Thursday, July 3, 2025
By NEIL HARTNELL
Tribune Business Editor
The Bahamian aviation regulator's chairman yesterday asserted that "everyone wins" in the settlement reached over an exam some feared would spark a pilot shortage and damage the industry.
Devard Francis, head of the Civil Aviation Authority of The Bahamas' Board, told Tribune Business that the agreement reached over the 'air law' exam that must be sat by all Bahamian pilots had ended potential "acrimony" with both sides largely achieving their objectives.
For while the regulator has succeeded in upholding the exam, and the need for airmen to sit and pass it, the industry - led by the Bahamas Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (BAOPA), and its estimated 100-strong members - succeeded in adjusting its content to be more Bahamian-focused, as well as gaining extra time to study and prepare for what will now be an 'open book' exam.
"We're definitely satisfied," Mr Francis told this newspaper of the outcome. "We're happy we got it resolved. We didn't want to see any acrimony with the pilots. We're happy we came to a satisfactory result. No one loses; everyone wins in this matter.
"The exam has not been cancelled. We want to create the safest flying and aviation environment for our consumers, and we want to make sure our pilots are up to par and at their best. I think the flying community and those that travel incessantly will feel good that they have an Authority that is looking out for the best for everyone - pilots and consumers.
"For the industry we just feel we have a safer, more qualified [sector[. We have persons who are tested, tried and proven." Mr Francis also confirmed that Alexander Flowers has left his as the Authority's director-general to be replaced by Chequita Johnson who is an acting capacity.
He spoke after the Civil Aviation Authority of The Bahamas issued a July 1, 2025, notice to all pilots and the wider industry informing them of the "revised" air law exam for Bahamian airmen. It did not, though, mention that the changes and, indeed, the letter itself were part of the Supreme Court-approved settlement reached with BAOPA to head-off its Judicial Review challenge.
Ms Johnson, in her role as acting director-general, said a "beta" or pilot testing phase of the new exam will be held until month's end. The regulator will identify pilots who previously failed the exam and invite them to participate in the testing at no cost.
With the revised exam set to go into effect from August 1, 2025, Ms Johnson wrote: "In response to extensive feedback from industry partners and stakeholders, the Civil Aviation Authority of The Bahamas has listened carefully and acted decisively to revise the air law examination for greater relevance, transparency and alignment with the national regulatory framework.
"The revised examination will now draw questions exclusively from the Civil Aviation Act and the following Civil Aviation Regulations" that include medical, licensing, general operating rules, commercial air transport and general aviation regulations.
Ms Johnson said any pilots passing the revised 'air law' exam during the testing phase "will have their result fully recognised" and not need to sit it again, adding that the Civil Aviation Authority of The Bahamas is committed to "ensuring that examination standards remain fair, clear and relevant to the national aviation regulatory environment".
The terms of the agreement between the Civil Aviation Authority of The Bahamas (CAAB) and BAOPA are set out in a May 29, 2025, 'consent Order' that was approved by Supreme Court justice, Leif Farquharson KC, and their respective attorneys.
The Order, which has been obtained by Tribune Business, appears to give the Association much of what it was seeking without compromising the Authority's position that all Bahamian aviators must take the 'air law' exam in order for their licences to be validated.
In return for the Association withdrawing its Judicial Review challenge, which named the Civil Aviation Authority of The Bahamas, the Attorney General and minister of tourism, investments and aviation as defendants, the Authority has pledged to issue a "new notice to airmen" detailing the revised air law exam requirements.
The Order stipulates that all Bahamian pilots and Civil Aviation Authority of The Bahamas "licence/validation holders, who have not sat and passed the air law exam at the time of expiration of their licence/validation", will now have their licences extended until year-end December 31, 2025, once they apply for this to the regulator. The previous deadline to take and pass the exam had been June 1.
This will give them more time to study for, and pass, the exam, and the settlement also requires pilots to "attend a mandatory seminar" on civil aviation regulations and licensing, then register for and take what will now be an "open book exam". The seminar and exam will be "available on or before August 31, 2025.
And the exam will have a revised format with "content based on Bahamian regulations". The Bahamian content, extra time and "open book exam", were key demands of BAOPA which, within less than a year of its September 18, 2024, formation, appears to have obtained several concessions from the regulatory authority.
The 'consent Order' stipulates that the exam will be taken at the regulator's offices, and be rolled out in digital format come January 2026. "Once a candidate successfully passes the exam, they will not be required to sit any future exams for licensing/validation purposes," the settlement stipulates, while preserving the Authority's stance that taking the test is "non-negotiable" for Bahamian pilots.
The Association had argued that the Authority had created a "reasonable expectation" that it would consult with itself and its members before implementing the 'air law' exam, but failed to "discharge its duty" as a public body to do so.
It also claimed that the exam's original content and structure held "jurisdictional irrelevance" because it was not sufficiently based on the conditions and regulations pilots will encounter in The Bahamas, instead including questions on take-offs and landings at London's Heathrow airport and flying through volcanic ash.
The Association also said the 75 percent grade required to pass the 'air law' exam was "an irrational high bar", and also challenged whether the Authority had complied with the National Accreditation and Equivalency Council of The Bahamas Act 2007 as it had produced no proof that the exam had been accredited, registered and recognised by that body.
The Authority, though, hit back by asserting that the Civil Aviation Act of The Bahamas Act 2021, as well as its accompanying regulations and the global Chicago Convention on civil aviation, gave it the necessary legal authority to test airmen's knowledge by imposing the 'air law' exam.
And it warned that not imposing such a test on Bahamian pilots "exposes a country to serious risks", including the possibility that this nation would be downgraded by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and European regulators, and also suffer International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) findings, resulting in "economic harm to its aviation industry".
Comments
Porcupine says...
The biggest question I have is: How and why did it have to get to this point?
After speaking with a number of pilots, it seems that the designers of this test were clueless.
Our government was placing another odious burden on those working for a living. See, the pilots jobs actually contribute to the Bahamian coffers. Government jobs mostly suck money out of our economy. We do understand this simple concept, yes?
I must ask all Bahamians, "Are we here to help each other succeed, or are we here only to throw up road blocks for those who actually get up off their butts to do something?"
More and more, it seems to me that those in government jobs, including those in Parliament, are there to hold this country back,
The attitudes, the lack of friendly customer service, lack of transparency, lack of proper communication, and the lack of professionalism in far too many of our government offices, suggest to me that there is a schism in our society.
There are those who wish to make The Bahamas a better place, and on the other side, are those in government jobs throwing up roadblock after roadblock to hold the qualified people back.
Posted 4 July 2025, 7:55 a.m. Suggest removal
ExposedU2C says...
LOL. You must be a big proponent of our nation's dumbed-down D- education system. I value my life and like competent pilots with the appropriate smarts. There are too many Bahamian pilots today who would have difficulty safely driving a Jitney bus let alone piloting a sophisticated aircraft. Incompetent pilots who fly by the seat of their pants are a serious danger to their passengers.
Posted 4 July 2025, 2:33 p.m. Suggest removal
Socrates says...
This whole thing (as reported publicly) waa a spectacle to witness. right now pilots from Jet Blue and British Airways are flyimg into the Bahamas proving that pilots cross borders yer these people argue they only want a bahamian exam. i guess they only plan to fly in the Bahamas and stay out of Colombia, Mexico or Central America where they might encounter volcanic ash which they will know nothing about.
Posted 5 July 2025, 10:42 p.m. Suggest removal
Log in to comment