Let me put it this way: if you opened the throttle and didn't get the required power setting, what should you do? Close the throttle and taxi off... Insinuated commercial pressure or no pressure.
For God's sake lives were at stake! You, as Pilot in Command are responsible and the Chief Pilot's last line of defence to know you know your stuff and will defend your passengers as I strove to defend You.
I asked the PIC, what power setting do you require for takeoff. Answer, 38 Inches. Next question, what power setting did you have? 29 inches. Third question, why did you takeoff? ...No reply.
I re-checked his questionerre - yep, 38 inches. He knew also that 29 inches was our cruise power setting. Not even our climb setting - let alone takeoff.
He's a lovely guy.
CASA in Court challenged me - he didn't understand English. I said, you gave him a level 6 English pass - satisfying CASA that he did. Shot themselves in the foot.
You will read CASA findings in the future - they all represent CASA's point of view and defend only their case. In short, they are biassed. It has been interesting to see how they work, up close. Ask yourself, what tangible benefit has CASA given to safety, lately? I asked them for help - none!
CASA were determined that we would not sucseed. They told me at the CP interview that, "the easiest way for us (CASA) to stop an operation from flying is to remove the Chief Pilot" and that "we (CASA) may have handed you (me) a poisened chalice".
When the CASA machine's mind is made up - they have no choice but to take it all the way. Very few have enough money to prevail against all of your tax-payers dollars.
Last edited by GedStreet; 10th Jun 2012 at 16:58.
Reason: Enhanced emphasis.