Reading comments on this thread about people failing to find themselves or people they know on the FAA database, I decided to look myself up. Not there apparently. After a bit of experimentation I discovered that if I removed all of the search terms except my name the entry came up. Did bring to my attention the fact that the FAA certificate is linked to a UK licence number which is not the one I have now. Not sure what I have to do about that but I will wait until after Brexit before bothering to find out!

From: https://registry.faa.gov/database/CS012019.zip:

I believe it was suspected he had devised an "instrument" descent of his own, based on a back-course along a Lambourne VOR radial and DME. I think someone had seen him do it before.

I think I may have been the first to mention the Graham Hill accident on this thread. Before commenting I went back and read the B of I to verify that what I had remembered was correct. My main point was that the primary cause was the well known and all too common phenomenon of "get homeitis" in that he chose to attempt a very difficult approach in marginal conditions, when he had the opportunity to divert to airfields with no weather problems. Hill definitely had form here, including an earlier incident when he landed unannounced at Elstree at night after the airfield had closed. Having a cavalier attitude to safety may have been ok in the world of F1 in the 60s and 70s. but those attitudes do not transfer well to aviation, particularly when it is not just your own neck you are risking

The pilot was 60 years old. So wouldn't have been allowed to do commercial single pilot ops under EASA regs.

I won't post a picture of the pilot, but he doesn't look as if he is in the prime of health for his age.

And effectively uninsured . I believe his estate was was sued and his family lost their home.

...he (Damon Hill) and his mother and two sisters were to discover that, because important documents had not been kept in order, the insurance policies were invalid. The consequences effectively ruined them...

It is for this reason amongst several others, that I believe the time is right for a far more transparent, clear, consistent and effectively policed compliance regime in all aspects of GA flying that involves the carriage of passengers. Period.

Yes that puzzled me as well as there is at least a dozen civil radar covering the area, and of course the French and UK air force primary radars. now how low they go is another question , which I do not have the answer.. Tracking in real time is difficult, but post accident , with filters ?
Anyway to locate a small aircraft in the sea with accuracy is very difficult , even when you know precisely where it went down .

A Cessna 206 went down 10 years back taking off from Ajaccio Corsica only a few miles from the coast in daytime, SAR had the exact position the a/c went down , the pax were in a small dinghy , helicopter was on site within minutes but it took them over 7 hours to find them. In fact they only found them when it was night , using IR googles , one pilot spotted the small lamp of one pax life vest ! . The sea was rough. The PIC, was an AF 777 pilot with is wife and parents on board, ,he wrote a few years ago a very good detailed article about it in an aviation magazine in France .
Some info here just found on internet for those interested : ( in french ) :. C206 ajaccio 2009

Just a minor detail, the article says they were found thanks to thermal IR detection.

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And with reference to my own question about CI flying practices, further up, a PPL acquaintance writes:

So it would seem that the key question for conscientious SLF to ask anyone proposing to fly them in such an aircraft against payment is: "do you have an AOC and a CPL?" Which may or may not have been the case for the flights I took above.

*

Whats all this talk on insurance? Considered we talk of a young soccer player just changing club for a whopping £15m, a law engagement if started will be in the 10 years lost income compensation scheme and well in the three digit £XXXm region. So, if there was something wrong that way, the widow and family of the pilot are doomed.

Please let us focus here on the pilotty thingies!

Erm...what other kind of IR detection do you think there is??

PDR

I was referring to this statement which does not appear accurate, possibly because of the linked article not being in the poster's native language:

It will all depend on many things as to whether the cover is valid.
It may be that insurance cover from the club has not yet started as the player seems to have not yet started training.
It maybe that anyway such cover is conditional on certain higher risk activities and sports not being carried out. I know one of such policy banning the individual from skiing.
I'm sure we will discover that in reality the pilot was deep in debt and that his estate is insolvent - so all those who think they can get any money out of the deceased pilot's estate will be told to Go Whistle Dixie/Foxtrot Oscar.

The European way to let grey areas slip through law enforcement and accept an economy based on 'networking', formerly known as corruption, is legendary. No, I do not find it acceptable to wreck the economical basis of trade by allowing private efforts slip underneath the legal layer agreed. What is called 'sharing society', formerly known as barter trading before the invention of money, is a huge step backwards in history. There is nothing wrong in favor among friends and neighbors, but that is always based on personal connection. Go a 'Wingly type of service' is trying to de-personalize personal relation, replacing friendship by artificial 'friendship'. It may be another world, but it is definitely not mine.

My point is, validity of cover is unimportant as the potential sums in question exceed anything I saw at such aircraft.
I suspect the reality, if ever revealed, may shock us all.

Somebody named similar a while ago on another unrelated issue 'walking accident to happen'.

Flap 80 has absolutely nailed what I'm concerned about. However, my concern right here is not about personal preferences in terms of the ethics of business transactions but about the legal and insurance ramifications if (when?) it all goes wrong, especially given the kind of clientele one can reasonably expect to be flying in and out of the CI.