Voluntary work

[VMC-on-top]

Apart from flying the tug at the local gliding club, is there any other form of voluntary flying work available in the UK that doesn't require an ATPL or CPL?

Further afield, I know there is work with missionaries in South America etc but assume as most European Countries are fairly well developed there is no similar work within Europe?

[blagger]

Air Cadet Volunteer Gliding Squadrons are all staffed by volunteers. Some of the most rewarding flying you can ever do and great instructional experience.

[Genghis the Engineer]

LAA and BMAA Airworthiness Check Pilots. (A role which admittedly doesn't involve many hours, and tends to go to aviation technical nerds like me!).

G

[Whopity]

Most flying instructors work voluntarily don't they!

[IO540]

Out of interest, has anybody tried to set up the equivalent of the U.S. Angel Flight network?

What happened to the St John's Ambulance Air Wing? This ended many years ago AFAIK.

I don't see any illegality in flying for free. I think the problem is liability arising from a misinterpretation of the circumstances of the flight by a passenger or by a 3rd party, because in many scenarios there may be an expectation of payment being required. A bit like the many adverts for "seat sharing" which in most cases will have mandatory cost sharing attached (frankly I don't see many people advertising to carry total strangers for free, especially given the increasing W&B issues these days ;) ).