We all can read the report 1000 times and make our own judgements of what the crew done wrong, right and everything in between, however we need to be cognisant of the fact that the crew were a cog in a wheel that wasn’t perfect and certainly still is not. Sack the crew, remove their licenses and all the rest of it, is that going to do anything positive? While CASA PNG are at it why not cancel ANG’s AOC and all their other approvals as well just to be fair!
For anyone who has had anything to do with aviation in PNG, we all know how the boundaries are pushed on occasions as most of us who have been around the traps up there for a while have done it ourselves many times. If any long time PNG pilot can’t admit to pushing the limits and probably going beyond the limits with regards to the hard rules specifically in relation to the interpretation of weather conditions, they are complete liars - FACT!
Who needs to take ownership of the findings that have come out in the report? Certainly Air Niugini and the regulator in PNG, however everyone else who is involved in the industry, either directly or indirectly is also responsible as the report highlights that there are systemic failures with the industry in PNG.
Being an ex Air Niugini Dash 8 Captain and still being indirectly involved within the aviation industry in PNG, I certainly will continue to use Air Niugini as a fare paying passenger and I believe it’s important that we all as an industry learn from this accident without appropriating blame to any individual or organisation. Air Niugini is safe as any other airline in the world.
Cheers - PLUGGA