Originally Posted by
ATC Watcher
Dan :
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. .
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 .
I can't see any court finding that this was a private flight. There is far too much evidence for them to spin it otherwise and the statement from McKay sinks it completely IMO.