Royal blue with a narrow red stripe along the top and the bottom edges. Centered is a large white disk bearing the coat of arms. The coat of arms features a shield flanked by two workers in front of a mahogany tree with the related motto SUB UMBRA FLOREO (I Flourish in the Shade) on a scroll at the bottom, all encircled by a green garland of 50 mahogany leaves. The colors are those of the two main political parties: blue for the PUP and red for the UDP. Various elements of the coat of arms – the figures, the tools, the mahogany tree, and the garland of leaves – recall the logging industry that led to British settlement of Belize.

Flag courtesy of the CIA World Factbook

Map courtesy of Wikipedia

Google Earth

Chetumal Bay lies on the border between Mexico and Belize. To the east of the bay, Ambergris Cay (in Belize) connects the Belize Barrier Reef to the Yucatan Peninsula (Mexico).

Photo courtesy of the CIA World Factbook

Government

According to Britannica, Belize’s government is based on the British parliamentary system. The 1981 constitution provides for a bicameral National Assembly composed of an elected House of Representatives and an appointed Senate. Members of the House and the Senate both serve five-year terms. The governor-general, a Belizean national who represents the British crown, nominally appoints the prime minister (the leader of the majority party in the House) and the opposition leader (the leader of the principal minority party). The prime minister appoints the cabinet.

Local government consists of the Belize City Council and town boards with authority over most municipal affairs. Most villages have councils, and some Mayan villages have an alcalde (a traditional community-elected leader) with limited powers. The Mennonite community administers its own form of local government.

The legal system is modeled on English common law. A chief justice heads the Supreme Court, but the Court of Appeal is the country’s highest court; both are independent of the national government. In 2001 Belize joined most members of Caricom to establish a Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), which was inaugurated in 2005. Civil and criminal cases that were heard in the Court of Appeal were brought before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, while cases regarding Caricom treaties were appealed in the CCJ. In 2009 Belize adopted the CCJ as its final court of appeal, replacing the Privy Council.

Civil / National Aviation Authority (CAA/NAA)

The Belize Department of Civil Aviation was established by the Civil Aviation Act, Chapter 239, Revised Edition 2000 of the Substantive Laws of Belize. The principal function of the Department is to regulate and administer a safe civil aviation system whilst ensuring that Belize discharges its obligations properly under international civil aviation agreements and treaties, in particular, the Convention on International Civil Aviation.

The Department of Civil Aviation is the regulatory and oversight body in all civil aviation matters in Belize. This Department is headed by the Director of Civil Aviation as established in the Belize Civil Aviation Act. After becoming a Contracting State to the Convention on International Civil Aviation in 1991, Belize is obliged to comply with the Standards and as far as practicable with the Recommended Practices contained in all nineteen Annexes to the Convention. The Department is made up of the following technical divisions: Personnel Licensing, Flight Operations, Airworthiness, Aviation Security, Air Transport, Aerodromes, Dangerous Goods, Aircraft Registration, Aircraft Accident and Incident Investigations, Search and Rescue, Air Traffic Services and Aeronautical Information Services. The main functions of the Department are to ensure the safety of air navigation and to promote and encourage the safe, orderly, and economic development of civil aviation locally, regionally, and internationally.

Airspace

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ICAO countries publish an Aeronautical Information Publication (AIP). This document is divided into three parts: General (GEN), En Route (ENR) and Aerodromes (AD). ENR 1.4 details the types of airspace classes they chose to adopt from classes A through G. Belize Airspace

Belize Airspace Reclassifications

In accordance with the International Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPS) of the ICAO, Belize has classified the different portions of Belizean Airspace. This airspace classification is as follows:

1. Controlled Airspace – comprises all that airspace which is known as the Terminal Control Area (TMA) Classification ‘E’ and the Control Zone (CTR) at the Philip S. W. Goldson International Airport. CLASSIFICATION ‘D’

2. Uncontrolled Airspace – comprises all that airspace which is known as the Flight Information Region (FIR). This airspace is outside the TMA and the CTR. CLASSIFICATION ‘G’

(TMA – Class E circular area with a radius of 25 nm centered on the Belize VOR/DME, its vertical limits extends from 2000 ft. up to 19,500 ft. based on the local QNH). (Note: the TMA area will be extended to a radius of 40 nm centered on the Belize VOR/DME soon.

(CTR – Class D circular area with a radius of 10 nm centered on the Belize VOR/DME, its vertical limits extends from surface up to 2000 ft. based on the local QNH).

ATS airspaces are classified and designated in accordance with the following:

Class A: IFR flights only are permitted; all flights are provided with air traffic control service and are separated from each other.

Class B: IFR and VFR flights are permitted; all flights are provided with air traffic control service and are separated from each other.

Class C: IFR and VFR flights are permitted; all flights are provided with air traffic control service and IFR flights are separated from other IFR flights and from VFR flights. VFR flights are separated from IFR flights and receive traffic information in respect of other VFR flights.

Class D: IFR and VFR flights are permitted and all flights are provided with air traffic control service, IFR flights are separated from other IFR flights and receive traffic information in respect of VFR flights, VFR flights receive traffic information in respect of all other flights.

Class E: IFR and VFR flights are permitted; IFR flights are provided with air traffic control service and are separated from other IFR flights. All flights receive traffic information as far as is practical. Class E shall not be used for control zones.

Class F: IFR and VFR flights are permitted, all participating IFR flights receive an air traffic advisory service and all flights receive flight information service if requested.

Class G: IFR and VFR flights are permitted and receive Flight Information Service.

In Belize the airspace is classified as Class D Class E and Class G. The requirements for the flights in each class of Belizean airspace in accordance with ICAO Annex 11, are as shown in the tables following:

CONTROL ZONE

TERMINAL CONTROL AREA

The Central American Corporation for Air Navigation Services (COCESNA) is an International Organization for Central American Integration, non-profit and public service, with legal status and financial autonomy, created on February 26, 1960 and governed by a Board of Directors, which it is constituted in its highest collegiate body, which is made up of the representatives of the signatory States of its Constitutive Agreement; established with well-defined objectives and purposes to respond and jointly comply with civil aviation international commitments contracted as signatory countries of the Convention on International Civil Aviation of 1944, known as the Chicago Convention. In that order, COCESNA enjoys the exclusive rights to provide Air Traffic, Aeronautical Telecommunications and Radio Assistance services in the territories of the Member States and other services established in the regional plans that have been entrusted to it by the Contracting Parties. under an international agreement. Its operations are fundamentally based on the Standards and Methods recommended by the ICAO. The adherence to the established norms and the search for excellence constitute COCESNA’s fundamental objectives.

As a result of the notable progress in aviation at the end of the 1950s, especially with the entry into service of jet aircraft, the need to modernize and strengthen the region’s air navigation services was valued, for which, in the month November 1959, a meeting with the Directors was held in Guatemala. Generals of Civil Aeronautics of Central America at that time, within which it was agreed to convene a Diplomatic Conference aimed at establishing a specialized regional organization, with the necessary human and financial resources to meet these modern requirements, as well as to unify and coordinate regional intergovernmental efforts and actions that would benefit the users of these services. Therefore, from February 22 to 26, 1960, the V Conference of Directors of Civil Aeronautics was held in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, signing the guidelines of the Central American Corporation of Air Navigation Services -COCESNA, thus marking the beginning of its existence and operation. Consequently and by virtue of its nature, on February 1, 1961, its Constitutive Agreement was registered with the International Civil Aviation Organization – ICAO and on January 2, 1962 with the United Nations (UN). During the year 1963, COCESNA acquires the official recognition of the States of the Central American isthmus, through decrees and laws that ratified its Constitutive Agreement issued by the Legislative Assemblies of each Member State. Belize is a member state of COCESNA.

Drone Regulations

Regulations

DRONE REQUIREMENTS FOR INTERNATIONAL AND LOCAL DRONE OPERATORS

International Operators

Kindly note that Belize is currently only accepting applications for Drone authorizations from international drone operators who have been commissioned for works/services from an approved local business/organization in Belize.

Drone operators providing services in Belize will need to meet the following process and application requirements prior to entering Belize (with their drone device/s):

A letter of request/intent shall be submitted to the Director of Civil Aviation (stating the purpose of the works and services being provided by the drone operator/s) from the said business/organization who has commissioned these services in Belize; this must be emailed to the Department of Civil Aviation at the address info@civilaviation.gov.bz and dayne.vasquez@civilaviation.gov.bz. This letter must state arrival date of drone operator/s and location/s of drone operations to be conducted by the drone operator/s in Belize. Additionally, the following shall be submitted:

A copy of drone operator/s identification card (a government issued ID card i.e., passport etc. from the applicant’s country or residency).

A letter of approval for works by the Belize Film Commission.

A completed copy of the Drone Application Form

The Department of Civil Aviation will analyze the request

The operator/s will then need to visit the Aeronautical Information Service (AIS) office on the first floor of Philip Goldson International Airport to pay a $30.00 BZE Currency fee for the PERMIT.

Drone operator/s will need to take this receipt to the Department of Civil Aviation where the drone operator/s will receive the Authorization Letter and Permit for entrance and operations in Belize.

(The Government of Belize currently prohibits the temporary importation of drones for recreational/personal usage. The Government of Belize is currently developing requirements and regulations for recreational drone travelers to Belize. This process will allow all travelers to Belize to operate their devices after meeting the necessary requirements under the Laws of Belize.)

For Belizean Drone Operators:

Complete the Drone Application Form

Copy of government issued ID (Passport, Social Security)

The operator/s will then need to visit the Aeronautical Information Service (AIS) office on the first floor of Philip Goldson International Airport to pay a $30.00 BZE Currency fee for the PERMIT.
Note: Drone authorizations are not issued for areas near 0 to 3 miles of an aerodrome (airstrips). Such places are: Ladyville, Placencia, Caye Caulker and North of San Pedro without written approval from the department.

Drone application registration is available for download.

Advanced Air Mobility (AAM)

Short Essay Questions