Helinut

No response at all is what I got. I didn't really expect one, but a reasonable period of time has now elapsed so I assume I am not getting one.

GS

I wonder how soon it will be before the journos start drawing comparisons between Colin's crash and Graham Hill's sad demise 30 years ago. IIRC there were paperwork failings there too. I think there were other more serious failings on Graham Hill's part but what I know of that is based only on press reports of the time. Too low in dreadful weather, overloaded and unqualified on twins?

Obviously he was eventually too low but the rest of it I stand to be corrected on. Won't stop the journos though.....

Rumours
 

If any of you out their had any sence then you would* stop waisting time about anything that is printed in the Sun newspaper and wait until the real facts come out from the AAIB.
I have said this time and time again stop listening to the media and just wait.:ugh: People have died in this tragic accident and the media don't care what is printed in the papers just so long they get a story dos'nt matter what it is just so long that they get what they want even though they brake someones fealings.

Please stop listening or read to what you hear it is just gossip and until the facts have been printed from the experts then we can start speaking

Pumaboy

As someone who doesn't have a license (but is saving towards one), I'd like to know how easy it is for someone to let a license expire, and how easy it is for them to still fly.

Does the CAA get in touch as licenses expire? Do they regularly check helicopters on their register to see who's been flying them? As both the pilot's license and the aircraft registration is handled by the same people, do they do anything like this?

If this sort of thing happened 30 years ago, then surely they would have put something in place to stop it happening again . . .

TH

Your license has a set validity period - depending on who issued it. My CAA ATPL has a 10yr life - while my JAR ATPL has a 5yr life! The CAA sends a reminder when the license is due to go out of validity.

This is however the validity period and not the currency period. You have to be current to legally fly - in my case I have to do a license proficiency check (LPC) every 12 months and in between those, at the six month point, I do an operators proficiency check (OPC). The CAA doesn't remind you about these.

I have a CPL(A) which I use with PPL privileges to hire from my local club - I recently went out of validity, my fault as I didn't check, so couldn't fly. It is my responsibility to make sure I am current.

HF

The CAA does not notify you if your PPL H is expiring !

Hustler,
As a private owner it is very easy to fly without up to date paperwork, medical, etc. in the same way as it is easy to drive illegally if you own a car. The responsibility to keep on the right side of the law is down to the pilot.
I know of one pilot who many years ago bought a machine, taught himself to fly and did so for a long while before finally getting a licence. :eek:
A PPruner as well! - and no, not me.
No one has ever challenged me on my paperwork.

Unfortunately most true reporters/journalists (Investigative Journalists??) don't work for "Daily Sensation", but for papers or channels the general public considers too much "work" to consult regularly.
It is easier to get "entertained" by "Daily blood and gore and action..."
That's why I never talk to any journalist/reporter (the story teller version...).
However it is the general public (me included) that controls demand!
Certainly not as devastating as this particular case, but serves as a sample:
You all remember the impossible BS helicopters can do in James Bond movies (...incl. the mostly wrong sounds) and others.
Well, a Geologist that flies frequently with me (pilot himself though plank..) told me that his wife is a Archeologist/Historian with a special in Ancient Rome.
Now SHE got really upset with the not period matching costumes in "The Gladiator". They where off some 350 years. Imagine running around like Robin Hood these days....
Well, I didn't care. Didn't even know until that day! Still was a great movie to me! I was the general public in this case...
99% of the public is like that, except for ones speciality!
It is futile to fight for accuracy for everyone! No one cares, except for the 1%.
Of course when real people get involved (as opposed to actors....) things should matter!
Still futile...
In some future documentory you may see the "Story of McRae's tragic accident", hopefully by something like Discovery or NatGeo or alike.
Until then, swallow it, just change the channel... (or get angry...)
It was mentioned before by the "new guy", that he watched a lot of Aviation accident series.
Did you realise that these are generally very old accidents, mostly some 10+ years in the past....
Serious journalism takes time. Most none of the individual journalists involved have the resources to do their own investigation and have to rely on the official report, long time after "sensation" is depleted.
It is just here we are in a speciality corner and we get worked up everytime (way to often lately... unfortunately) something happens....
Didn't know McRae, but what my gut tells me about him, from the reaction of people in the know on this thread (and the other one...) I find it improbable that he would be "out of paperwork" for that long. Expired since '05???
Again, speculation.
Even so, what do I care.
Expired paperwork, lost paperwork, wrong paperwork doesn't make you crash.... (General Public may have a different opinion, ....I am with the 1% here)
Something else does....
3top:(
PS: I take it no real insights yet?
Didn't know the man personally , but I do fly the B3 version of the bird, so am VERY interested to find out why....

Interesting.......speculation, damnation & utter drivvle.

Tragic accident, AAIB investigating......they'll tell us when they know!

Yep...press, on the whole, inaccurate. But perfectly allowed to report as they see fit.

Ppruners...on the whole, inaccurate. But perfectly within their rights to spout drivvle.

I know, I've had a crash. Press got the facts wrong, but never said anything other than good things about 'the pilot'. Ppruners, on the whole, got their facts wrong & said unkind things about 'the pilot'.

Facts came out.....speculation silenced. Press & pprune nice about 'the pilot'.


Guys......the AAIB will answer these questions. Everyone here is slating the press for inaccurate reporting, I'd suggest some people need to look closer to home first.

Tragic accident, people lost their lives. Condolences to all.

To rufus
 

Would like to say to Rufus

I Could not have made it better if had tried

Good posting.:D:ok:

And as you can't libel the dead, there would have been no need for The Sun to go through their normal rigorous processes to validate the facts behind this report :rolleyes:
As has been said, wait for the AAIB report.
W

Roofus;

I remember what it was like when it happened to me, and you are absolutely spot on. I still have the "report" from the aviation "specialist" of a certain northern UK newspaper/bog roll stuck in the logbook I was on at the time. It still makes me cringe years later. The A/C still hadn't been recovered when he dreamed up his report, but the mud stuck until the AAIB report came out months later. Luckily for me PPRUNE was a mere shadow of today, and our lunatic company had banned personell from posting on it with threats of the sack if any pilots were identified!

VH

(from:- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/...st/7212829.stm )

I was driving up the M6 on Saturday when 100's of Subaru owners were driving south to celebrate Colin McRae, there were hundreds of people on all the bridges waving at the cars, very touching.

And we are still waiting for the AAIB report.

Yes, we are. I recently saw the wreckage (amongst others) and it's a sobering sight. I understand there was some very hard contemporaneous documentary evidence available, which should yield a speculation free outcome.

As in 'helicopters don't crash themselves'?

Well, clearly. What I meant was we won't (I believe) be seeing the toing and froing of opinion and counter opinion we saw with the Steve Hislop (and others) accident - it should be more clear cut.

Well, since any technical failure would have led to checks across the fleet and that doesn't seem to have happened, it doesn't leave many alternatives.

Sadly, I think this report will make more than minor back page news when released. :(