Foxy Hunters Charity photo shoot supports
 

Slightly digressing, there is a glamor calendar going around called a foxy Hunters which has been running for several years supporting ...WAAT and HIOWAT .......

https://www.foxyhunters.co.uk/charities/4540269073


https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....43dc4f84e.jpeg


https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....0ab06e8285.png

Hope all works out well in the end for all parties and said 429 back up....

Cheers

Thats the trouble he is making himself indispensable. He not writing the AOC, he would just delegate it down.

Local news agencies reporting that the AOC has finally been granted.........

Over 11 months since it last did any tasking, I dread to think of the costs accrued.

As for the last bit...........I'd watch it!

It appears that an AOC granted at last.

https://www.wiltshireairambulance.co.uk/news

https://ocm.wiltshire.gov.uk/rwb/wil...esumes-flying/

I expect senior managers will resign now after this mess

you may be being too harsh.

I understand [that having the money in the bank anyway] Wiltshire bought the airframe to help out the failing AOC holder on the assumption that the move would mean the AOC holder would therefore survive.

When the AOC holder still went to the wall they were faced will having to get their own AOC from cold or go to another AOC holder to take on the Bell 429 [which might have cost Wilts at least the same as getting their own].

as it turned out the technical problems at the time probably convinced them that all would be in place by the time the problems were resolved. Aviation rarely works that way

Wiltshire Air Ambulance
 

From Private Eye 1511 (13 December(
Air ambulances
Wilting in Wilts
Wiltshire Air Ambulance service (WAA) is finally airborne again. But that's no thanks to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), whose bureaucracy kept its helicopter grounded for months - a delay that risked the lives of critically ill people. WAA, a self funding charity, has had a difficult year since Heli Charter, the company that held its crucial air operator certificate (AOC), ceased trading in January. WAA swiftly made contingency arrangements to use a back up helicopter belonging to Specialist Aviation Services, but ended that expensive temporary arrangement in August in the belief that getting the final go ahead to resume flying its own Bell 429 was by then a formality. Not so. While WAA had satisfied the CAA that it was competent to fly in its own right - a qualified pilot and management structure were in place - the authority dragged its feet on two other crucial matters. The first was signing off on "continual airworthiness" - ensuring processes were in place for the helicopter to be properly maintained, even though WAA had submitted the necessary paperwork in March. The second, bizarrely, related to consumer protection, despite WAA being a charity and not a commercial operation. Interference by CAA's airline licensing consumer and markets group held everything up as it became swamped by fallout from the Thomas Cook collapse and the demands of Brexit. As CAA dithered, WAA was forced to spend extra money funding two rapid response cars. Although manned by paramedics with the same skills and equipment, delays proved critical. Road journeys to casualty units took up to an hour, whereas a helicopter can fly anywhere in Wiltshire in around ten minutes. Sometimes neighbouring air ambulance services helped out, but an inside source told the Eye the prolonged lack of its own helicopter at WAA "cost lives", though they could not say how many and in what circumstances. A bland statement from the CAA ignored all the Eye's questions about the causes of the delay and the failure to prioritise a lifeline service. "We liaised with Wiltshire Air Ambulance Trust during the application process and, on several occasions, needed to ask them for additional information to support their original application. The process is now complete, and the company has its AOC," it said. WAA finally resumed flying in November. It has now made a formal complaint to the CAA, and told the Eye it was constantly passed from pillar to post, unable to deal with the same official. "It's impossible to calculate how many times we tried chasing them up," a spokesman said. WAA chief executive David Philpott said that the CAA constantly complained of being "too busy". "Our point was that all the time we're not flying, lives are at risk," he said. "We have made our anger known".

Why do WAA think they should be able to jump the queue just because they are a ‘life saving’ charity. A question that you would want an answer to if you were affected by the TC fall out.

For all the negative parts of the CAA it must be said they are a top class regulator always with the passengers interest at the forefront and I expect they are trying hard to prevent the AA theatre of flying becoming like it is in the U.S.

It’s great to see the AA’s expanding in both numbers and capabilities but with a number of different providers now in the UK the regulator will be working hard to ensure high standards are maintained throughout the companies.

Well... Whatever their operational challenges it's clear to see that WAA's PR department is operating at full speed (or should that be full spin!?)

Good deflection!

If that was meant as it reads, I'd take a guess that it's probably because AOC rules don't apply to private flights.

The last two operators I have worked for (almost twenty years now) didn't want an AOC. But they were/are truly private operators.

The CAA is a part of the civil service. Some of its employees are jolly nice people but the oganisation is bureaucratic, expensive and has no mandate to support or help aviation. IMHO the worst aspect is its refusal to change even when it admits its facts are outdated.

Having worked an AOC for medical use I am well aware the CAA considers the patient to be a fare paying passenger, but it has no interest in them otherwise and increases their risk by some of its intransigence.

So no I wouldnt agree they are a top class regulator. Indeed I dont see how you can judge a monopoly. That said the company involved seems to have burnt through money. I am well known for my views that a fundamental part of the NHS should be funded by the NHS and audited to ensure it is necessary and provides value for money - an analysis that needs to be regularly repeated as medicine and the country's ability to pay changes. However, whilst this suboptimal charitable basis continues without any audit or oversight of efficacy it is important that the trustees and management are held to account. They are of course welcome to respond.