Originally Posted by
nigelh
Careful SND ...... there were traces which could be from way beforehand and not relevant to the flight .
However I would agree that it doesn’t look good .
I think that there is an argument that even if it was from before hand it is related to the flight.
It suggests that the individual had a "flexible" attitude to rules laid down by other people. Similarly the fact that he chose to take off significantly over the max weight of his helicopter is another such indication.
The earlier comments on this thread suggesting that there are owner pilots out there who a sensible and competent is certainly true. But there are also those who are not. I think that there are certain personality traits that allow people to become successful and wealthy that are not mutually compatible with being safe at the controls of a helicopter. The attitude to risk and rules for example and it applies to owners in general not just owner pilots.
I've seen one owner pushing his pilot to fly when it clearly was not safe or legal with the line "Do you think you'd even have a job at all if I had not taken a few risks and broken a few rules over the years to build my business?"
If people are successful enough to buy a helicopter it's because their risk taking and possibly rule breaking has paid off. This can instil a dangerous over confidence.