Originally Posted by
beamer
It seems that some people are falling into the old trap of equating flying hours with capability. A thousand hours of teaching circuits does not make a good aerobatic pilot, ten thousand hours in the rhs of a heavy four jet does not necessarily mean the same pilot will make a good commander, twenty thousand hours in multi-engine aircraft does not automatically mean that a pilot is anything more than competent in GA; in each scenario it might but no guarantee.
It would be wrong to speculate too much into the Malibu incident but I get the sense that a chain of events took place which put the pilot into a corner from which he felt the simplest way out was to complete the flight. Perhaps there were ample opportunites to break that chain but none was taken resulting in tragedy.
The corner started only AFTER he accepted the flight, despite not being licensed to execute. Also Sala knew and texted he wanted to return in the evening. We are all told to avoid get-home-ites. By accepting a commercial flight he put himself in the corner. I agree with you on the CPL/PPL thing.