Police officers 'Commandeering' civ helos - opinion?
Let me give you a set of circumstances:
A police officer in the Uk in a county without air support, needs to search an area for a missing person or vehicle.
He knows someone with a helicopter, and so rings them up. The pilot agrees to this and gets airborne with the police officer.
They are up there for an hour, searching for a missing person.
Questions:
Is this legal?
Does the pilot need an ATPL(H) even though no written contract of or for transport is entered in to?
If the A/C crashed, what would the insurance position be?
Is the Police officer, who is not a trained air observer but effectively co ordinating the search, in any sort of position? ( This is notwithstanding the primacy of the pilot)
I'd be grateful for advice either on the thread or by email or PM as soon as possible. I think I need to provide some advice to our senior managers!!!!!