Charity flight organisations (sheep patrol etc)

Airborne_Again wrote:

This has wrought havoc with forest fire patrols as there is a company which uses unpaid CPLs which is now starting to get contracts for that

That’s pretty far out. Using unpaid labor in commercial operations is slavery, plain and simple. Wouldn’t some headlines in the news and a few letters put an end to that “commercial competition” rather fast?

I agree, it seems quite unfair to make money from unpaid labour. But would it also be unfair if I let’s say were to start a chain of clinics for plastic surgery and use only unpaid surgeons? I guess nobody would be dumb enough to work for me. Ironically, I just realized that this is exactly what is currently going on in the media industry. But what I’m trying to say is that no one is forcing these pilots to work for free. It’s not like they need that job to pay their rent or buy food because that would be hard to do from an unpaid job.

Clipperstorch wrote:

But what I’m trying to say is that no one is forcing these pilots to work for free.

That depends what you mean by “force.” Most likely they’re time building waiting for an airline seat.

Airborne_Again wrote:

This “non-competition” condition obviously has nothing to do with flight safety but is entirely a matter of market policy, which arguably is outside the competence of the CAA.

Technically you are obviously right – the only decision inside the competency of the CAA (also in terms of flight safety) would be to shut down AOC operation with unqualified pilots.

But the question is not only what the CAA says. How about insurance? Do Swedish insurers pay in case of an accident during such commercial operations by PPL pilots?

Malibuflyer wrote:

Technically you are obviously right – the only decision inside the competency of the CAA (also in terms of flight safety) would be to shut down AOC operation with unqualified pilots.

If you’re referring to the Voluntary Air Corps, it’s not an AOC operation, it’s part-SPO.

But the question is not only what the CAA says. Do Swedish insurers pay in case of an accident during such commercial operations by PPL pilots?

Yes. That is explicitly included in the policies and the Voluntary Air Corps is listed as co-insured.

Airborne_Again wrote:

If you’re referring to the Voluntary Air Corps

Just to clear up any misunderstandings. The VAC (FFK) is a regular commercial operator with all the required nominated persons, an operations manual etc. The only unusual thing is that it (also) uses PPL/LAPL pilots. But it doesn’t simply accept pilots “from the street”. There is a flight time requirement and a comprehensive training program with regular exercises and it has its own flight checks in addition to part-FCL requirements. I would say that a VAC pilot with a PPL is no less competent to carry out a particular mission than a CPL holder would be. (And no, it doesn’t employ uniforms, but you can buy “profile clothing” if you wish.)

Im sorry, but I read this thread title and imagine:

I always thought that it more or less didn’t exist in Europe because our OPS rules don’t have the same “for charity exception to application commercial flight rules” that the FAA rules have.

Do you know how “Angel Flights Europe” work? What part of the operational costs do they pay/reimburse to the pilot? Do you have any clue how many flights they have actually made?

• Their website seems pretty minimal on actual information, and their “more / blog” section is some template stuff…
• I can’t find an actual name of any actual person, be it a natural person or a legal person, on the website.
• They say they are in Brussels, that donations above 5 EUR are tax-deductible, but
  • there is no Belgian legal person whose name contains “Angel Flight”
  • there is no organisation whose name contains “flight” in the official list by the Belgian tax office of organisations to whom donations are tax-deductibke.
• The website domain is registered to an individual, since 2017; the .eu “privacy rules” mean we don’t know who.

This has several red flags for being a scam…

Lionel, there are quite a few such organisations in Europe, see a discussion here.

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