People across the Channel Islands are being warned not to fly with unlicensed charter operators – known as ‘grey charters’ – by the islands’ aviation regulator.
Grey charters are typically operated by private owners who don’t have the right qualifications, certificates or insurance and don’t follow the strict safety protocols commercial airlines would, the Office of the Director of Civil Aviation said.
A media release earlier this week warned that grey charters should not be used. When Express queried the reasons behind the warning, we were told that it hadn’t been triggered by any specific event.
Further enquiries with aviation specialists revealed details that backed up the validity of the cautionary message.
Nigel Webb, Co-Chair of Guernsey Aero Club, told Express that grey charters potentially risked passengers’ lives, and could invalidate life insurance policies – meaning if anything happened their family could be left out of pocket.
“Any member of the general public has no clue how good their pilot may be, whether they’ve flown recently, or whether the pilot has the appropriate medical checks,” he said.
“You probably wouldn’t know what a licence looks like.”
Legal options
Mr Webb explained that it was legal to fly with a friend on a journey they’d already planned, provided they have a pilot’s licence.
Cost-sharing flights – where the passenger helps cover costs such as fuel and landing fees – were “allowed under some conditions”, a spokesperson for the ODCA said.
However, as soon as a private pilot was flying a journey especially for you, making a profit from the flight, or advertising spaces on a flight to strangers, this became illegal, Mt Webb said.
There were only two options for people who wanted to be flown privately, he said.
The first, and most expensive, option was to buy a plane and hire a pilot with at least a commercial pilot’s licence as an employee.
The second was to charter a plane through a firm that had an Air Operator Certificate (AOC), such as Guernsey-based private airline Channel Jets, which allowed them to carry paying passengers legally.
The AOC demonstrated the airline had appropriate “procedures and insurance, which guarantee the safety of the flight”, he added.
Pets and cargo
It is also illegal to take cargo – including cats and dogs – without an AOC and adequate insurance, the spokesperson added.
The ODCA planned to engage private pilots across the Channel Islands to “remind them of their obligations in accepting bookings from paying customers”, they said.
Simon Crook, Guernsey’s Acting Director of Civil Aviation, urged the public to understand “the risks they are taking when accepting a grey charter flight, even if it seems convenient.”
“Pilots conducting these illegal flights could be investigated and their licence suspended or revoked,” he added.
Worldwide issue
Mr Webb said grey charters were an issue internationally and the ODCA’s guidance was part of a broader attempt to raise awareness about the problem.
However, people in the Channel Islands do have first-hand experience of the worst-case scenario.
In 2019, professional footballer Emiliano Sala died when the privately-chartered plane he was on crashed off the coast of Alderney.
The pilot was later found not to have had the correct licences to fly passengers commercially or to fly at night.
Sala’s body was found and he was laid to rest in his home country Argentina.