Asia Pacific Airlines (APA), which provided crucial freight service in Micronesia have been grounded by the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) because of issues in pilot training.
According to the Honolulu Civil Beat article Feb 3, APA which is also known as Aero Micronesia Inc. service to Palau, American Samoa, Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), and Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) have been canceled.
APA, it’s a website, describes itself as an air cargo charter that “serve Micronesia and the Western Pacific with much needed all-cargo jet service since 1998.
The website also showed that from the week of Feb. 26 to March 4, there is no scheduled service in the region.
Most Pacific islands which rely mostly on imported food products, use the services to receive essential goods and mail.
The FAA in a statement said that the APA was “unable to demonstrate that its pilots were properly trained.”
Under the terms of the emergency suspension, Asia Pacific must immediately surrender its air carrier certificate to the feds and cease operations until it provides complete records.
The FAA said the company will be fined $16,108 a day if it fails to surrender the certificate.
“Under the regulations, any flight check provided by these two individuals is invalid, meaning that none of the company’s pilots are currently qualified to fly,” it added.
The FAA said the carrier was notified in December last year about its non-compliance and urged APA to suspend all operations until the matter is resolved. The carrier however continued to operate.
Pilot training? Whoa