It’s amazing, pilots still like to have the beautifully printed Pilot’s Guide in the cockpit when travelling to the islands. Sure, having the iPad app is great too, but there’s nothing like flipping through colorful pages as you fly over island after island.
This 34th edition of The 2012 Bahamas & Caribbean Pilot’s Guide makes it easy to plan and execute a fun and exciting flight to the islands. This edition has newly designed island maps, hundreds of new photos, and discovering what to do in the islands is easier than ever.
The 2012 Bahamas & Caribbean Pilot’s Guide, still the only single-source reference for island travel, has all the information you need, and it’s all presented in a colorful, beautiful book.
Written primarily for pilots, this 400-page spiral bound Pilot’s Guide is a great source of information for non-aviators too. With extensive accommodations and recreational information, this book is full of resources.
It is conveniently organized into tabbed sections: the Bahamas, Turks & Caicos, Hispaniola/Cuba (Dominican Republic, Haiti), Western Caribbean (Cayman Islands, Jamaica, Yucatan, Belize, Roatan), Puerto Rico/Virgin Islands, Eastern Caribbean (Anguilla south to Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao), United States (Florida airports with Customs) and Survival. Within each section there is travel information on the islands, accommodation and car rental listings, pilot info, maps and airport information.
Included are frequencies, runway details, hours, fuel availability, color aerial photographs of every airport in the Bahamas and the Caribbean, GPS designators as well as longs & lats – a necessity to find some of the small airports that won’t be in your GPS database. The general information section covers customs, flight plans, forms, procedures, and required equipment in great detail.
You don’t have to spend hours on the web to glean bits and pieces of information – it’s all right here in one beautiful book with nearly a thousand color photos! It’s a must-have in the cockpit as you fly through the islands. The Pilot’s guide is organized by islands from north to south. Have it on your lap as you fly down through the islands and be able to identify airports by the aerial photographs as you fly over them. The pictures are really worth a thousand words.
This edition of the Bahamas & Caribbean Pilot’s Guide features newly designed island maps of some of the Bahamas islands and Puerto Rico, and an extended Haiti section for humanitarian aid pilots. The new maps include major roads, hotels and resorts, more cities and settlements than before, beaches, and points of interest.
Because of mutual cooperation between the FAA and the Islands of the Bahamas, the procedures are straight-forward, forms are simple, and the fees are minimal. Only two airports have towers (Nassau and Freeport), but there are 21 airports of entry (AOE) from which you can begin your journey. After you enter the Bahamas through an AOE, you are free to island hop using a Cruising Permit.
There are now six great out island FBOs in the Bahamas, a substantial increase from past years. First-class FBOs are also popping up in the Caribbean islands, making flying in that region more user-friendly, not only for jets, but for general aviation as well.
Each year nearly 5,000 copies of the Bahamas & Caribbean Pilot’s Guide are sold. Last year over 600 copies went to fractional share jet companies to put in each of their aircraft. The U.S. Coast Guard buys the Pilot’s Guide for navigation and the wealth of information included in one place. AOPA uses the Pilot’s Guide in their travel planning department. Customs & Immigration officers use it as a phone book because of all the valuable phone numbers. Island pilots wouldn’t fly without a copy, and general aviation pilots use it to dream, plan and fly to the islands.
Published annually since 1979, the Bahamas & Caribbean Pilot’s Guide is the only comprehensive, complete airport facilities directory available for the region. Also available are two color VFR WAC scale charts. One covers the entire Bahamas and the Turks & Caicos, and the other is the entire Caribbean from Puerto Rico to the islands off the coast of Venezuela.
The charts are $8.95 each, of both for $16.00. In addition, they offer a Forms Kit for $21.95 that includes multiple copies of the forms you need for the Bahamas. You can also purchase a pad of NCR General Declaration forms for $21.95. Each is designed to make your tit, to the islands a breeze. The Pilot’s Guide is available for $56.95 from Pilot Publishing, Inc. (800) 521-2120 or (760) 775-1900 or check out their website. The Pilot’s Guide and charts can also be purchased through many online aviation stores and at over 90 pilot shops and FBOs across the country.
Bahamas & Caribbean Pilot’s Guide is a valuable resource to use along with the Pilot’s Guide, as it is updated with fuel prices, pilot information and features every airport that is in the Guide. Log on and use the Google maps as an overview on what you will see on your flight.
Not only does the website offer aviation information, but it provides accommodation information as well. A new Pilot’s Guide and new adventures await as you take your next trip to the islands. Remember this guide is truly the perfect “co-pilot” for any island adventure.
By Jim Douglas
