Folks,. .. .Like so many things these days, the original plan will be interpreted by people who have no knowledge of the relevant circumstances, the "ill to be cured" or the intention of the drafters. The one person who had the job of writing the instructions and who did not agree with the policy intent and who probably included the clever words about the safety of the operation to either sabotage the intent or to satisfy someone else's concept of the charter of the regulator is still employed by the regulator. I am sure that his testimony will either reflect his long held view or be carefully disingenuous - nonetheless, the solution for anyone facing prosecution is to subpoena the relevant files and the other staff members in order to establish the intent of the legislation.. .. .You may be lucky enough to discover that the intent was to permit self-refuelling (no risk to other persons and the risk to capital equipment clearly sheeted home to the operator), particularly for mustering operations where the issue was time out of the air. . .. .The point has been made about commercial decisions: in most cases, hot refuelling is a commercial decision but the regulator took the view that risk management had a place at this particular table - if there was management of the personal risk to the pilot, removal of the risk to third persons and almost total elimination of risk to the general public, then the regulator should not unnecessarily impede certain limited operations or create unnecessary criminal liability.. .. .In my personal view, the Australian hot refuelling legislation was a seminal step forward in practical legislation. There was no intention to create "open slather" but the somewhat artificial acceptance vs approval argument for Operations manuals was a complication - CAR(88) 215 was always intended to be the control mechanism and it is good to see that the mechanism is obviously being exercised. . .. .The real irony is that CASA pounced on the regulatory paradigm of "outcomes-based" legislation in lieu of "prescriptive" legislation in 1996, yet the hot refuelling rules set the precedent some 6 years prior. As my dear father was wont to say: "There are none so blind as those who will not see!"