Sir Cumference........ course??? What course???
You're right my friend, and your train of thought is not far off the mark.
Eurocopter SA does not provide new clients or pilots with a "Eurocopter Approved Course" or "factory approved" conversion to type here in SA. Some EC 120 owners have gone to the factory at Marignagne to attend some sort of a course, and some even ferried their own helicopters to SA.
In SA, there is only one SACAA Helicopter pilot & DE that has attended the course at the factory. Eurocopter SA normally gets this gentleman to do the conversion to type on the EC 120's, EC 130's and Squirrels. Apparantly he is very thorough, and spends at least an hour or two going thru the start on the EC 120. A friend of mine did his conversion with this gentleman, and was suitably impressed.
If the pilot on the EC 120 in Durban was instructor rated on the machine, then why did the CAA pull his instructors rating? Surely someone must have converted him, given him his instructors rating on the type, and for that reason he's an instructor on type. I fail to understand what he did wrong, and why the CAA would be pulling his rating. Something not quite right there.
Come on CAA guys, give us a clue here please!