22 April 2021: Bob Commander resigns .. BAAC Chairman is now Andrew Belshaw


  
British Association of Aviation Consultants .. long overdue for a change at the top?



15,000 members of the public use our eastern boundary road .. every year
  

10 Jan 2021: Letter to BAAC Secretary calling for removal of Bob Commander ... here
  


BAAC Chairman should seek professional advice .. a lot of people have died Bob



Trust BAAC experts? Our joint expert reprimanded by a Judge & failed to comply with TAoE stds

• Martin Andrews .................Website: here
• Andrew Belshaw ...............Website: missing
• James Black .....................Ghost Expert
• Brian Bradley ................... Website: here
• Bob Commander ............. Hot Air Balloon expert [Linkedin: here]

• Phil Croucher .......................Website: here
• Andrew Cunningham .......... Website: missing       [not a BAAC member]
• John Dias .............................Website: here
• Adrian Gjertsen ....................Ghost Expert
• Justin Goatcher ................... Website: missing      [not a BAAC member]
• Alan Godson ........................Website: missing
• Martin Greenfield .................Website: missing
• Barry Humphreys .................Website: here
• Simon Hurst .........................Website: missing       [not a BAAC member]
• John Hutchinson ..................Website: not related to the expert
• Nameer Kaysi ......................Website: here            [not a BAAC member]
• Kyriacos Kyriacou ................Website: here
• Peter Mackenzie-Williams ....Website: here
• Ahmed Gul-Mohamed ..........Website: here
• Azlan Morad .........................Website: here
• Charles Newport ..................Website: here
• Ian Perry ..............................Website: here
• Dick Richardson ...................Website: here
• Ian Smith ..............................Website: here
• Lord Trefgarne ......................Ghost expert
• Austin Trueman ....................Website: here
• Arthur Webb .........................Website: missing
• Philip White ..........................Website: missing
• Paul Wilson ..........................Website: missing

 
'Sometimes incompetence is useful. It helps you keep an open mind'  Roberto Cavalli
 


DRK Solicitiors to Ashcroft 3:15pm 04 April 2014: "Whilst writing, I attach a copy of an e-mail that was sent by Mr Commander to Mel on the 16^th March 2014.   When this e-mail was received, Mel was quite troubled by it because Mr Commander should not have been contacting her directly in this way."  

From: Robert John Commander [ordered by a Court to be a BAAC independent joint expert]
To: Ashcroft Airfield Solicitor [Mel Sumner] 16:14  16 March 2014   

Quote: "I'm sure your client is aware of the Pilots Rumour Network - PPrune - but I am not sure if you will have seen it. Here is the PPrune string on Ashcroft Airfield. As with the impression given by the Ashcroft website, PPrune is doing your client few favours.
Aviation is a very small world and, as you may be gathering, quite a gossipy one .. PPrune is read avidly by the regulators as by the flying community, so the views voiced in the forum are probably common knowledge to those interested within the CAA" Unquote

Nice work Bob: you're being sued for professional negligence we'll see you in Court

His Honour Judge Armitage: "It is my judgement that Mr Commander's comments were expressed intemperately and trespassed on the function of the Court" [who would disagree] 


  
LAC first instriucted BAAC Balloonist expert to assess risks. His LinkedIn coments disturbing

05 Nov 2019: Letter sent to BAAC Secretary [Peter MacKenzie-Williams] ... Here

2014-15: BAAC showed a lack of integrity, over inflated and arrogant - displeasing even the Court


     
25 Nov 2019: It appears that Bob Commander has lost three experts ..  in 3 days.

14 Feb: BAAC 's Belshaw & Black agreed vehicles could swerve out of the way of aircraft 

  

New BAAC Disclaimer: "The British Association of Aviation Consultants (BAAC) shall not be held responsible for any loss or damage caused in any way, including any errors, omissions, inaccuracy, interpretation or misinterpretation, whether negligent or not. The BAAC hereby disclaims any and all liability to any person in respect of anything done or omitted to be done by any member or officer of the BAAC"

  
BAAC Hot Air Balloonist expert: "drivers can swerve out of the way of oncoming aircraft"

BAAC Balloonist: "pilots can avoid vehicles on landing"  suggested reading for Balloonist:

See and Avoid ... Peripheral and ... Tunnel vision

High Court Judge: LAC overflights cries out for expert assessment [not by a Balloonist]

After a High Court Judge recognises Ashcroft's concerns re: LAC low flying over public highways, commenting ...it "cries out" for a proper Expert assessment, Ashcroft responds by constructing a central HD tri-video device to protect our General Public (this is in addition to the 2 cameras that  'caught'  the LAC flying over our road at 19ft 4 in)

Butler Report: LAC Focke Wulf flew 'dangerously low' over Ashcroft Road

23 Nov 2010: Ashcroft Airfield and 15,000 road users ransomed by Eric Clifford Mort's Lancashire Aero Club with high energy non-compliant aircraft.

March 2014: The CAA's Motorcycle & Microlight 'Hooligan' [Chris Finnigan's own words] and the BAAC's Hot Air Balloonist 'expert' [Robert John Commander] thought that the public risks were 'spurious-trivia'.

Summer 2017: Ashcroft repeatedly asked Kate Staples and Tony Rapson [UK CAA] to 'work' with us to manage the risks to the public but they steadfastly refused.
  
Summer 2017: John Wheeler, Chairman British Association of Aviation Consultants resigns
  
Summer 2017: Gwyn Topham [The Guardian] publishes a damning report on the CAA 
  
Autumn 2017: Ashcroft is now 'working' with the West Sussex Chief Coroner [Jemma Gaule] and the Shoreham Chief Investigator, Surrey and Sussex Major Crime Team [Tony Taylor] who emailed us 17.11.2017  " were you aware that a couple of weeks ago the Prime Minister announced in Parliament that the Dept. of Transport had accepted the AAIB proposal for an independent review of the CAA ?"
  
Ashcroft will not be ransomed by Mort's Lanc's Aero Club with the CAA looking away
   
23 Nov 2017: Pre-action protocols against the CAA will be published on this website
 
23 Nov 2017: Commander reminded that he's being sued for professional negligence

CAA's Chris Finnigan [self proclaimed Motorcycle & Microlight hooligan] states on 1:57pm 17 Oct 2012 ... "In private flying the law does not impose any specified safety factor.." 

Mr Finnigan, please explain this microlight philosophy  to the relatives of the deceased on our eastern boundary road due to a LAC 'high energy' aircraft overrunning our 500m grass runway, using unfactorised take-off performance data [ah you're retired. Don't worry we'll explain this deficiency to a Court in your absence. D-EARY has 5 times the inertia of any aircraft that you've ever experienced]

Compare Finnigan's comments above with an expert experienced in high energy aircraft ops
  
Geoff Connolly [BAAC expert] ... email 05/29/14 at 9:33 AM
 
"Steve, the ‘reasonable steps’ referred to in the ANO, and the effects of sub para (a) below, make it very difficult to ignore the performance information in the Flight Manual.

Commander to be satisfied that flight can be safely completed
87 The commander of a flying machine must, before take-off, take all reasonable steps so as to be satisfied that it is capable of safely taking off, reaching and maintaining a safe height and making a safe landing at the place of intended destination having regard to:
(a) the performance of the flying machine in the conditions to be expected on the intended flight

So LBA rules, and you have to go with performance as in the flight manual, but the pilot must, in my opinion, have regard to the factors in SSL 07, para 10, in order to comply with ANO 87"

  
Public Safety: Challenger enquiry: "Individuals who know of a situation that, unless acted upon with integrity might cause social harm, have a responsibility to contact any authority that will manage and control that situation in the best interest of the public".

With 15,000 members of our public at risk, it is appalling that the British Association of Aviation Consultants [falsely] claimed that an 'Independent' enquiry panel would be set up, to investigate the safety report and actions of Robert John Commander [ex-CAA]

This 'independent' panel consisted of: 

• His Honour Harvey Crush FRAeS MBAC [Chairman]
• Andrew MT Belshaw MSc MBAC MRAeS
• James M K Black BA (Oxon) Dip Bus Man FIPM MBAC

They were in fact, all members of the BAAC. With the panel 'Chairman' on the BAAC Council this calls into question the integrity of the BAAC.

At least the Balloonist BAAC "Expert" got something right: "The aircraft should be flown in accordance with the correct flight manual but the pilot is required to comply with the Rules for the country in which the aircraft is being flown. However, if there is a difference in regulatory requirement, the aircraft must be flown in compliance with the more restrictive regulation between the country of registration (Germany) and the country where the flight takes place (UK)."
  
British Association of Aviation Consults 'Balloonist' Expert ... "the private pilot is responsible for his or her own actions and does not have to take into account passenger expectations or ignorance .. The bottom line is that a pilot can do just about whatever he likes, including hazarding his life"

"Accidents such as failure to get airborne, collision with obstacles after take-off and over-run on landing occur frequently to light aeroplanes. Many, if not all, of these performance accidents could have been avoided if the pilots had been fully aware of the performance limitations of their aeroplanes. The pilot in command has a legal obligation under EU Part-NCO and Article 87 of the Air Navigation Order 2009, which require the pilot to check that the aeroplane will have adequate performance for the proposed flight"

05 Jan 2016: Tony Rapson [Head of GA Flt Ops] ... Quote "Let me be clear .. Unlicensed airfields such as Ashcroft are not regulated by the CAA" Unquote
23 Nov 2016: Concerns passed to ICAO President regarding the UK CAA's deviation from Annex 19 of the Chicago Convention: APP 1. State Safety Oversight System. Primary aviation legislation 1.1"The State shall promulgate a comprehensive and effective aviation law, consistent with the size and complexity of the State’s aviation activity and with the requirements contained in the Convention on International Civil Aviation, that enables the State to regulate civil aviation"

On advice from a Microlight-Motorcycle 'Hooligan' ... a BAAC Balloonist says:

Quote: "the private pilot is responsible for his or her own actions and does not have to take into account passenger expectations or ignorance, although a passenger safety briefing is strongly recommended. The bottom line is that a pilot can do just about what he likes, including hazarding his own life, provided that there are mitigations in place for members of the public" unquote ... Balloon passengers bring your own parachutes !
   
Compare this with the official CAA version regarding the ANO Para 4.2 (b):  
Quote "for securing the safety of air navigation and the safety of aircraft and of persons and property carried therein, [and] for preventing aircraft endangering other persons and property" unquote

Quote: "Regulation must he risk-based, he says – and the CAA is not there to save you from yourself. If you understand and accept the risks, you are entitled to take them. “Aviation regulators recognise their principal duty of care to the genuine uninvolved third-party. (However) the pilot of a single seat de-regulated aircraft is fully aware of his own risks and is personally responsible for mitigating them; where the risk to society is small and the participants are fully aware of any risks involved, the level of intervention need not be onerous" Unquote

• BAAC assurances: "Their professionalism, qualifications and experience are assured, therefore, when delivering the services you need" ... a  BAAC Joke?
• Civil Aviation Authority assurances [1]: "for securing the safety of air navigation and the safety of aircraft and of persons and property carried therein, [and] for preventing aircraft endangering other persons and property"
• Civil Aviation Authority assurances [2]:“Aviation regulators recognise their principal duty of care to the genuine uninvolved third-party" [CAA-AOPA Aug 2013]

John Wheeler, why did your Balloonist "Expert" not use the performance data from the correct (Civil) Flight Manual and why did he use performance data from a (Military) Flight manual that the Luftfahrt-Bundesamt have specificaly stated is "not part of the Civil approval of the FW-149"

The Lancashire Aero Club 2 Ton Focke Wulf [D-EARY] .. must observe German Law and must .. "operate the aircraft in such a manner that no third party is endangered, harmed, impeded or inconvenienced beyond the extent unavoidable under the circumstances"