Originally Posted by
Mike Flynn
hi
Which opens up the whole can of worms that allowed this flight to take place without an AOC.
I suggest the passenger thought he was on a regulated charter flight and not a micky mouse adventure flown by a person whose day job was a gas fitter.
It makes you question why anyone bothers to get a commercial licence when you can fly passengers across Europe with little more than a PPL.
I am amazed by the constant sensationalism of the fact Dave Ibbotson was a gas fitter......On the days that he was 'contracted' to fly Sala it is fair to say Dave Ibbotson was acting as a pilot. It is only the background of the 'contract' that is full of unknown facts.
If the flight had taken place in Daytime VFR conditions most of what Dave Ibbotson was asked to do would have been legal under the privileges of his licence, the bits that exceeded his privileges are the being paid to fly a 'commercially orientated charter' & being put in the position of being asked to conduct a flight at night when he had Daytime Flight privileges only.
The 'finger wagging' towards Dave Ibbotson isn't going to bring him back so it serves no real purpose now, I am not trying to defend his actions as such, but when a person hits ' Rock Bottom ' they will do anything to claw themselves back to where they need to be. We are not talking about a man with no responsibilities, this was a man who had/has a wife and children, to provide for your kin most people will do anything to achieve that........ So, Dave Ibbotson was a man who worked as a Gas Fitter/Plumber, did Disco's, volunteered as a Para drop pilot & then did a few ' Ruskin type flights ' for Cash in Hand.....His intent was most likely that he did all this to provide for his family ( I admire him for wanting to provide for his family, I certainly don't condone what he was doing by taking on the Cash in Hand work, but I don't condemn him for doing it either if it was a means to an end to provide for his kin )
He was probably an 'easy target' for others to take advantage of his vulnerability by offering him the 'Golden goose' If he took the work he was guaranteed a continuing source of income or profit that may be exhausted if it is turned down.
Sadly, there is going to be collateral damage for his family on top of their personal bereavement, we keep seeing remarks about Willie McKay telling newspapers that it has "been an absolute nightmare for us." & the agent claims his son is still owed €1.7m from the deal. I am pretty sure that the Ibbotson family are having a bigger nightmare than the McKay's as are the Sala family.
I am sickened by the remark " the agent claims his son is still owed €1.7m from the deal. " Does he not understand that the deal has turned very sour & 2 people are dead?
With an emphasis on the £1.7m owed, you can see where the funding for the aircraft running costs & pilot charges was going to be coming from? So, if you think you are going to be 'copping' £1.7m I would even absorb the cost of the aircraft running costs & pilot charges as a 'gift' to the Cash Cow to get into his good books.
The more remarks/comments purporting to have come from the agent that I see I can only conclude that every player they represent is just a rolling source of income with no real regard for the actual player.