JohnEd0
Yep, if a company holds an AOC and the flight takes place in accordance with the operational requirements of an AOC flight (such as, IIRC (and helicopters aren't exactly me...) site surveys to ensure compliance with clear areas in the event of EFATO and such like) then that's all well and good.
I'd guess it got all grey because there was a student on board who either a) undergoing flight training during the Paramedic flight or b) was a passenger on the sector. If it's a) then they were carrying passengers during flight training or if it's b) then the flight has to fully comply with AOC requirements, which would require the FI to be Line and Base checked. It doesn't say whether he is or isn't but it must be one of those (albeit rather vague) reasons that the CAA were getting concerned about.
Unless every aspect of the AOC flight was taken care of, then the pilot would be opening himself and the company up to a liability for which the insurers could easily duck out of - which is where the CAA would get shirty.
I've had a quick root through the BHAB website (
www.bhab.org) and can find some references to unlicensed heliports (which is what any landing site is) and that does require pre-flight calculations on area. I think there are probably so many areas that weren't physically recorded as having been addressed (and to be honest who would care if they weren't in this situation apart from the CAA and the insurers) that it has let this thing run and run for nothing.
Personally I'd rather see my licence fee go on sorting out the pillocks who give us ALL a bad name by doing things like flying through parachute displays (twice in the same display over Hampshire last year - frightening - and the Notams included full details), flying low level over a group of 3,000+ people at Brands Hatch last year (or it might have been Silverstone, I can't quite remember which bit of track I'd been staring at) or generally just making us look like a bunch of Hooray Henry's with too much money to the general public where, in reality, we're a bunch of conscientious, level headed, responsible people who are lucky enough to be able to have a hobby which is a damn sight more fun than stamp collecting. And who help people in distress and then get bollocked for it.