It certainly used to be a function of the Authorising Oficer to ensure the crew and the task were successfully mapped to the aircraft fit/role and the flying conditions, but in this case the experience and currency of the pilot seem somewhat at odds with the sortie - MSD specifically.
Just a thought, but if the Authorising Officer themselves only has experience of the current 'low hours' system, perhaps this would be the default normal ops to them and hence this is what we do, we've 'always' (in their experience), done it this way. Therefore it'd be ok to authorise the trip, its no different to any in their experience.
But ten hours a month!
