We must never become complacent – Dick Smith
I find it fascinating that a number of people have contacted me to tell me how “safe” we are in Australia compared to countries such as Indonesia when it comes to airline flying.
Of course, the word “safe” means without risk and that unfortunately is not possible.
Both times that I have been Chairman of the regulator (CAA and then CASA) I would wake up every morning dreading that this could be the day when we have an airline accident.Yes, we have been very lucky and we do have very well qualified crew, and we can afford the best training and very often the most modern aircraft. However everything in life has risk and we must never become complacent.I know whenever I see or hear of an accident I try to find out how it occurred and always think “When will I do that?” or “When will it happen to me?”
Of course we have been incredibly fortunate. It was one of the Qantas pilots who mentioned to me years ago how fortunate we were that there was a golf course at the end of the runway at Bangkok and not a container terminal. Also, more recently, that the Airbus A380 incident at Singapore did not result in the fuel catching alight.
What I am saying in this post is never take for granted that we are perfectly “safe”. I sincerely hope, like everyone else, that we can go for as long as possible without a serious accident and a jet airline fatality.I think most would agree that the second you take it for granted that we are “safe” it could come back to bite you.