Bahamasair fires 12-year captain after inappropriate cockpit voice recordings go viral 

Bahamas: The regional airline, Bahamasair, has fired a captain who had been with the airline for the past 12 years after “inappropriate” voice recordings surfaced online. This came following an incident which took place upon a Bahamasair flight’s arrival in Marsh Harbour last weekend.

In the voice recordings, the captain can be heard expressing anger after discovering that his colleagues reported him for vaping on board the aircraft and, quote, running a slack operation. The captain even went as far as to threaten his other pilots.

In the circulating recordings, the pilot also accuses first officers of using cell phones during flights and moving without notifying the captain.

Officials also addressed allegations about concerning cockpit conduct. Managing Director of the airline, Tracey Cooper, said that recordings, which raised concerns about conduct in the cockpit, surfaced following an incident upon the arrival of a Bahamas air flight from Nassau to Marsh Harbor on Sunday, August 31, 2025.

He said that the flight departed without an issue, however, upon arrival in Marsh Harbour, the first officer advised the airline’s Operation Control Centre of a concern related to cockpit dynamics and recommended, in the interest of professional standards, that the flight will not proceed until the matter was reviewed.

Bahamas Air Flight Operations Management acted promptly and responsibly, relieving both flight crew members of duty in accordance with standard industry practices. Relief pilots were immediately dispatched to Marsh Harbour, and the flight continued to West Palm Beach without further incident.

Cooper said a formal debriefing was scheduled for the following day, however, before that could happen, Bahamasair were informed of voice recordings of the same captain, which were found to be inappropriate and inconsistent with the airline's professional standards.

“Bahamasair maintains a zero-tolerance policy towards any form of intimidation or unprofessional conduct. While no safety issues were reported during the flight, the airline reviews this matter with the utmost seriousness,” she added.

The captain involved has since been relieved of his duties and he is no longer employed with the airline.

Cooper was asked about the allegations made in those voice notes, including cell phone use, vaping and moving about the cabin, to which, he said, “You would notice in his voicemail he was also indicating that he allowed that to happen. It is a matter that we were addressing with him that he shouldn't allow those things to happen, because that's not our normal protocols. So, the voice messages kind of actually showed where Bahamas Air was doing its part in that we were reinforcing what our standards were to that captain in question.”

He further added that she is little disappointed that he did not take it in the way that the team intended it to be. He also revealed that days before the incident, that captain was brought in for a discussion because the management had some concerns as to his level of management of the airplane.

Cooper said that the captain at that time was advised and told what needed to be done to change his ways and rather than taking their advice, he responded in an inappropriate way.