Satsuma
Oh ShyTorque, must we really wave our logbooks around to be considered worthy in your eyes?
Not necessarily, but this is a forum for helicopter professional and it says so in the title. If you don't have relevant experience, why expect your controversial views to go unchallenged?
As ever your contributions to this thread have been based on your armchair's many years of flying experience and thousands of rotary hours. My armchair's done alright for itself too over the years. It's impossible not to be impressed by your wealth of knowledge.
Would you prefer to go and pontificate on a site for non pilots or to discuss it with those who actually do the job and have some idea of what they're talking about?
However Shy, you've not been shy in telling us about your enormous pension
My pension is not even large, by any standards, let alone enormous. The word enormous is pure fabrication on your part; I certainly never used such a term because it isn't true. I used the expression because I merely wanted to make the point that I intend to reach pensionable age in one piece and outside of a wooden box. Only one person can do that and it's me. Same for all the other pilots here. Many of my aircrew ex-colleagues and some very close friends sadly didn't get to collect any of their pension.
your willingness to walk and leave others who may not have your clout to continue to dodge bullets, words to the effect of your concern is only for your backside and those immediately connected with your operation and that if others can't stand the heat they should get out of the kitchen. To me, those sentiments seem neither sympathetic or selfless.
My point is that any and every pilot
has to stand up for himself and his own responsibility, which is to ensure that the flight can be safely made. It's not merely my opinion, it's the legal requirement. That rule already exists.
I don't care if you don't like my idea. It was just an idea to try and help address what is evidently more accidents waiting to happen to young men trying, in many cases, to cling onto jobs, feed their families and pay off debts. You're beyond that stage in life but have some sympathy for those that aren't. You don't need to fly corporate to be able to see from contributions in this thread and others that the pressures facing them are immense and in some circumstances, unacceptable. SND's mention of a corporate ops manual may be a good starting point. Something has to be done to protect these guys. Something a little more imaginative than, 'If I don't like it, I walk.' Not everyone can walk.
I didn't say I didn't like it, I said your intentions were honourable. But I'm very much aware of the very unlikely likelihood of it being a practical solution.
I was also once a young pilot, wanting to cling on to my job, feed my young family and pay off my debts, as you put it. Throughout my working life (all of it as pilot) I have sometimes been put under immense pressure to fly. I therefore have
every sympathy for any pilot put in a difficult situation possibly similar to the one being discussed. Believe me, it matters not a jot what is written down when the chips are down. The pilot
must walk away if he thinks he cannot do the job in safety and legality. If not, it becomes the expectation and he leads open the path for the person putting on the pressure to do it again with other pilots and
that is when an accident is likely to occur.
I'm not saying that this happened in
this tragic accident; I mean in general terms.