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Vieques Air Link faces a $134,475 fine for using ineligible pilots The airline used pilots without proper certifications to operate 11 passenger flights Vieques Air Link promotes itself on social media as an airline that "has a pool of highly qualified pilots, certified mechanics and more 60 employees are committed to giving each and every one of our passengers the best possible service and an enjoyable experience.” The airline has not released a statement regarding the fine on social media. Simple Flying has reached out to the airline, which was not immediately available for comment. Following the proposed penalty, Vieques Air Link has 30 days to respond to the FAA after receiving the agency's enforcement letter. Vieques Air Link is a Puerto Rico small-cap airline. It has a fleet of ten aircraft, including eight Britten-Normans and two Cessna 402Cs. According to its website, it operates flights in Puerto Rico and has three destinations. These are Culebra, Vieques, and San Juan. It's no secret that the United States is facing a shortage of pilots. According to various studies, there are too many planes and flights and not enough pilots. That may soon change as data recently revealed that nearly 10,000 commercial certificates were issued in the past 12 months..Meanwhile, according to Oliver Wyman, in North America, with aging pilots and heavy use of early retirement, shortages quickly emerged after the COVID-19 crisis. 19 It is expected to reach more than 12,000 pilots by 2023 - 13%. of total demand worldwide.
The shortage of pilots particularly affects smaller airlines - such as Vieques - that cannot compete with the big ones and offer attractive job propositions for pilots to stay with. Moreover, many major US airlines have created their own academies and are now training their future pilots in-house.
However, this is no excuse, and no airline should hire pilots who are not qualified to operate scheduled commercial flights. The FAA has not specified whether cadets will soon become commercial pilots, but according to the FAA, a commercial aircraft pilot must have the following requirements:
be at least 18 years old; hold a private pilot certificate; be able to read, speak, write and understand English; Accumulate and record a specified amount of training and experience (eg, at least 250 hours if the training is under Part 61); Pass a 100-question written flight knowledge test, an oral test and a flight test administered by an FAA inspector, FAA-certified examiner, or certified examination instructor, and a Class II medical certificate.
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