Originally Posted by
Jonzarno
OK: one last try.
A PPL/IR Pilot WITHOUT a commercial licence (CPL) flies a friend from Nantes to Cardiff in a SEP. He is not paid anything. Although the flight carries a level of risk associated with flying in a SEP over water, this flight is perfectly legal.
A few days later, the same pilot, in the same aircraft, flies a different passenger on the same route in identical weather conditions but this time he is operating a grey charter and charges his passenger £500 for the flight. This flight is illegal because the pilot is not allowed to charge for it.
Although it is clearly illegal: why is the second flight inherently more dangerous than the first?
Ah, OK now I think I'm with you: in that instance, I agree, it probably isn't dangerous
for those two flights in isolation. But perhaps if we remove the IR element, both might be considered foolhardy? The AAIB report states - A loss of control was made more likely because the flight was not conducted in accordance with safety standards applicable to commercial operations. This manifested itself in
the flight being operated under Visual Flight Rules (VFR) at night in poor weather conditions despite the pilot having no training in night flying and a lack of recent practice in instrument flying.
I suspect the answer lies in the perception of rule adherence/rule breaking. If your pilot is prepared to break the rules to make some cash, what other rules is he also prepared to break? Landing below limits? Controlled airspace boundaries? Weather limits? We've stepped beyond ignorance of the law, into knowingly breaking it - from there, it's a slippery slope. So, yes, perhaps those flights will be conducted effectively & without incident, but at some point in the future, all those cheese holes will line up.
In the sad example which generated this thread, the final flight was the culmination of a series of transgressions, accumulating like flotsam on a beach: sure, no doubt previous flights were flown without incident (although there's evidence not totally without), but at any point, the pilot may have been presented with a situation that his skills & experience couldn't handle: tragically for Mr Sala, that flight was the one he was on.