Calm down children, nobody is reporting anybody to the CAA. It was my aircraft sitting on the pumps, so no point anyone accusing JackJack of being a lazy arse!
I have had a word with the airport manager and that's the end of it.
However, just to clear up a few points from Phoenix's post -
Rather than waste Charity money on two expensive start cycles, we often leave the aircraft on the pumps unless and / or until we are informed that another aircraft will be coming in for fuel. Airport management are familiar with this. Did the 206 pilot call ahead and inform the airport he was coming in for fuel or just turn up ad-hoc?
RR refuel is not an approved SOP for our unit.
We cannot see the refuelling area from our hut, so were unaware at the time how close the 206 was to our aircraft, or that single-manned rotors running refuelling was taking place.
We did not know the pilot was the sole occupant of the aircraft was, and even if we had done, nobody would have been helping him with an RRR (see above). Not to mention the fact that they are employed as paramedics not airfield refuellers, and I'm sure that YAS H+S would be overjoyed to hear they were refuelling private individual's aircraft in works time...
It was only after the 206 had departed that we became fully aware of what had actually happened, so talking to the pilot at the time wasn't an option.
I think there are two parts to this - firstly was the actual incident safe / legal / sensible and secondly what should be done about it (if anything)?
Now I can see that leaving my aircraft on the pumps was a contributory factor here. So apologies to the 206 pilot if that put him under any pressure.
For the sake of this discussion, here's my thoughts at the time.
I see a helicopter turning and burning with no-one at the controls 10 feet from my £3m helicopter and a 20,000 litre tanker of fuel with no-one to help if anything goes wrong. No-one at the controls is in contravention of what is clearly stated in the RFM therefore IF there was an accident there would be no way in hell that the insurance would be paying out. It doesn't matter how small the risk of an accident, surely we have to plan on the worst-case scenario at all times? I personally don't think that this was a safe and legal thing to do, or that it was justifiable on the basis that the pumps were blocked. Feel free to disagree!!
As to what should be done about it. I admit that my first thoughts, whilst still concerned about the possible consequences of the incident, were to report it to someone. In the end that someone was the Airport Manager, informally, and it is now up to him to have a quiet word or do whatever he feels fit.
That then is my take on it. I'm sure there are as many opinions out there as there are Ppruners. I think that JackJack's post, rather than be a "whistleblower" event has provoked a nice little debate here.
In true Pprune style there are supporters, opposers, don't have a cluers, and everything in between. I understand that there will always be a split about whether or not an incident like this should be reported, but it does concern me that we can't even agree on here sometimes on what are pretty basic principles of flight safety or airmanship. But better people than me have struggled with that one, no doubt.
As a small example, reference to the foot out of the door , I was in Long Beach airport many years ago and a 206L was being ground run on a dolly.The pilot was talking to the engineer who was stood alongside. The
pilot was sat with his backside in the seat, and feet dangling over the side, no belts on etc. I don't know whether he caught the collective with his sleeve, or it popped up on its own, but the heli spun to the right and fell of the dolly, scattering pieces of 206L all over the pad and through the adjacent office windows. Explain that to your boss / insurance company..Now, I'm obviously not saying that the same would happen with a running-down 206, but bad habits etc etc. Moral - the SIMPLEST of things can catch us out the minute we drop our guard. Don't hasten the day of your departure by being sloppy!!
FF