What is a 'scenic flight'? How can a flight so designated be the subject of a regulatory sanction, when everyone's looking at the scenery anyway? Does the purpose of so framing it (the reg.) merely imply that the warbird operator must not refer to flights as being 'scenic' in his advertising? And if so, how crazy is that?
I suppose that's why warbirds call them adventure flights or aerobatic flights!
Warbird Air Adventures - Melbourne, Cairns & Townsville
Doesn't change the fact that what BH was doing was illegal and the regulator 'dropped the ball' in regards to monitoring BH's illegal activities!
The YAK may have been a warbird but it was still a VH registered aircraft and therefore fell well within the remit of both the bureau and the regulator. However both government agencies seem to have been determined to abrogate all responsibility for investigating this sordid and tragic event!
Given the circumstances the QPS Forensic Crash Unit did an exemplary job, with limited resources and in an obviously seriously 'politically sensitive' environment!
Now it will be interesting to see if the Coroner can navigate his way through the various legal and political interest hurdles put in place by publically funded legal eagles!