ABSTRACT
A question frequently debated in earlier days on a matter of principle was whether the alleged general average act had to be successful in its aim of saving the property. Of course, the totality of the acts conducted with this objective must succeed, at least to the extent of saving some of the property, or else there would be no fund to contribute. However, there is nothing in the Rule A definition of a general average act which requires that any particular act, or any single item of sacrifice or expenditure, shall be shown to have contributed to the ultimate success of the whole operation. Nowadays a searching aircraft is more commonly engaged on contract terms, and provided that the adventure was in fact threatened by a "real and substantial" peril, the reasonable cost of the aircraft charter will be allowable in general average within Rule A, irrespective of the success of the search.
