I think you may find only private operations are allowed to operate assistants now a days
commercial ops only cpl pilots may touch anything thus you would become an ops guy in short
best thing to do is get friendly with a private operation ie flying company people in company planes non-revenue
I regularly go on trips yea u cant log time but its great experience. if you have your frto licence you can operate the radio and its great practice to operate in the airways
Plus every now and again we get to spend nights out around europe and have some fun, what better way to spend your day off
regarding vp reg u can get away with most things if u want to log time. turn up in the cayman islands with your uk ppl and get a job as an ambulance driver. you are employed to drive on the road hence salary, but in reality you are flying the air ambulance(for Free)
However rumor has it the ano(o) is starting to tighten up the rules