Sure, I am talking globally, because that's where many operate. The infamous dude who flew his Learjet from the Berlin area to this Swedish island was a big case and probably only the tip of the iceberg. Remember Icon, the flight school? If I am not mistaken even Air Hamburg got busted for "creative duty hour recording". And this is just Germany.

Yes.....I remember days in Africa like that......

I remember IKON, yes, actually went there for my ATPL & LR.That was only theoretical stuff though, and I have to say the school was at least okay. Not really a connection IMO, as the case that brought them down was partly out of control of the school IIRC. It took the swiss BAZL to spot obvious falsifications to get that one "going"... Air Hamburg ? Say what ? Don´t know what happened there, but you surely don´t want to compare FDT issues with not being type rated ? Whilst NOT trying to promote FDT ignorance, I do see a distinct difference there. And to be honest, we´re mixing up a lot now, Air Hamburg and IKON are/were commercial enterprises, the acc.aircraft too but the "gentleman" in the Lear might have pretended to be "commercial" but was not.

OTOH why would you expect Aviation to be much different from the rest of business ? E.g. all the ragged Sprinters/Ducatos etc with Bulgarian, Romanian or Polish number plates I see on the german Autobahn hauling goods commercially, you think there are not at least as many "black sheep" there as in aviation ?
The funny thing though is, that an honest mistake in a solid operator will cost them dearly, were as the same for a shady operation is not true...

Did you ever meet the bloke at Luxor in the 80s that "stood guard" on you aircraft while it was refuelled?
The weapon that he carried looked menacing, especially when he stood at the door asking for little bits of green stuff.

Swedish Island? Not that it matters much, but I thought it was Bornholm - which is a Danish Island, last time I checked.

North of Germany it's all the same :D