The Telegraph: "The pilot, Dave Ibbotson, held a private pilot's licence, according to US Federal Aviation Aviation Administration records. There is no public record of him having a commercial qualification. Ian Marshall, a friend of Mr Ibbotson’s who sat with him on the British Parachute Association council, told The Guardian: “Most of the pilots who have these private licences are semi-commercial. You’re not meant to fly for any financial reward but that’s not to say you can’t fly for reasonable expenses. That’s how many of them get around it."
And there it is in a nutshell. I doubt he had any idea of what goes into an EASA CPL, let alone an ATPL, but he was "semi-commercial." The reported 10 hour delay would have caused havoc with a commercial pilot's duty hours and may have resulted in a delay until next day (once you've reported you are officially on duty) But it's fine as he was "semi-commercial." We used to have the BCPL for parachute pilots, instructors etc, maybe it needs to come back. In our office today the attitude of the fixed wing ATPLs present was "he should have climbed, far safer." But that's commercial training, not semi-commercial.
Luc Lion; please justify a 285 hour ppl offering flights from Redhill to Humberside in a PA32 at sixty five pounds per seat (you have to book all 4 he has available) so two hundred and sixty quid to go one way to an airport with no great attractions near by, but our intrepid aviator has business there, so goes there a lot and flogs his spare seats.
Helimutt; You and I must know each other. If you see it going on please report it. The CAA (rotary) are bursting to get one, especially in a congested area. I know of two schools who have banned customers for doing Thames sightseeing flights in R44's after I called them about it. The well known website will not take rotary now due to insurance (they can't get any) but they're abundant on FaceBook and many other platforms.
SND