If, as is being stated here, there are no regulations prohibiting this operation, then the responsibility will surely fall back on the Operator, as he is performing the flight
I feel the responsibility will fall to our mate. Because he was flying the accident ship and the pilot is allways the dumb ass at least under the media and public pressure. The pilot is also easy to change.
This accident is under investigation by the highest authorities including the government and they need in any case a guiltier.
1. Lacking laws and regulations -> government and authorities, including JAA because JAR-OPS 4 isn't more than a paper since many years, of course not guilty!
2. Operator -> holds all permits, was before the job in contact with the authorities therefore connected with the authorities, not guilty!
3. Cable car operator -> a public company owned by the local villages, wasn't committed to stop the cable by law, not guilty!
4. Technical malfuction -> sometimes difficult to found in such cases , i hope they found a bug on the dammned hook, but was the pilot able to detect such problem with a better pre-flight check?
5. Poor ape with headset -> no lobby, unexpensive, easy to change -> must be guilty, if he couldn't found guilty he is allways destroyed.
That's the situation i believe to find and no cyclic hotline i haven't "to work in an environment with such a cavalier attitude to safety." because as some of the guys here know, i get my money today to fly with Eurocopter twins and on the safest possible way. But i have flown often with the mates in the Alps, holding all permits including sling load and high mountain operation and knowing the job, the pressure and the operators mostly very well. The accident pilot, unexperienced, coming the hard civil way, with a credit on the neck to become a helicopter pilot, lucky to find a job, is now the underdog and have my sympathies.
JAR-OPS 4 isn't in law and as pointed in some other threads will may be never come. It isn't more than a paper completely without concern in Europe. As also stated in some other threads every country have at the moment own rules to operate helicopters (only aerial work), sometimes every county. That makes things difficult. The public operators, meaning police, army, ... are completely out of the civil laws, but doing sometimes the same job. External load operation is very different. Single engine, twins, with redundancy, without redundancy, with certified components, with selfmade components, only experienced pilots, 300h pilots, with manuals, without manuals,...
I stay on my believe, the tragedy in soelden was a one-in a-million chance but to pay will have the pilot.