At 05:00 27 April 2005, Ian Forbes wrote:
wrote:

The pilot received his student pilot certificate on
March 16, 2005. On
March 24, 2005, he received his private pilot certificate
with a
glider rating. On March 26, 2005, he obtained his
commercial pilot
certificate with a glider rating. According to the
pilot's logbook, as
of April 5, 2005 (the day before the accident), he
accumulated a total
of 48.4 hours of flight time, of which 31.2 hours
were as
pilot-in-command.

Even James Bond or Tin Tin could not qualify to carry
passengers in 10
days from novice. Clearly this pilot must have had
some prior
training/experience that is not reflected above.

My South African Glider Pilot's Licence and Instructor's
Brevet together
do not permit me to carry passengers for hire and reward
here, let
alone in Hawaii. If I took on a job flying joy rides
in Hawaii, chances
are I would have to get Student, Private and Commercial
Glider Pilot's
ratings in a hurry. Maybe I could do it in 2 weeks.

The 48.4 hours were probably what he logged since arriving
on the
Island. Of course this does not explain why the accident
happend.


Ian
You are right Ian if I went out there I would show
exactly the same profile, my previous 1500 hours would
not show either.
This probably sums the whole thing up, speculation,
rumour, and heresay, almost anything but fact. If much
of what has been said previously had been said about
a pilot who survived the accident a lot of people would
soon become very poor. Dead people can't sue, or even
more to the point defend themselves against scurrilous
attacks by the ignorant.