Re: business opportunities for pilots -where?
At the smaller end of the business if you do not have a regular contract to fly (traffic eye, on demand medevac, photo survey) or also use the aircraft for training, there does not seem to be much real business opportunity. I own an Aztec and was hoping to find a business opportunity for it in the SE of the UK but do not see much of a chance. There are a lot of Navajos out there on on-demand charter which do not seem to fly that much.
Further west (Cornwall? West Wales?) given the rise of second homes and the mission advantage there may be a niche but very much as a lifestyle job. Up north there seem to be quite a few succesful operations dedicated to piston air charter.
Interesting to understand what the break even point in terms of hours would be - I would guess at least 600 hours per annum per aircraft to pay crew and also make some return on the investment, with possibly three aircraft to absorb the business central costs of office, marketing, regulation, etc