Skydive Cairns/JTB had their Navajos grounded for 7 months while log books were checked against maintenance releases, and hours were added to the aircraft. Taylor couldn't afford to pay for the huge maintenance bill for months. How can anyone be so stupid as to think they are saving money by not maintaining a high performance twin flying at maximum engine strain in the tropics, often with pilots with only 500hrs total time. If CASA didn't catch them out, then one of the planes would have gone done eventually.
Taylor transferred all his assets to a new company months ago because he knew he would be fined. Maybe he should have read about the bankruptcy laws since the Alan Bond/ Skase fiascos.
The stupidest thing that I have seen in a long time was, just after JTBs Navajo was grounded for under-recording hours on the MR, another aircraft was crosshired from a "gentleman" from Sydney. This moron then instructed his pilots, who were flying his Navajo, to record all flights as 0.5hrs on the MR, even though the inexperienced pilots were flying 0.8hrs per sortie. The stupid pilots were recording on the JTB manifest the actual times of the flight but were signing off the MR with the bogus times. Funny when you looked at it and saw only even numbers. So the pilots that he supplied on the contract with Col Taylor were also not qualified to fly skydive operations (neither had 10hrs on type). One pilot had only 200hrs total time, private license(Ok for pje) but his medical was revoked and not valid. This "pilot", also known as figjam, shot bullet holes in his bedroom walls, and rode around town with his high-powered rifle on the back of his stolen motorbike with a skin full of Tequila.
Pilot number two, known as Umpalumpa, flew a load of UK rugby players on a skydive. Problem was, rugby players tend to be large blokes, and he thought he could take 5 of them on a skydive with 5 tandem masters also attached. 10 big blokes, 5 X 20kg parachutes, and one dumpy pilot in a Navajo with 2 loads of fuel on board. It got off the ground, but Umpa forgot to take out the co-pilot seat, which one of the tandem master was sitting on (with the seat folded forward). As the tandem master got up at 10,000ft, the seat back lifted up and locked the control column forward. Instant NASA training flight. 3,000ft later on the "descent" the control came free, but now the column was locked back, and 10 big guys came crashing back down to the tune of a stall warning. Well, good old Umpa survived that flight, but he needed a clean pair of shorts.
