Originally Posted by
George Glass
Dick, Have you the faintest idea what you are talking about? Have you any understanding of how the Check and Training systems of major Australian RPT carriers work? The system that functions 24/7 365 days a year doesnt happen by accident. Why do you feel the need to comment on something you know nothing about? Why you had the ear of politicians for so long is a mystery.
George Glass,
Instead of using this thread as an opportunity to stick it to Dick Smith, why don't you contribute something useful.
A number of contributors to this thread thread are on the money, "things" have been pared back, and even in Qantas, the "Head of Safety" (or whatever the current title is) no longer reports direct to the CEO.
To have a careful look at the consolidated list of six months of reportable incidents for one major Australian carrier makes sobering reading. We are not nearly as good as many of you obviously think you are. And, after all, in world aviation terms, Australian RPT is little more than a statistical rounding error.
And, as for CASA, a case can be made that, certainly in GA and the smaller RPT carrier, CASA diktats actually increase risk, I most certainly agree that the latent conditions for a major accident exists. And don't forget, before the jet age, Australia had a terrible accident record, and it is still pretty ropy at the non-jet end of public transport.
Indeed, as a matter of policy, flying skills have been degraded in Australia over recent years, as a Senior Check for a major carrier said to me recently, we were discussing the deterioration in handling standards: "We have made a terrible rod for our own backs".
Tootle pip!!
PS: And how about we drop "safety", a useless word, dimensionless but charged with emotion ---- a meaningless word in the context of risk management.