And wazzing around in a Robbie with pax from a fair on board is hardly cutting edge aviation - don't know how that prompted parallels to Igor and the Wright brothers....:
Just using hyperbole to shed light on the fact that if it weren't for the risk taking, inventiveness, innate intelligence and efficiency of those in the private sector, we might be still be waiting for a government design bureau to provide us with helicopters.
Maybe that same thread of intelligence still lives in the capabilities of private operators.
I don't propose anarchy of civil aviation but the idea of a stifling climate of exponential regulatory oversight that thinks it can prevent any accident is just as absurd...especially the economics. Not to mention the time and energy lost for private operators that might be put to better use elsewhere in providing a "safe" operation.
At the end of the day , the helicopter "fair ride" provides a certain quality of life to the populace. .To see an end to that because a crushing "safety" culture, me thinks we've stumbled too far down a very difficult to reverse path. I understand that the equipment and training standards might alarm some of those in more rigorous and elite environments. But I think some credit must be given to those ladies and gentlemen in these privately run operations to vet themselves and excel given comparatively limited means. The fact that in the western world , the technology always seems to trickle out of the private sector would seem to indicate we ve got something to offer, down here in the cheap seats?