The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Panamanian investigators have raised concerns over co-operation and access to critical documents related to the May 12 general election plane crash involving drug suspect, Jonathan Eric ‘Player’ Gardiner, while also exposing multiple regulatory breaches.

The initial report, released by Panama’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Office (OFINVAA) on June 12 and obtained by Tribune Business, reveals that - one month after the Beechcraft 300 King Air twin-prop carrying Mr Gardiner and ten others was ditched in international waters - the central American state’s regulators say they have yet to be provided with the plane’s maintenance records by the Bahamian authorities.

Chequita Johnson, director-general at the Civil Aviation Authority Bahamas, could not be reached for comment on these concerns before press time last night despite several attempts and voice mails left for her secretary. However, Michael Strachan, The Bahamas’ ambassador to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), last night said the issues raised over the maintenance records by the Panama report were misplaced.

Mr Strachan, also chief operating officer for the Bahamas Aviation, Climate and Severe Weather Network (BACSWN), explained that - as the plane was registered in Panama - The Bahamas and its Civil Aviation Authority have “no obligation” to have or maintain those records. The only responsibility The Bahamas has is to provide details on whether the pilot had a valid licence to fly that type of plane, which it has done.

“They [Civil Aviation Authority of The Bahamas] don’t have any obligation to have the maintenance logs because it’s a foreign-registered aircraft,” Mr Strachan said. “The only information that Bahamian civil aviation would provide is whether the pilot’s licence was current.

“That’s as far as the Civil Aviation Authority of The Bahamas’ information flow on the back-end. It wouldn’t be obligated to have those maintenance records.”

However, the Panamanian report, with that country taking the lead because it is where the plane is registered, also suggests the aircraft with registration number HP-1859 was flying despite multiple aviation regulatory violations including expired airworthiness and registration certificates plus expired insurance coverage that lapsed on April 1, 2026.

The report also suggested that critical data relating to numerous flight plans associated with the plane, such as the date they were filed and when actual flights took place, appeared to be missing. And the Panamanian investigators signalled they have little idea of what the aircraft has been doing, or used for, as it left their territory on May 3, 2025, en route to The Bahamas and has never returned.

Discussions, though, are taking place on whether to recover the plane from its present location some 50 miles from Vero Beach given that it holds the flight recorders which contain key evidence. “The refloating/recovery of the aircraft is also being evaluated with the company's legal representative for the purpose of recovering evidence that will contribute to the investigation,” the report said.

It was also suggested by the report that, while the plane’s Bahamian pilot, Ian Nixon, possessed a valid commercial pilot’s licence at the time of the accident, his “first class medical certificate” - which proves a pilot is mentally and physically fit to fly - had expired and was out-of-date.

This assertion was vehemently rejected and disputed by Bjorn Ferguson, the Bahamian attorney for 43 year-old Mr Nixon, who branded such a finding as “flawed and erroneous” and signalled he will mount a legal challenge against the Panamanian investigating authority if it persists with such accusations.

“That finding is flawed and erroneous,” Mr Ferguson blasted. “I have all the proof. It is very, very valid, his medical certificate. I have no reason to doubt the validity of the medical certificate I have. Let the Panamanian authorities go with whatever. I’ll wait for the final report so I can take further instructions from my client.”

Tribune Business understands that, while Mr Nixon has been co-operating with, and talking to, key Bahamian regulators such as the Aircraft Accident Investigation Authority (AAIA) as they conduct their own probes into what happened on general election day, he has yet to hear from their Panamanian counterparts despite being a key witness to what occurred.

“The pilot held a commercial pilot licence issued by the Bahamas Civil Aviation Authority on January 14, 2022, with an expiry date of January 31, 2027,” the preliminary Panamanian report asserted.

“According to information obtained, the pilot's first-class medical certificate was issued on March 11, 2024. Under the regulations of the issuing country, The Bahamas, a first-class medical certificate for a commercial pilot over 40 years of age is valid for six months; for private operations, the medical certificate is valid for 24 months.”

If accurate, this would mean that Mr Nixon’s medical certificate expired, at earliest, on September 11, 2024, which would have been almost 18 months before the crash, or, at latest, on March 11, 2026, whichs was two months before. However, Mr Ferguson dismissed such assertions as patently incorrect and untrue.

The Panamanian report, though, also noted that the commercial pilot’s licence once held by Mr Nixon from the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration), the US regulator, had been revoked. And it also highlighted difficulties in obtaining the Beechcraft’s maintenance records from The Bahamas.

“The records of the most recent inspections performed are dated April, May and July 2024,” it said. “OFINVAA requested the aircraft maintenance files from the state of The Bahamas. As of the date of this report, the requested documentation had not been received.”

However, other findings to-date raise major questions surrounding the Bahamian civil aviation regulatory and oversight regime, its enforcement and what is permitted to fly around in this country’s air space. The Panama report said the Beechcraft’s “most recent airworthiness certificate obtained was valid until July 3, 2025”, while its certificate of registration expired on July 1 last year and insurance coverage ended on April 1, 2026.

“According to the documentation, the provisional assignment of registration HP-1859 was made on December 30, 2022,” the report said. “The first provisional registration certificate was subsequently issued on June 28, 2024, and the most recent provisional registration certificate was valid until July 1, 2025.

“According to the aircraft records in Panama, it maintained a valid insurance policy providing coverage from April 1, 2025 to April 1, 2026.” A corporate entity, TRTC Aeroplus Investment, was identified as the plane’s owner, although its shareholders and owners were not named.

“The [Panama] Air Navigation Service reported that the aircraft departed on May 3, 2025, from Marcos A. Gelabert International Airport (MPMG), Panama, bound for Lynden Pindling International Airport (MYNN),” the initial accident report said. “The investigation found no records showing that aircraft HP-1859 subsequently re-entered the state of Panama.

“According to information obtained during the investigation, several flight plans associated with the operation of the aircraft were accessed;. However, those documents do not contain information allowing the date on which they were filed or used to be established. The only flight plan presented with dated information is from May 7, 2026, for the route from Grand Bahama International Airport to Lynden Pindling International Airport.”

Detailing what occurred on May 12, the Panama report said of the flight that took off from Leonard M. Thompson International Airport in Abaco: “During the flight, the aircraft maintained contact with Freeport air traffic services. Communications were subsequently interrupted.

“When contact was re-established with Freeport approach, the pilot reported having experienced a communications failure, navigation instrument failure and difficulties related to one of the engines. He also stated that approximately 30 minutes of fuel remained and that the aircraft was heading toward Freeport.

“After the link was restored, and following several communications with Freeport air traffic control, contact with the aircraft was again lost. According to information collected during the investigation, the aircraft made an emergency ditching in the sea approximately 50 nautical miles east of Vero Beach, Florida, US, where it subsequently sank. All 11 persons on board were rescued by the United States Air Force.”