CAL works on succession of Caymanian pilots
(CNS): Cayman Airways Limited (CAL) recently celebrated the career achievements of fourteen of its Caymanian pilots and is pressing home its succession plan for local flyers. While the national flag carrier has a significant percentage of local people in its workforce, it is also making sure its pilots are Caymanian too. CAL CEO Fabian Whorms said the airline has always been committed to developing local talent and providing aviation opportunities for Caymanians, investing in the airline and the economy.
“Seeing this next generation of employees is the fruit of that commitment,” he said. “We are confident that these employees having an existing connection to the company will translate into a strong sense of loyalty and commitment to the airline, as well as ensure a deep understanding of its values and culture.”
The event, held on the eve of International Women’s Day, also recognised CAL’s five female pilots, who now make up 12% of the airline’s pilot contingent: B737-8 First Officer Giselah Ebanks, Saab 340B+ Captain Crystal Godet, Saab 340B+ First Officer Amber Hydes, Twin Otter DHC-6 First Officer Leanni Tibbetts, and Twin Otter DHC-6 First Officer Jessica Ebanks.
Whorms said the talented and capable female pilots will play a crucial role in shaping the future of the airline and the aviation industry as a whole.
The Twin Otter DHC-6 fleet also celebrated the addition of two current pilots being upgraded to Captain: Captain Andrew Anderson, promoted to captain in June 2022; and Captain Ronald McLean, promoted to captain in December 2022. Additionally, the company welcomed four new pilots to this fleet: First Officer Nathan Myers, hired in November 2022; First Officer Leanni Tibbetts, hired in January 2023; First Officer Jessica Ebanks, who is currently undergoing training; and First Officer Zachary Powery, also in training.
On the Saab 340B+ fleet, Captain Crystal Godet was promoted in October 2022 from a Twin Otter DHC-6 Captain to a Saab 340B+ Captain, and Captain Lachlan Dyett is currently undergoing training to be promoted from a Twin Otter DHC-6 Captain to a Saab 340B+ Captain. Additionally, First Officer Shawn Larson was promoted in November 2022 from a Twin Otter DHC-6 First Officer to a Saab 340B+ First Officer, and First Officer Amber Hydes is in training to be promoted from a Twin Otter DHC-6 First Officer to a Saab 340B+ First Officer.
Two pilots were promoted from the Saab 340B+ fleet to the B737-8 jet fleet: First Officer Jeremy Miller in February 2023 and First Officer Diego McCoy in January 2023. Two current pilots on the B737-8 fleet were upgraded to captain: Captain Troy McCoy, promoted to Captain in December 2022, and Captain Tarik Goring, promoted to Captain in February 2023.
Notably, all fourteen pilots are Caymanian, many of them are also next-generation Cayman Airways employees, having grown up with family members who were either CAL pilots or employees.
- Fascinated
- Happy
- Sad
- Angry
- Bored
- Afraid
While I congratulate each of these people in their accomplishments,it still appears to be a culture of who knows who and who your mama,daddy or relative is at CAL, as with most Government Departments.
You have many qualified pilots that have been working in various capacities at CAL or CIAA and have not been put in the rotation roster to be given the opportunity to move up the ranks,but for some they graduate, obtain their commercial license and are put in rotation immediately, some becoming Captains in less than 10 years?!
Why is that?
I really didn’t want to immediately go to favouritism/nepotism but it is difficult not to, when consistently a lot of pilots/captains are related to politicians and other well known persons in the community.
While those persons have worked hard and got their qualifications it is unlikely that they would not have climbed the ladder so quickly if it wasn’t because of who they were related to.
However, I am encouraged by the rise of women in this field, that was once dominated by men.
Why are so may young Caymanian Pilots leaving for Dubai and other airlines?
american for life.
As long as promotions are based on experience and flight time.
Some faces looks too young to me to have the required experience and flight time. But who knows. I close friend of mine is a 5″2 100lb woman who flies internationally commercial Boeing.
Agree 100%. I was on a plane last week from LC and one of the first officers in the photo was flying under the supervision of the captain and it was the sketchiest landing I have ever experience in a plane. Everything ended up ok but everyone on that plane during the landing was scared and with reason. need to be really careful with aviation; this isn’t messing about.
Same goes for one of the other newer pilots for CAL was flying the bigger plane into Tampa a few months ago and also a very unpleasant approach. Landing was fine but ten minutes before that it was noticeably bad with a lot of people turning green.
People remember these things and safety has to be number 1, number 2 and number 3 when it comes to airplanes. Caymanian employment takes a back seat to safety or it’ll become a problem down the road.
12:33pm unfortunately no one at CAL going to listen to you.
👍
For some reason green thumb was not responding.
I hope they are not replacing a meritocracy with diversity & inclusion.
One of my male friends was a graduate of a prestige college with studies related to an aviation (don’t remember exactly what he was studying). After graduating he served as a military pilot for few years.
Then he was flying small bush planes in Alaska, earning the hours to qualify for Fedex Boeing.
He told me a lots of stories about challenges of being a pilot in Alaska Bush. He was an exceptionally good pilot. If there was an emergency in a village and the weather conditions didn’t allow to fly, he was called for the flight. Landing on icy or snowy airfields requires exceptional skills and personal traits.
But what stood him out – he never skipped even one point in the before-takeoff checklist. Even if it was pitch dark and the temperature outside was -50F. One of the things he had to do was to sniff his plane fuel-always. Smell. Fuel has a distinctive smell. To make sure it was the right kind of the fuel for his plane.
I wonder what Caymanian pilots challenges are? Do they have the before-takeoff checklists? They must. Who makes sure they are always completed to a T? What about psychological tests? Abilities to perform under tremendous stress?
A simple way for you to deduce the answer to your question is to look at the route map for Cayman Airways and see where they fly to. And previously flown to. Denver, Atlanta, New York, Los Angeles, Baltimore, Mexico City, Haiti, Chicago, Salt Lake City, Arizona, Europe (Ferry Flights) to name a few. Do you think the weather and operational considerations in these places are the same as the Cayman Islands or the wider Caribbean? Even the well travelled Miami route can get hectic with those pesky afternoon south florida thunderstorms.
Most ppl have an issue with national carrier on some level but the fact remains, they’ve kept us tragedy free for a very long time. And hopefully they can continue to fly us incident free in the future.
Your response is very misogynistic. Are you saying that female pilots are mediocre?
Just disgusting.
Utter Rubbish. Unfortunately, the only cure for being a nervous flyer is to choose another mode of transportation.
No flight crew anywhere in the world will be able to help you and others like you, “make it more pleasant”…..
So…question, If one were to take up any other profession would you expect them to wait until they are older and not so “young looking” to begin their careers?
What a load of verbal diarrhea.
The dumbest comment so far
Nobody cares how young they look and good on them for learning. The point is some of these first officers are not ready to be pilots yet and hopefully they reach that stage safely and competently. Would you let a 12 year old drive a dump truck if every time you took him/her out to learn to drive the we’re scrubbing the curb in a passenger car? No. You’d wait until they could handle the job properly.
You do realize that there is a global standard for aviation and to be qualified as a commercial pilot, you need to meet these standards? Cayman Airways cannot get you to every destination, which requires taking another airline with pilots that none of us knows.
They are many who have passed the vigorous stages of becoming a GP doctor, but I wouldn’t let some of them take care of any of my family members as they are just not competent so point being passing some exams and FINALLY somehow passing the practical tests does not automatically make you competent.
I wonder who is behind the Red thumb? Pilots or their friends and family?
Nothing in this comment deserves a thumb down.
Put back morning and evening flights to and from Miami, donkey leadership.
Congrats to All! CAL has some of the best pilots in the Caribbean
ha…based on what????
caymanians… best self-back slappers in the world!
Ego tripping they may be, but CAL’s safety record for one is impeccable compared to larger, developed countries with way more resources !
Would you want it any other way?
Good to know that.
How about a training program for young pilots to join MRCU? That should have been started back in 1970 or thereabouts. But better late than never.
Successive governments over the decades should have been devoting serious resources to MRCU. Instead it is languishing with one pilot and can barely get a plane in the air.
CAL… Care to explain the treatment of previous Caymanian pilots? I’ve seen a handful of the best, most dedicated, up and coming Caymanian talent no longer flying for CAL and often wondered why?
If CAL can’t let us know, does anyone else know?
13 @ 4:23 pm – Loads of ex-CAL pilots fly for airlines in the Middle East, Far East and USA. Gives them the opportunity for more miles and exposure to other environments than just CAL’s short and limited routes – desired by EVERY pilot.
Are there other underlying problems at CAL which prompts some pilots to look farther afield? Very possible!
Like every CIG subsidised company, the politics are not worth it. Less stress and more pay and fair treatment working overseas.
Congratulations to All!
Congrats to all. I hope this trend continues, and more areas of CAL identified for Caymanian succession planning.
The only people that use ‘congrats’ are the ones that can’t spell congratjulashuns.
Company trying to save face in the midst of some of the worst treatment and total disregard of our personal lives we’ve ever experienced as a pilot body. Laughable.
Heard about some of this. Keep the planes safe is all I say.
Like most passengers, I just want a sober and calm pilot with appropriate number of logged hours in type, that can land the plane safely everywhere we fly, including in IFR nighttime blizzard or hurricane conditions. I am not picky about their passport if it means avoiding damage, incident report, ground collision, or plane crash. The less we need to hear from the person in the cockpit the better.
IFR nighttime blizzard and Hurricane conditions ? Bruhhhhhhh lol!!
Excellent news. Well done to all those involved.
Congrats to all, makes Cayman proud of you all.