Originally Posted by
what next
(I am merely playing the lawyer of the deceased pilots family here!) All we know is that the pilot used another perons's credit card to pay for all those things. Like I do when I use my employer's company credit card. Some of it (like breakfast or room service) I will have to pay back to him later on. And many flying school/club aircraft have fuel cards with which fuel is paid. But that doesn't mean that the club or school will not claim back those expenses later on.
If ciminal charges/liabilty claims were brought against me every time I said these words... In court this is meaningless hearsay.
Maybe he didn't know who he was going to carry and how much money the guy was about to earn? Anyway, irrelevant in court. And my personal experience is that people in general are more greedy the more money they have. And even a guy earning a billion a year might not say no! to being offered a free trip.
Before court only evidence counts. Been there, done it... (flying related and not flying related). I also thought that my opponent's cause was so ridiculous that no judge could take it seriously. I learnt my lesson.
Ok, let’s go back a step to how the flight was procured. We know from public statements that Willie McKay didn’t charge Sala for the flight. However there is a hidden charter fee because McKay was receiving an agency fee for the football transfer. He, again we know from public statements, approached David Henderson to book the flight. David Henderson advertises himself as an Air Charter Broker, he can’t have it both ways, designate some flights to be flown by licensed air carriers and some by volunteer pilots funded by himself. It doesn’t really matter where the money changed hands or whether any of it reached Ibbotson, it becomes illegal public transport and Ibbotson was flying commercially on a private licence.