Originally Posted by
englishal
Rubbish.
There is an exam in the PPL called "Human factors and performance"....The pilot should have known about the aeronautical decision making process, and should have decided to stay on the ground....The FTO shouldn't have to spoon feed every baby pilot that walks through the door. Indeed the dispatcher may not even have known the pilots ratings......
In a similar vein, then, you would argue that it would be OK for a car rental firm to allow a clearly drunk driver to drive off in one of their vehicles or for an airline to allow a crew member to operate whilst known to be unlicensed.
There would be no defence in "but he knew the rules". I would argue, as a professional pilot of nearly 25 years experience both civil and military, that any self respecting FTO hiring out an aeroplane has a duty of care to itself, it's customers and the general public at large. This "duty" extends beyond the legal minimum responsibility placed upon them by the government and CAA.
There seems to be an impression here that "he passed a test and should have known the rules" is good enough - it simply is not. For example, we all should expect a pilot to improve his skills and decision making over time after passing his PPL skills test. If he does not, then he has effectively gone backwards.
Any flying organisation that believes that they should operate "down to the level of the regulations" rather than aspire to operate "up to the highest standards" is failing its members and customers. Just doing enough to satisfy the lowest level of regulation (the letter of the law) is not good enough - surely it's the spirit of the regulations that counts in the long run.
Assuming that the bloke flying your aeroplane knows what he's doing is not good enough - you have to KNOW that he knows what the rules are, and that may require some coaching. If I lend my car to someone, I want to know that he is licensed and insured - it's not good enough for me to say "well, he should know the rules" and the same applies to renting out aeroplanes.
xraf makes some good points about supervision, an aspect of flying that is sadly lacking at all too many FTOs and clubs.
EDITED to remove typographical errors.