Dan :
All very interesting. The AAIB have stated the investigation will
Quote:
'Consider the regulatory requirements surrounding the flight including airworthiness requirements, aircraft permissions and flight crew licencing'.
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The AAIB or any independent Accident investigation bureau will not look into legal liabilities. Not they job and against Annex 13 spirit. , they will assess if the aircraft was airworthy, all AD,s were done maintenance records, , what it was allowed to do and check the licences of the pilot in command .. you will find all this in final report. .
If it transpires that Mr Ibbotson and Snr Sala were previously acquainted and had decided to share the cost of the flight, then everything was legal and there's nothing to see here. However, like many others, I seriously doubt this was the case
Me too , but there is another option : the owner ( or user) of the aircraft asked a friend pilot to do a favor and fly someone from A to B , all for free. that is also allowed under Private flights.
When John Travolta flew his 707 around and took people in it , it was all for free, John covered the costs all on his own , and it also met the definition of private flights.
I guess it he did the same for its last flight to Australia when he donated the 707 to Qantas. A few people were on that aircraft .and it was definitively not a commercial flight. .
But OK, the huge difference there is that John knew what he was doing and never flew alone. The guy on the right seat was not a novice either..but the principle is the same .
The problem I see here with Sala, if that we all have strong suspicions this was a commercial operation covered up and botched. But if everyone involve keep to their story and indeed no money changed hands,and the use of the credit card was just a loan from a friend, etc..all the facts support the Private flight theory. And if it ends up in a court , the judge will likely look only at the facts .