Freelander - I do agree with you it is such a SAD event that should not have happened! To speculate we can all day long, but knowing the region and general accident investigation on this continent we will never know what exactly happened onboard that Caravan.
I do think that we can only learn from the accidents.
In this industry it is the so called professional pilot who always draws the short straw. I have flown in the area with various aircraft and know what is it is like to be out there doing the job.
This in my books is the problem:
Every year more inexperienced guys are given the same jobs with less money. Standards have gone down there is no question about it. I am not referring to the Goma incident but aviation flying standards from crew in general on this continent. Nowadays a commercial license holder is allowed to fly as Captain of a B190 only because there is a shortage of ATPL holders. Excess insurance policies are taken out all the time because the operating crew do not meet the minimum required hours. You can only ask has the safety impoved with this...I dont think so!
Freelander -I feel that you are right in saying the contract pilots do a great job out in the field especially in the mentionned company. But, majority of the flying experience is self taught through different experiences, ie. trial and error. I have been there and done that already. There is no training what so ever. Contracting is just a job at the end of the day. The pilots arent really any better than in the airline environment. Flying a Caravan out of 300 meter air strips is just as challenging as flying a 747 out of 2300 meter strips. At the end of the day it all boils down to having the required experience for the task at hand. I feel the experience levels are too low for the posts given!
Condolences to all families left behind.