Flying in the Turks & Caicos Caribbean Islands

Ben Gearing, TCI pilot, Gerald Cheyne and Me

Went flying with TCI Helicopters in Provo, brilliant flight in lovely weather, with a beautiful vision of water and islands, set in a sea of turquoise azure. Fabulous.
Difficult for the company though. They originally began the company in 2005 and it took until February 2010 before they were allowed to do the first flight! Restrictions also apply; they are not allowed to land anywhere except on airports, they may not fly below 500 feet, some airports require 24 hours notification for landing, they cannot do longlineing or external lifting. However, in spite of these restrictions they manage to carry out a good service which includes EMS, tourist and VIP flights, and they continue to lobby the government in the hope they may get more freedom to work in other ways. For example, there are occasional fires in the island, so it would be useful to have a fire fighting capability.