Boy, I'll bet the pilot of that 300 is kicking himself, going, "Damn, why didn't I post the question on JustHelicopters as to whether I can do commercial ops on a second-class medical past 24 months?"
As an instructor, not only should he have known, he should be able to teach the finer points of medical certificate privileges. Not to sound like an anal prick about the rules, but there's no room in this industry for wanton disregard for regulations.
Although, as flight instructors we tend only to find out how aggressively the FAA enforce their regs when we move up into the "135 world", and see chief pilots covering every little legal aspect of operations conducted to protect their certificates. I guess this is another argument for why our flight instructors should only get certified after a lot of experience as a commercial pilot in the real world. But that's a completely different topic all together!!
This is not "the rules of the road", this is a serious business where getting busted does not mean you get a fine and couple of points on your license.
Also, Justhelicopters.com is the last place I'd go to for useful information!!
