This can of worms is one of the reasons we haven't just
jumped in and tried to buddy people up as part of the helicopter safety initiative.
It was suggested earlier in the year by one of the guys who sets up the safety evenings, his suggestion related to the buddying up of inexperienced pilots on the sort of two pairs of eyes are better than one basis, the discussion moved one evening to buddying up CPLs and FIs with PPLs. It became apparent quite quickly that
- If we buddy up inexperienced ppls we may make matters worse for the reasons already stated by Nigelh on the Cheltenham Gazelle crash thread.
- If we buddy up PPLS with low time CPLS we may make matters worse, as one may defer to the other who has only a slightly greater level of experience.
- It brought with it a whole host of insurance implications (as mentioned by Heather at the Leeds evening).
- How may schools would be happy with it ? So it may only benefit private owners who if they can afford a helicopter can afford a safety pilot (if they can't the helicopter probably won't stay very long).
Anyone at the Leeds evening last week may have heard me say [rightly or wrongly] something similar to that said by Basher577 in that if you can't afford to pay for further training after qualifying then perhaps you should give up now (flack jacket donned, but my focus is safety not commercial and they don't always go hand in hand).
It is an expensive hobby and one which will bite you in the arse or kill you if not carried out with some level of competence.
Some high time CPLs have voulnteered some time to help people out for free and fair play to them it can sometimes relieve the monotony of their day jobs or get them back in the air after retirement.
I usually do it the other way by taking low houred CPLs along on jobs with me to show them how someone else does it, it shows them some more of the country but I don't let them fly unless its on an empty sector and they are type rated. I wouldn't dream of charging them for it, but I am being paid already.
The fly with a friend calendar does exist in a rudimentary form but I've held it back until we sort out a way to do it safely.
Thinking on my feet now there is nothing to stop us buddying up pilots who either want to do it for free or be paid and perhaps set some criteria on the babysitters qualifications before he or she can offer their services. I am sure that would cause problems also.
I am open to any suggestions as to how we can set something up that improves safety.
GS