The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

NEAR-miss incidents involving American Airlines aircraft at Family Island airports highlight longstanding safety concerns tied to limited data and infrastructure at uncontrolled airfields, according to a senior aviation official.

Michael Strachan, chief operating officer of the Bahamas Aviation, Climate & Severe Weather Network (BACSWN), said the recent events underscore risks that the organisation had previously warned about.

Mr Strachan spoke on the television programme Beyond the Headlines with Shenique Miller, as authorities investigate two close calls involving American Airlines flights last month.

The Bahamas Civil Aviation Authority has confirmed that internal investigations are underway.

One incident occurred on February 12 when an American Airlines flight approaching Exuma was forced to take evasive action to avoid a departing aircraft. Two flight attendants were injured.

A second incident on February 24 at North Eleuthera involved another aircraft passing overhead while an American Airlines plane was still on the runway preparing for takeoff.

Mr Strachan said many Family Island airports operate without air traffic control or other infrastructure common at larger airports.

“Working along with the local counterparts to make sure that we have a firm and robust plan in place to improve the safety around these airports, especially the Family Islands, which most of them operate in uncontrolled manner without air traffic control and other infrastructure that would happen,” he said.

He described the incidents as unfortunate but said they reinforce concerns BACSWN raised when its heads of agreement was signed.

Mr Strachan said preventing such incidents requires ensuring pilots and air traffic controllers have simultaneous reliable data when operating through Bahamian sovereign air space.

“We've been doing an extensive upgrade and maintenance programme on the existing infrastructure,” he said. “We have teams that are being dispatched to Abaco, San Salvador, and a few of the other operating airports to upgrade and maintain the AWOS systems, the ATIS systems. But also we're in the advance stages of infrastructure planning. We want to be able to install the relevant equipment that's under our mandate at all of the operating airports.

BACSWN is in the advanced stages of planning infracstructure upgrades which will include, but not be limited to, the installation of flight tracking radars and multi-function phased-array radars from US defence contractor Raytheon – all aimed at transforming aviation data and real-time weather services across Bahamian air space.

“We're excited to work with the local regulators and also the counterparts to not only provide the infrastructure, but to share the data,” he said. “So these instances that happen at these uncontrolled airports, it all boils down to lack of data and lack of information.”

Mr Strachan also pointed to the fatal aviation collision in Washington, DC earlier this year as a reminder of the risks.

In January 2025, an Army Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter collided with an American Airlines regional jet near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, killing all 67 people on board the two aircraft.

He said The Bahamas is not immune from similar risks if infrastructure gaps remain.

Some improvements may take time. Exuma International Airport is currently being redeveloped, while a new agreement has been signed to rebuild North Eleuthera Airport.

Installing permanent equipment at those locations now would be impractical because construction could require its removal.

Mr Strachan said temporary measures are being introduced to improve weather reporting and provide pilots with critical information while redevelopment projects continue.