Peter wrote:
However, the above is illegal, even if you didn’t know about it.Whereas flying with a defective transponder, or a defective altitude encoder which is a popular method nowadays especially since they keep packing up, is 100% legal.
It is, but there is a difference between switching it off and it being u/s. Of course you could claim it went u/s during the flight. If it so to speak is permanently u/s, or at the point it went u/s, then there should be an entry in the tec log. However, the point is, it is just about unenforceable as has been said before, so long as you havent deliberately turned it off in flight or before flight and then say this is what you did, because it could go u/s at any time and you would be entitled to cntinue the flight entirely legally, or it might go u/s before departure, in which case the same would apply. I suppose at some places you are asked to squawk before departure and you would need to say you were negative transponder, but even then it could fail after you had left the ATZ if you were especially unlucky.
The transponder could be discovered as defunct when you start up.
Fuji_Abound wrote:
Of course you could claim it went u/s during the flight. If it so to speak is permanently u/s, or at the point it went u/s, then there should be an entry in the tec log
No aircraft I have ever flown has had a “tech log”. And the airframe maintenance logbook records work performed, not equipment status as it occurs.
Mooney_Driver wrote:
Having said all that, zero tolerance on airspace busts is in place almost everywhere in the sense that they want every single event to be used for prevention of others. There is nothing wrong with that, however, this does not mean that every single event should result in punishment.
+1 The aviation authorities shall do whatever is in their power to create a just culture for max safety. Punishment is something for the police and courts exclusively.
Many people, including a well known flying lawyer, now a judge, have remarked that the regulator (CAA) should not also be the prosecutor.
In matters other than aviation, the Crown Prosecution Service rather than the police are the prosecutors in order to provide a degree of independence.
I agree.
There is a case all over the papers today – here is the Daily Trash version complete with the ATCO posing for pictures – of a helicopter pilot who got done by the CAA, following a suspension last summer. This pilot doesn’t appear to have done himself any favours in his conduct on the radio but the whole thing has the footprints of “CAA getting very personal” all over it. Just like the UK police used to be 30+ years ago, and no doubt like police still are in many other places.
In fact a factor in me getting sent down to Gasco last time may have been that I wrote on the CAA report, in the bit about what will I do to prevent re-occurence, that I will stop doing sightseeing flights. Various people have told me that the CAA (ex RAF) busts chief would have hated such a statement. They want to see you write a ton of grovelling stuff. I didn’t do that because in my view these brief infringements are an unavoidable part of flying x hours a year, and the only way to not do another one for next 2 years was to stop the flights which contain the relevant distraction factors.
Peter wrote:
There is a case all over the papers today – here is the Daily Trash version complete with the ATCO posing for pictures – of a helicopter pilot who got done by the CAA, following a suspension last summer. This pilot doesn’t appear to have done himself any favours in his conduct on the radio but the whole thing has the footprints of “CAA getting very personal” all over it. Just like the UK police used to be 30+ years ago, and no doubt like police still are in many other places.
Peter, these sort of photos are taken off social media and she wasn’t posing for them. The pilot [removed]. Using him as a poster boy does nothing to help your campaign for a less aggressive enforcement regime.
flybymike wrote:
In matters other than aviation, the Crown Prosecution Service rather than the police are the prosecutors in order to provide a degree of independence.
There are loads of agencies that can prosecute in the UK. Attorney General’s Office, Civil Aviation Authority, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Department of Work and Pensions, Environment Agency, Financial Services Agency, Food Standards Agency, Gambling Commission, Health and Safety Executive, Information Commissioner’s Office, Maritime and Coastguard Agency, Office of Fair Trading, Office of Rail Regulation, Serious Fraud Office and Service Prosecuting Authority.
Maybe you have better ideas for a campaign for a “less aggressive enforcement regime”, Jason?
If so, can you post them? If not, then…
I stand by my comment about people getting “personal”. This is a good example of it. If you stick a finger up at a policeman, doing 90 on a 70, you will get the same number of points for that (nowadays).
Your list of agencies doesn’t have many GA related ones. Well, the Food Standards Agency could well be applicable to UK GA airfield cafes, and the Gambling Commission to airfield management 
Peter wrote:
Maybe you have better ideas for a campaign for a “less aggressive enforcement regime”, Jason?If so, can you post them? If not, then…
I stand by my comment about people getting “personal”. This is a good example of it. If you stick a finger up at a policeman, doing 90 on a 70, you will get the same number of points for that (nowadays).
Your list of agencies doesn’t have many GA related ones.
No Peter, but don’t use [removed] to help your case. There is clearly a problem here but try to keep some perspective.
My point was to @flybymike who implied it was odd the CAA was a prosecutorial agency. In the UK there are many administrative bodies who prosecute.
JasonC wrote:
In the UK there are many administrative bodies who prosecute.
Just out of interest are there any that have the ability to stop your ability to use your own transportation? Car, aeroplane, boat, etc.
