CloudQueen
Word on the street is they are looking to merge wiyh someone (SkyWorld) who already holds a 135 certificate, thus allowing them to continue bidding for gov grants/contracts and continue operating in thier unsafe manor!
Maybe you'd like to give us all an example of them operating in an 'unsafe manor' ?
The 1900 that was lost was not operated by ASI and the crew were not ASI crew... as yet we don't know if or why they might have been misled as to their position... if you know maybe you could tell me.
It may be that pilots on occasion HAVE taken
unnecessary risks as pilots will from time to time whatever company they are flying for... it would in no way be condoned or forgiven by ASI. In my time with them there was NEVER an attempt to browbeat/pursuade or even encourage me to fly when conditions dictated staying on the ground... on a number of occasions I would have been more than happy to undertake a flight that was called off by the country director due to weather... we never were allowed to fly at night in Congo and I remember only one occasion where our days flying had us returning to Kabul after dark..
My experience of a 'reputable' South African based 135 operation was quite different and on one occsasion had me sitting in Juba getting calls from company and UN personnel, one after the other all the way to the top to pursuade me to undertake a flight that would have been positively downright dangerous... no, I didn't take it.
ASI has never had a culture of poor safety, they've suffered some unfortunate events, as have most companies operating in those areas but ultimately, once the a/c is in the air it's up to the crew how things are handled. If you care to think of how many flights have been made by ASI since the early '80s in countries where serious weather, conditions on the ground, the war zone environments, and poor infrastructure are all out to get you I would say that you can only praise the company and its crews for a putting up a blo*dy good effort.
If you're the sort of pilot who thinks it's only safe to fly in a radar controlled environment with an ILS waiting for you at the destination or under perfect VFR conditions to a long well made runway then you have no notion of what flying in the third world is all about.
So... back to my original Q... give us an example of how they operate in an 'Unsafe manor' ...