ExpressJet Forum - View Single Post - Working for free to buy time generates bad publicity after a fatal crash. Who knew?

post911 · 07-02-2008, 12:09 PM

Novice pilots &squo;allowed to buy time&squo; | Mercury - The Voice of Tasmania

By Simon Jenkins

July 02, 2008 04:59pm

THE aircraft operator involved in the Lockhart River crash allowed inexperienced pilots to fly passenger flights unpaid to clock up flying time, a Senate inquiry has heard.

Fiona Norris, the wife of a pilot killed while a passenger in the 2005 crash, said Transair pilots were effectively buying flying time while carrying passengers.

Ms Norris said the pilots purchased their time to increase their hours of flight experience.

"I know many pilots who had bought time with Transair," she said.

"Whilst undergoing training, but actually buying time in the capacity that they're not getting paid an income at all, they're actually buying their time," Ms Norris said.

She said the practice was aimed at getting the pilots flying hours up to a required level.

"Under a situation where there isn't really a proper check and training capacity, where it is not really in the interest of the airline to really train these pilots, it's simply a money-making scheme for them," she said.

Ms Norris said pilots with a low number of flying hours should be prevented from flying under certain conditions.

"There should be some regulation where a low-time pilot is not allowed to fly under RPT (regular passenger transport) conditions, especially when the operator was known to take money where pilots were actually able to buy their time on that type of aeroplane."

Her husband, Paul Raymond Morris, was one of the 15 killed people in the Lockhart River crash in Queensland. A coroner found the pilot flew too fast and attempted an unauthorised landing, and the airline's poor safety management practices contributed to the crash.

"I come here with the capacity of a very human element as to how the system failed my husband and the other passengers on board that flight that day," Ms Norris said.

"Obviously, I can only talk from experience as in from that particular flight, is that the co-pilot had very low time, he had under 500 hours.

"My husband, who was a pilot, had around 1500 hours and he was not in the position of flying a metro, a high-performance aeroplane."

07-02-2008, 12:09 PM	#1 (permalink)
post911 Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 499	Working for free to buy time generates bad publicity after a fatal crash. Who knew? Novice pilots &squo;allowed to buy time&squo; \| Mercury - The Voice of Tasmania By Simon Jenkins July 02, 2008 04:59pm THE aircraft operator involved in the Lockhart River crash allowed inexperienced pilots to fly passenger flights unpaid to clock up flying time, a Senate inquiry has heard. Fiona Norris, the wife of a pilot killed while a passenger in the 2005 crash, said Transair pilots were effectively buying flying time while carrying passengers. Ms Norris said the pilots purchased their time to increase their hours of flight experience. "I know many pilots who had bought time with Transair," she said. "Whilst undergoing training, but actually buying time in the capacity that they're not getting paid an income at all, they're actually buying their time," Ms Norris said. She said the practice was aimed at getting the pilots flying hours up to a required level. "Under a situation where there isn't really a proper check and training capacity, where it is not really in the interest of the airline to really train these pilots, it's simply a money-making scheme for them," she said. Ms Norris said pilots with a low number of flying hours should be prevented from flying under certain conditions. "There should be some regulation where a low-time pilot is not allowed to fly under RPT (regular passenger transport) conditions, especially when the operator was known to take money where pilots were actually able to buy their time on that type of aeroplane." Her husband, Paul Raymond Morris, was one of the 15 killed people in the Lockhart River crash in Queensland. A coroner found the pilot flew too fast and attempted an unauthorised landing, and the airline's poor safety management practices contributed to the crash. "I come here with the capacity of a very human element as to how the system failed my husband and the other passengers on board that flight that day," Ms Norris said. "Obviously, I can only talk from experience as in from that particular flight, is that the co-pilot had very low time, he had under 500 hours. "My husband, who was a pilot, had around 1500 hours and he was not in the position of flying a metro, a high-performance aeroplane." __________________ "It is impossible to introduce into society a greater change and a greater evil than this: The conversion of the law into an instrument of plunder.... it erases from everyone's conscience the distinction between justice and injustice" THE LAW, by Frederic Bastiat, Paris 1850.