Aviation Authority.

Two senior CAA inspectors visited the Island recently at the invitation of Transport Minister the Hon. Maxwell Burgess.

Mr. Jim Pitman, director of Civil Aviation, said the CAA would report to the Deputy Governor and Mr. Burgess in about three weeks. But based on talks with the officials who visited, he expected the advisory body would say Bermuda's resources were "overstretched,'' and recommend more manpower.

There were 105 aircraft on the register, up from about 75 three years ago, he said. No estimate was available for the value of aircraft on the register, but Mr. Pitman said he wanted his department to develop one.

Mr. Pitman said four people in his department worked on the register, three of them full-time. As well as more aircraft, they were dealing with "increasing complexity of activity.'' Bermuda's offshore Register of Aircraft was an adjunct to the international business here, Mr. Pitman said. The register started mainly with executive jets. But in recent years, more large aircraft had been added, especially ones leased to airlines in the Third World.

There were strong "asset protection'' reasons for registering such aircraft in jurisdictions like Bermuda, Mr. Pitman said.

Like the Register of Shipping, the Register of Aircraft was a money-maker for the Island, he said. For the fiscal year that ended in March of 1993, the Register had revenues of $1.3 million, against expenditures of less than $300,000, Mr. Pitman said.

The Register provided spin-off benefits for Bermuda as well, he said. "It provides something of a shop window for Bermuda, drawing individuals to do other sorts of business on the Island.'' The aircraft owners tended to use local lawyers and open bank accounts on the Island.

Among the responsibilities of the jurisdiction with the register were safety, flight crew licensing and assuring that crews received medical examinations every six months, he said.

Many of the aircraft never touched Bermuda soil, and much of the responsibility for inspections could be delegated to the states where they were operated. Despite that, "we have to have an appropriate nucleus here of technical people,'' Mr. Pitman said. "I don't think that can be compromised.

"What the Ministry is seeking to do is to find out what the right balance is.'' Bermuda's Register had an excellent safety record, he said. "We have suffered no major losses in the last 15 to 20 years that we've been operating a Register of Aircraft.'' A beefing up of the Register could be part of a general strengthening of Bermuda's safety and regulatory framework for aviation as the Island assumes greater responsibility for the Civil Air Terminal from the US Navy.

The CAA only had control over the United Kingdom metropolitan Register of Aircraft, not the Bermuda register, Mr. Pitman said. "The ultimate authority for the Bermuda Register is the Secretary of State for Transport in the UK.'' The legal requirements for the Bermuda register were the same as those for the UK register. But there were differences on matters of policy, Mr. Pitman said.

For example, Bermuda would accept an aircraft manufactured in the US, while the UK would require a complete re-appraisal of such a plane.