Originally Posted by
Engineeringthrowaway
No issues at all with safety of their fleet, I was working as an engineer at their Wagga heavy maintenance base recently, and as a whole the place is well run, they do spent money to keep their aircraft in bloody good nick despite their age, and the SAAB 340 is a good solid airframe with a decent safety record from the get go, this is an employment dispute where the one single engineer involved has hit the nuclear button.
I agree with you to a point.
The REX engineering and Safety Management systems are mature and well organised. Your assertion of “the one single engineer” however, either tells me you are a company mole, or you really don’t understand the current problem. Firstly this is not a case of an isolated “disgruntled employee”. This isn’t even a case of rust on propellor shafts. It is about the integrity of the system as a whole.
I know of at least two incidents where Pilots, not Engineers were “councilled” for discovering rust on a propeller shaft. In one case a Senior REX manager demanded to know from a Captain, where in the Flight Crew Operating Manual does it tell you to look there! Additionally the press are reporting the ALAEA have detailed 8 instances of unreported defects. Doesn’t sound like an act of a single disgruntled engineer to me.
The real elephant in the room is just how many defects were not reported, and why? Just one case of non reporting is serious. Multiple cases suggest some sort of systemic problem. This has the potential to undermine the entire Safety Management System. If found to be true, the root cause must be identified, and those responsible held to account.