Al,
great response.
Cost sharing on a pvt flight actually doesn't require that the costs are shared equally. It actually denotes that the pilot must contribute a MINIMUM of his share of the cost basis. So if Mobil or what ever money gouging fuel company pays for the fuel, the pilot will have always contributed a greater share of the flights cost.
If this does not happen to be the case, you will probably find buried in all the crap that comes out of government a single paragraph expempting AF pilots from total adherance. The beaurocrat that proposed this, probably got a pay rise as the gov knows this course is cheaper than providing the service they collect taxes to provide.
Private operations don't involve heroes
So BLOODY true!!! I was reading the crap last week calling Cadel Evans a Hero..........not to me!!! A hero to me is the man who fights for his country, or stands up to a mugging or rushes into a burning house and drags out the occupants. Cadel Evans is a Champion!. The people who fly AF tasks, are Good Samaritans. Correct terminology should be applied to what a person strives to achieve.
Having a quasi-commercial operation working under the regulations governing private operations is a VERY slippery slope.
REALLY!!! after all that has been said, you come up with this!!!
As someone else already pointed out, would you rather be flying in a CHARTER with a 200 hour cpl who is more interested in his hours/ego or a 500+ hour PPL who is striving on every flight to demonstrate his professionalism? Lets face it, the PPL at that level has no ambition other than to complete a safe flight. Take it from the boys that go on the BPPP's..........PPL's achieving higher standards than ATPL's on type...
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Realistically,
unless we can force the government to either a)put doctors in places needed or b) pay for the transportation of these patients, we should all get behind the people who fly AF tasks and support them. If we don't, a ****load of nice people/kids are going to find medical help inaccessible, or as someone else put it, dangerously accessible (long road trips)
If we run a thread denigrating AF's efforts then the self effacing 'crats will help CASA shut it down. The only positive in that I see is a fat bonus for the 'crat that signs it off as a job well done.
Cheers
Jas