On another website this evening I came across the following:

"Pilots operate under strict regulations, and are expected in the case of helicopters under CAA rules to undertake a competency test every year, and renew their licenses every five years - not to do so is illegal. It has emerged that McRae had not undertaken a competency check as required in March 2006, and that effectively his license had expired in February 2005. A CAA spokesman commented "The investigators must determine why McRae hasn’t kept up to date with his documentation."

I admit I find it hard to believe he would have let his licence lapse.

Another contributor on the same site made the comment that CAA insiders say the chopper was so severely damaged that the accident investigators are unlikely to find the cause of the accident so we are unlikely to discover if it was pilot error [as happened with Dave Richards the next day when he put down a perfectly serviceable aircraft too hard after being un-nerved by the auto-pilot disengaging], a mechanical failure or a combination of both.

 

I'd say let it go.

If there's a chance it was a mechanical failure that could happen to someone else, then that certainly warrants investigation. But chasing up paperwork isn't going to bring him back, and treating it as an excuse to blame him for the crash won't help his family or anyone else.

RIP Colin, we miss you

 

My thoughts exactly

 

Snap ^^^^

 

So what your saying is, if somebody drives a car on and kills himself and passengers and its proved that the driver had no licence, just because that person was killed there shouldn't be any concequences?
This may come as a complete surprise to you all but you can't have every bugger flying around in helicopters unchecked and unregulated and unlicenced.

 

This has been discussed several times before

Most recent thread https://www.scoobynet.com/scoobynet-...en-before.html

 

I second that

 

who cares?!?!?!


I think the McRae family have had enough to cope with without something like this.


What are the CAA gonna do with whatever conclusion they draw?

 

Won't this affect any insurance that may have been in force and paid out?

 

From a legal and financial perspective, quite a lot of scrutiny would be applied if true. Just look at Graham Hill's death in similar circumstances which left his family completely broke as a result of the insurance company failing to settle their claim due to invalidated licences.

 

Funny - there are several events where I can tell you exactly where I was when I heard the news and Graham Hill's death was one of them: I did not know his licence was invalid. I do recall that he made more than one attempt to land though in thick fog.