Will Not Mandate The Upgraded Equipment In February

The Civil Aviation Ministry of the Bahamas has extended the waiver for the installation of 406 MHz ELT devices past the February 1, 2013 deadline. Aviation groups had lobbied the Bahamian government to not make the installation of such equipment mandatory, but as recently as earlier this week, they had not extended the waiver.

The exemption, made under the provision of The Civil Aviation (Air Navigation) Regulations 2001, section 2 and the Bahamas Safety Air Regulations 2001, applies to all Bahamas Commercial (AOC's) Operators, general aviation aircraft flying in or over The Bahamas, balloons, gliders and lighter than air.
 
This rule does not cancel the requirements under the Bahamas Air Safety Regulations (BASR)'s Schedule 7, Subpart C, Communication and Navigation Equipment (b) (3) or BASR 7.290 Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT) (a), (b), (c) and (d) 1, 2 and 3.
 
The Bahamas Civil Aviation said in a news release that it  will review this policy in 24 months to determine any additional extensions of the waiver with respect to all Bahamas Registered AOC Aircraft (C6) .

The U.S. Coast Guard continues to utilize the 121.5 MHz frequency in their search and rescue operations. In addition, the ICAO has said that an installed ELT is useless once the aircraft sinks after the passengers have safely exited the aircraft. Pilots may want to consider a hand held personal locator beacon as part of their safety kit for operations over water.

FMI: http://forms.bahamas.gov.bs/dp_agency.asp?aid=CAD