Originally Posted by
Dave Gittins
Thought display flying specifically precluded passengers shouldn't practices be the same ? .... or is it less rigidly enforced on some places ?
2 things occur to me;
Living in a predominently CAA/EASA/FAA environment, then "minimum crew" might be a view. However, as this was a Royal Malaysian Navy display, using RMN aircraft at an RMN base, then that might be a rather parochial view of what their pertininent regs might comprise, let alone querying the level of adherence to those regs.
Secondly, the most that many of us know about this accident is that it was a "rehearsal for a military parade", and part of the online video of the event comprises a rather energetic "flypast" (indeed, the standard of reporting on the BBC refers to the AW139 as a "HOM M503-3" type). Consequently, we have no idea whether the event included any form of role demonstration which may have necessitated an enhanced crew or the carriage of passengers.