Cowboying?
I've worked for 6-7 companies here in Germany alone as a permenant or freelance pilot and there hasn't been one of them that has not "bent the rules" at one time or another which includes not logging hours, sending out machines with overrun times or even sending off a PPL to "get the job done".
I think, to be fair most of it is not malicious, it's just a matter of surviveability in a dog eat dog world out there. Most of them can't and couldn't keep going without some skullduggery.
When you look at very small operators with maybe 1-2 helicopters and only one pilot and then take a look at JAR-OPS workload it's almost impossible to be perfect. The system desperately need simplifying to enable these kind of people to keep up and stay legal and most of all safe.
I think if we all flew exactly "by the book" then there wouldn't be very many machines up in the air at all and I am NOT condoning ANY malpractice before you all start
