.
Allowing medivac flights and walking wounded and "transport to to care" to be provided to the general public in single engine piston light aircraft flown by Walter Mitty ppl's is allot or RISK with little to no justification.
I have seen allot of angel flights take place and they were all single engine piston with a PPL at the controls. You can't tell me that a there is not a higher level of risk involved in this type of operation. When you consider A whole fleet of king air, PC 12, caravans, bell 412 and dauphins are parked on aprons all around Australia with trained professional pilots that are ready NOW to go help the sick and injured. I call bull**** on the "mercy flight excuse".
I agree that allowing Walter Mitty PPLs to undertake any flights would be a high risk scenario but I disagree with the implied assertion that this is regularly or even occasionally the case, I note, too, that you include SE types in your list of those just waiting to be flown by "professional" pilots so perhaps your blanket inclusion of them in your proscription is a tad unwarranted? The 0-320 Lycoming would have to be the most reliable certified piston around. Yes turbines are nice but they are bloody expensive and we are talking about the work of a charity here, not a profit-making corporation.
Perhaps the whole AF ought just be shut down, eh?
That old "trained professional" v the volunteer chestnut. We need to separate the different connotations of "professional" to get some sense of what you are saying: the "professional" that is making her living from the activity or the "professional" who carries out their activity competently and with exactitude?
It's surely about the pilot operating at all times within the limits of her capability and the capability of the aircraft and I don't think that is achieved simply because she has a stripe on her shoulder and 300 hours AE.
Kaz