Responsible Person

Nigel Hitchman · Post by **Nigel Hitchman** » Fri Aug 28, 2009 1:55 pm

I read with horror the CAA's suggestions on this subject in GASIL issue 7 page 6.

They are talking of the importance of having a responsible person who is going to check that you have arrived at your destination when on a VFR flightplan and who can notify the area control center if you dont arrive.

Yes this might be the suggestion, but it does really seem overkill unless you are flying a very unreliable aircraft over very inhospitable terrain, not a flight from Europe to the UK. After all in many cases even if this responsible person did do something it would be too late. For example on my flight from Le Touquet to Leicester if I didnt arrive and had ditched in the channel, by the time I was late at Leicester I would have been in the water a couple of hours at Cub speed!
Why do we file flight plans in the majority of cases- to comply with bureaucracy and for no other reason. If they really want to enhance safety a much better idea would be to have cross channel radar and an air sea rescue helictoper on standby in the area and forget about flightplans!

But what is worse in this article is that the CAA state "we consider that the concept of a responsible person is valid for every flight made in UK airspace" that is incredible nanny state! Do the CAA really consider that aviation is that dangerous or unreliable. It would be more sensible to have a responsible person waiting at destination for every car driver as they seem to crash much more often! I guess all of this stems from flying in the 30s when aircraft reliability was poor, no navigation aids, poor maps, no GPS etc. Surely this is not relevant today. Really I think the CAA idea of booking in and out is also a waste of time and serves no purpose, have you ever seen anyone do this in the USA? No they just come and go as they please.

Trevor Harvey · Post by **Trevor Harvey** » Fri Aug 28, 2009 6:32 pm

I may be wrong but I tend to take most of the contents of that leaflet with a pinch of salt.
Some of it is obvious common sense that even a child should not need reminding of, some is as you say extreme nanny state which I would ignore.