The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Chief Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

PRIME Minister Philip “Brave” Davis yesterday defended the country’s aviation safety oversight amid a series of recent crashes, saying he is satisfied the regulatory regime is robust enough to ensure safe public air travel.

Mr Davis expressed confidence in the Civil Aviation Authority Bahamas, saying the agency conducts robust inspections to ensure aircraft comply with safety regulations.

His comments come after two fatal crashes involving aircraft in the North Andros area since July and lingering questions surrounding a May 12 crash involving a Panamanian-registered aircraft whose documentation Panamanian officials later said had expired.

“I’m satisfied that our regime is sufficiently robust enough,” Mr Davis said, “to ensure that just traveling publicly is safe on the aircrafts that are under the remit of our aviation authority.”

The Prime Minister acknowledged that accidents can happen because of factors such as pilot error and bad weather, and cautioned against treating every crash as evidence of deficiencies in Bahamian oversight.

“Unfortunately, things do happen,” Mr Davis said. “I mean the the last aircraft that crash was not a Bahamian aircraft; it's a foreign aircraft so that has so nothing to do with our oversight so it's not it's not right just to think that we are deficient in our oversight.”

On July 10, ten people aboard a Flamingo Air flight were killed when the aircraft crashed into bushes near San Andros.

Four American relatives died on September 7 when their aircraft crashed into waters off North Andros after departing Great Harbour Cay for Florida.

Questions have also persisted over a Panamanian-registered aircraft involving drug suspect Jonathan Eric “Player” Gardiner that was forced to ditch into the sea on May 12 after departing Marsh Harbour, Abaco, for Freeport.

Panamanian officials later confirmed that the aircraft’s documentation expired on June 4, 2025, and said it should not have been flying after that date.

They also identified multiple regulatory breaches, including expired airworthiness and registration certificates and insurance coverage that lapsed on April 1, 2026. Panamanian officials also raised concerns about co-operation with local authorities and access to critical documents related to the crash.

Mr Davis’ comments also followed false reports on Wednesday of another possible aircraft crash on Cat Island.

He said his office was briefed about a potential crash, but investigators subsequently found no evidence that an aircraft had gone down.

Mr Davis said officers became concerned after seeing smoke in northern Cat Island shortly after a low-flying aircraft disappeared from view. A report was subsequently received of a possible crash in the southern part of the island.

Investigations determined that the smoke came from a fire believed to have been caused by a lightning strike, he said.