GS,
Dons flak hat and body armour..............
It is a can of worms, and perhaps safety pilot is the wrong title?
I'm helping a friend improve his Heli lanes knowledge. I've no longer got an FI rating or an R44 ticket and I won't be doing any of the actual flying (in fact the school can remove the duals for all I care). I'm there to help with the knowledge you can't get from the map and as a confidence boost. If the weather looks poor I'll be saying so and I won't be flying - my life, my choice.
I've done similar with longer trips that this guy has planned. He plans what he reckons and simply picks my brains. I see little point in paying an FI or CPL (or anybody else for that matter) for services that he/she is only marginally more experienced at. When I fly with this chap there is no debate, he is the P1 and I'm merely an interested party with an opinion. I'm not there for him to push his luck and then bail him out of the $hit. I'm there to point out when things are going to go wrong BEFORE he gets himself in the $hit. Suggesting being paid would make anybody feel happier about speaking out earlier is laughable. At the end of the day if he crashes so do you/I! Little satisfaction in speaking up after the incident purely to say 'I knew/ told you that was going to happen'.I'm there for my experience to be of use, it's not as simple as merely turning up and going flying. We both understand EXACTLY what our roles are.
It's no different to my early days with my current employer, I could be doing the actual flying but the voice of vast experience sat beside me would (and still does at times) chip in with the invaluable pearls of wisdom.
Those offering to help aren't doing it for free to take work from CPL's or FI's, neither are we looking to network and increase our own hours and/or employability, we're simply trying to fill the void between the current training flaws and the realities. I'm not there to provide actual hands on flight tuition - that's an FI's job. A PPL is merely a licence to learn, you could be a great set of hands (thanks to a good FI) but still very inexperienced.
FW