missing over Exuma en route to the Southern Bahamas and closed his flight at least a day before he was reported missing. Maybe more regulation and more persons at Family Island airports with the power to ground flights and shut the airports. May the souls lost in this sad tragedy redo in peace.

A lot of 'maybe' and guesswork should be cleared up hopefully upon a thorough investigation and truthful publicising of the report.. These aircraft are safe in weather like today, and always will be once regular and proper maintenance is performed and all new F.A.R.s are heeded and acted upon. A flight plan can and should be opened upon take off if a plan is not previously made by telephone.
There are too many unregulated hackers operating openly - they are illegal, but have continued to get away with it and been allowed to for so long that they flout the law daily - as did those who squatted at Arawak Cay/Ft. Charlotte (now the dirty old fish fry) and the numbers and gaming houses until the government caved in and allowed them to exist without bothering to round them up and prosecute them, I am not saying that the pilot was a hacker or that the aircraft he was flying was used for that purpose - but it would not be at all surprising if that were so.

Most of the plane crashes that resulted in the loss of life over the past five years in The Bahamas were foreign pilots who became disorientated and/or experienced mechanical problems. Today's disaster should not be tied in with issues you have with the Fish fry or issues you have with gaming being regulated. But never mind, you have issues with Bahamians period.

John - I am Bahamian! My family has been in the Bahamas with the early settlers, Eleutherian Adventurers. I dare say more Bahamian than you!

I guess you know that them adventurers did not stay here. . .they flew outta that place as soon as they were found and taken back to Bermuda I think!

Can you guys for once just say RIP, without getting into who is Bahamian or foreigner or superior? Show some humanity please.

like I always say..i don't argue with ignorance or bigotry

Foreign? Can you please explain why we keep playing shortcuts and neglecting the use of new technology or proper procedures for flying? The pilot isn't to blame, but it's the Bahamian-controlled aviation bureau for being cheap. At the expense of six lives.

As we move to take Bahamasair overseas to bring tourists here ........ and turn over the Out Island routes to the small charter sector .......... these last two weeks may be cause for concern ....... What is behind all of these near misses with these small charter planes ....... ICAO?????

Here is what is behind it: Bahamians do not believe in maintenance.

you see those cars on the road with no bumpers, no brakes and cracked windshields or malfunctioning seat belts? Yep, the same people who drive those cars pilot airplanes, they also travel as passengers and find nothing wrong ignoring safety.

they even attempt to break the law of gravity by taking on too much weight on the plane.

the day bahams air stops flying, i will travel on the mailboat, no matter how long it takes.

single engine Piper Aztec ? if it is a Piper Aztec it has 2 engines

Ah. Well, that explains why it crashed. They forgot to strap the other engine on.

In all seriousness: if the mechanical inspections and certification for airplanes is similar to the one for cars (I mean in practice, not on paper), then it is a miracle a single plane ever makes it to destination.
And since we all know that only about 50% of drivers have a "real" driving licence, let us hope the situation is not the same with pilots.

And three seats. . .one small jump seat at the rear! I was about to look-up the piper Aztec with one engine!

Memorandum

From the office of: Norman L. Horton

MEMO TO FILE

On 26 April 1985 a water retention test was conducted on a PA-23 at Gillespie Field in San Diego, California.

The test was conducted by Jerry L. Wells and Norman L. Horton. Portions of the test were video taped by Peter J. Gordon.

Mr. Wells and Mr. Horton were consultants hired by the law firm of Magana, Cathcart, McCarthy and Pierry of Los Angeles.
Mr. Gordon was an employee of that law firm.
In May of 1985 Mr. Gordon submitted an M or D to the FAA outlining the results of that test. The test proved that large quantities of water were retained in the tanks of the aircraft after the pre-flight procedures were complied with. The quantities of retained water far exceeded the capacity of the gascolators.
It was thought that a submission of the M or D would lead to a correction of the problem in that class of aircraft. It did not. The only visible result was the harassment of the owner of the aircraft by the local FAA. No corrective action was taken to fix the problem.
Mr. Horton and Mr. Wells made further attempts to remedy the situation. Those attempts are set forth in this book.

I hate when I book my entire family on Bahamasair’s brand new European made Airbus planes to go to Long Island and then they put me on these old nasty looking planes.

While Bahamasair looses a lot of money I know thier pilots were professionally trained by Airbus to fly theses planes.

I also know that Airbus controls the maintenance of these planes to a global standard.

My heart sinks and I feel like asking for my money back and going back to my house in Nassau and not visiting Long Island.

Please please Bahamasair, stop f’ing with the Bahamian people who are paying hundreds of millions in taxes to support your operation.

The new Bahamasair planes are made by ATR which is NOT part of AirBus.

"Established in November 1981, ATR is a joint partnership between two major European aeronautics players, Airbus and Leonardo."

http://www.atraircraft.com/about-atr/co…

Airbus is the controlling shareholder and inbeds its best practices and best of breed, production and maintenance policies and procedures into ATR.

ATR are first class planes. I fly Bahamasair to the islands because of the quality of their equipment and training of their pilots to world class standards. ATR/Airbus would have it no other way.

So why is Bahamasair which is owned by us the Bahamian people subjected us to lesser standards? Where are they flying these 8 planes they bought? To Cuba? To Haiti? Where? and Why.

I stand corrected! Just goes to show you that you can learn something new everyday! Thanks for the info.

ATR is a Franco-Italian aircraft manufacturer headquartered on the grounds of Toulouse Blagnac International Airport in Blagnac, France. It was formed in 1981 by Aérospatiale of France (now Airbus) and Aeritalia (now Leonardo) of Italy. Its primary products are the ATR 42 and ATR 72 aircraft. I am afraid that observer2 is right. . .BA flies the ATR 72!

Thanks Licks2.

The Government really needs to take a more careful look at aviation in the Bahamas to ensure we are safe as possible when flying around the family islands.

Soooo, why does Bahamasair not invest in some smaller ATRs to service the smaller markets....... instead of sending 50-seaters to islands with 15 passengers???? ......... That is the problem that plagues Bahamasair ..... they should either compete sensibly in the Out Islands or withdraw completely.

But we should not jeopardize Bahamians' lives with rogue carriers and pilots.