Originally Posted by
clareprop
There seem to be two issues here. One is about helping him out of whatever problem he's managed to get himself into and it should go without saying that any pilot on here would try to assist. However, patience would run thin when you see that Kirk is a serial offender who just keeps making the same mistakes and to hell with the consequences for everyone else.
The second is the implied criticism of Sam Rutherford's company. He can't win. If he refused to take Kirk there would be an outcry from some. So, he has agreed to have Kirk as part of the exped. There's no doubt a contract between them that requires both sides to perform. It would appear that Kirk has frustrated that. His comments from his Facebook account show he is insulting people at pre-exped get togethers, the locals and now Rutherford. He has decided to do his own thing in his way and expects everyone else to drop what they are doing to come and help him. Again, Rutherford can't win. Any reasonable person looking at Kirk's website and Facebook account and doing a search on Google would surely come to the conclusion that he is a deliberately awkward, selfish and contentious person whose troubles have largely been brought about by himself.
I have been critical of Maurice in the past, and I hold no particular torch for him. However I have spent the last three hours on the phone to various well connected friends (from an organisation that both Sam Rutherford are members of) trying hard, very hard, to provide help for him from within East Africa, as well as from elsewhere. As fellow aviators we need to help him if we can, and having read his Facebook posts I have a huge personal sympathy for the predicament he finds himself in.
You are right re Sam; he can't win and I imagine he perhaps regrets taking him on the rally in the first place. It's too late now to use hindsight.