CASA Prosecution

[Iceman]

Warning - cool Video = Loss Of Licence.

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1. Heli pilot takes tourists to see the Barrier reef.

2. Heli pilot entertains tourists.

3. Tourist posts Youtube video

4. CASA notices said Youtube video and takes action against Pilot

5. License Cancelled.

Heli Charters again!!!

You have been warned.

http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/AATA/2011/709.html

[CYHeli]

From the final paragraph;

We want, finally, to comment on a suggestion that emerged in the evidence of Mr .. that there is an expectation on the part of passengers in reef flights that they will be entertained by this type of flying. If there is such an expectation and if it is being satisfied by pilots engaging in unsafe practices the Authority ought take steps to promptly stamp it out. Much worse things can happen to an unsafe pilot and passengers than that the pilot lose a licence. That is to be preferred to losing a life.

A good hint to joy/scenic pilots not to get too carried away trying to impress their pax.

[Finny]

Iceman.......... Maybe a reflection on the individual rather than the company he was flying for!

[Iceman]

Iceman.......... Maybe a reflection on the individual rather than the company he was flying for!

Finny, I agree with your comment but history itself speaks volumes on the company that employed this individual!

The fruit never falls far from the tree and one could suggest Insufficient supervision? Or has this business just been having a run of bad luck?

[papillons]

Obviously his biggest error was not being under contract to provide his thrills n spills helo footage to a major television network.

[muppet]

Anyone see the actual video? I couldn't find it on YouTube.

But from what I can infer from the transcript, sounds like a sadly typical case of a low-hour idiot showing off in a chopper. And if he had lots of hours, then he was a high hour idiot showing off. This conclusion assumes the verdict was fair, but having noted that Mal Walker was involved, I am pretty happy to accept it as fair cos he is a good fed, a straight shooter and very reasonable. I have no issue with the feds getting tough on this kind of thing. Does anyone? Not sure about the company vs pilot thing, but suspect there are some issues there. I have no problem with CASA getting tough on sloppy operators either - if there is any truth to this.... Cowboys and idiots can stay the heck away from this industry thanks. You want excitement, do it the legal way (plenty of opportunities for that - go long-lining in PNG, I imagine that is pretty exciting! And scary!) or better still, throw your money at some prostitute on the Cross. He(?)/she'll give you plenty of excitement and you won't risk killing anyone but yourself.

[Nawty]

Lucky youtube wasn't around in my day.....crikey...

[Nawty]

Muppet....is the prostitute nailed or tied ??...it makes a difference to some people.

[AgRattler]

Theres allways someone watching....cant have any fun these days...

[big_bom_biggidy]

Turtle mustering.

[hand in pants]

Sounds to me like casa got all of their ducks in a row and had a well deserved win.

Can't find any simpathy for the pilot. Doing anything wrong while you have a person sitting next to you RECORDING the deed, well, he should have just called the authority and pled guilty ahead of time just to save everyone the drama of a court case. DUH............

Got very sleepy trying to read the details so won't label the pilot a clown/cowboy.

[docholiday]

After ol mate got through a whole tv series and has had no repercussions I bet the reef pilot feels hard done by! even if he was being a twit

[Nawty]

Whats done in the bush stays in the bush.......unless on national telly of course....but very different to paying tourists on a commercial flight over water i would imagine.

[hand in pants]

Nawty I think you are dead right, what you do as a private operation as opposed to a commercial operation are two different things.
The way I understand it private operators are not so much under the eye of the authority as commercial guys, they DO watch but they have their hands full trying to keep operators who fly with PAYING PASSENGERS on board from doing dumb things.

[mja]

Interesting read - item 74 should be noted by all pilots............have a good weekend!.........................

[truthinbeer]

mja do you think some contrition might have helped his case? It might certainly have stopped things snowballing out of control and mitigated the outcome.

[SuperF]

i'm sure that pilot was not the first to do something dumb with pax onboard, and i bet he won't be the last. since the advent of utube and cameras/videos on just about everything, you simply cannot do what you could pre 2000, more to the point, you can't do it and get away with it... is it good, bad, or otherwise?

I remember being told, learn from other peoples mistakes, you won't live long enough to make all the mistakes yourself... now with utube, you can see everyones mistakes.

surely this isn't the first vid of someone being an idiot with paying pax, but first time i'v heard of the authority having the gonads to strip a licence because of it. In NZ you would get a slap on the wrist, if that... and if there is a vid on utube, you can just about guarantee that is what happens most of the time.

regarding giving the pax a thrill, i think that most of it is the pilots trying to make themselves feel good, and a lot of the time, relatively low time pilots, with little, if any ag/utility time giving themseklves a bit of a thrill. i know when i do joy flights, you will always get, someone, or some group that wants a "thrill" ride. all you have to do is get the helicopter leaning about 20-30 deg, and they all start screaming like babies, and you can do it at 1000'. if you every did a real ag turn at low level, they would probably pass out.

the other stupid thing that i have seen on utube, and watching guys doing joy rides, is that most of them aren't doing good ag turns, they are so far out of balance, so that the punters can "feel the G's" that its crazy.

heres a good ol kiwi example of another idiot.

[youtube]vfnVTjSYBnY[/youtube]

[hand in pants]

Last time someone asked me for a "thrilll ride", I did one of the most sedate flights ever, slow, wide flat turns long shallow approach, gentle touch down. Then turned around and told him the thrill was that I got him back alive.

[mja]

thruthinbeer - maybe! I think that all of us at some stage have been tempted to do some showing off, I think its only human, you can do something most people don't, however, knowing much about regulatory bodies and having met a few CASA people, maybe if a hand went up on the first day and said, yep that was me, I stuffed up and I am sorry, there could have been a different outcome. I don't know, but I know that part 74 of that transcript certainly implies such. At the end of the day we are all accountable for what we do and I have found humilty goes alot further in learning and staying alive (from many mistakes of my own in life)......... HIP, good call, very wise words for us all........

[harold]

I'm with MJA on this one!
Reading the transcript,the guy got done for trying to claim it wasn't (mightn't've) been him! The loss of licence was more for "not a fit and proper person' than anything else and that came about more from the perception of lying!