Reply With QuoteJDerrida,Originally Posted by JDerrida
Firstly I have to say I really wish Dave Ibbotson hadn't made that flight, I don't think he wanted to make that flight in the evening, he had filed a flightplan to fly back during daylight hours & to the best of my knowledge he believed that was the plan. I feel that when the timings were changed to an evening departure he foolishly accepted that whilst he would be flying outside his licence privileges he would get away with it, I don't for one second think he personally felt it was outside of his flying capabilities (bit like unlicenced drivers of cars who can outdrive most licenced drivers, the paper licence only makes you be a legal licenceholder, it doesn't mean you are a better driver )
Dave Ibbotson held a Private pilots licence with a 'daytime flight only restriction' so he was restricted to daylight flying only, his choices to conduct a night flight was influenced by wanting to keep up appearances with his buddies who asked him to fly Sala back at night.
Now to address the QUESTION of "Why did Nantes airport give clearance for him to fly at night?"
With a pilot having the correct licencing the flight would be 100% legal to be conducted at night, I don't suppose Nantes Air Traffic asked if Dave Ibbotson was night rated, they probably assumed that as he was prepared to conduct the flight at night that he had the relevant rating I am being very careful how I word my replies as there are a small minority of posters who seem to hang on every statement I make
Now to address the QUESTION of "Why a 35 year old single engine aircraft was allowed to fly that route at night, in those conditions?"
By General Aviation standards a 1984 built aircraft is not considered to be that old, Aircraft life runs on Airframe hours & Engine hours. N264DB was more than capable of being flown on that route at night by a correctly licenced pilot, it was certainly capable of making that flight as per the flightplan filed & you might be surprised to know that the Airframe hours & Engine hours on N264DB were a lot lower than the large majority of airliners that most of you get on for your trips away & in some cases N264DB was newer than the airliners you happily fly on.
Now to address the QUESTION of "Cardiff airport allegedly expected this aircraft."
There isn't any allegation that Cardiff airport expected this aircraft, Cardiff ATC would have been aware of the morning flightplan having been filed intimating that it was the intent for the flight to be conducted in daylight hours, Cardiff ATC would have received a Flightplan cancellation for the daylight flight when a decision to conduct the flight at night was decided, again I reiterate that I think Dave Ibbotson was pushed into conducting the flight outside of his licence privileges by the likes of McKay or Henderson.
Cardiff ATC would have received a revised flightplan for the evening flight so they would have known the intended route & intended departure time & expected arrival time, they would have even known an estimate for N264DB to have been crossing from the French Airspace into UK Airspace. Everything from Cardiff ATC would have been dealt with extremely professionally.
I went into detail on this solely because the likes of dml1954 have been questioning my integrity on this matter I certainly don't have any malice towards Dave Ibbotson ( I just think he made a few very bad choices that cost him his life whilst trying to keep others happy ) I must admit I have nothing but contempt for the organisers of the Sala flight & McKay is one who deserves the utmost contempt in bucket loads.
I hope this answers your questions.
Now having quickly looked at his recent posts he doesn't seem to bring much to the party? I am bringing too much to the party and it seems that a large majority don't like 'gatecrashers'
