T67
And I fully understand yours.
Someone in your father's position might well take a different view from say someone who's married with young children who depend on his income.
I loathe the 'nanny state' culture which doesn't allow adults to make their own informed decision whether to take a risk, but the crucial word is 'informed'. IMHO that includes knowing (finding out) the true insurance position. Whether it makes any difference is, as you say, a personal decision depending on personal circumstances.
Speechless Two I'm not saying
all flights in a two-seat Spitfire in which payment is made are illegal public transport flights - yours may well have been legal. I'm just pointing out the potential problems and urging people thinking of paying for rides to find out the insurance position before they decide whether to do it. It's too late afterwards.
Is the flight legal? ie Not just legal on the paperwork, but actually legal.
If not, they will not be covered by the operator's insurance.
They (or their children) could sue the operator but there may not be any money to pay compensation. eg If the owner/operator has put the aircraft into a company name and the only asset was the aircraft destroyed in the crash.
The CAA might turn a blind eye but insurance companies won't. If they can find a way of not paying out large sums, they'll use it.
I know someone who was very badly injured in an accident and the insurance company refused to pay the claim because the pilot didn't comply with a regulation, even though the reg had nothing to do with the crash. Fortunately (if you can describe a 30 year old paralysed for life as fortunate) the wealthy owner/pilot could afford to and did pay the compensation personally, well over a £million to his three friends who were injured, but not all owners or pilots have the money to do that, and I doubt if everyone would do the decent thing even if they could afford it, especially if the injured passenger is a stranger rather than a friend.
If the flight is a genuine cost-share with the pilot paying at least 50% of the direct costs of the flight, there may be no problem, but bear in mind the concession in the ANO only applies to the
direct costs of
that flight. The sort of money operators charge for a jolly in a Spitfire is way beyond a half share of the direct costs.
The well established operators like the Fighter Collection and the Old Flying Machine Company could make a lot of money selling rides in their two-seat warbirds, but they won't do it because it's illegal so there'd be no insurance cover.