sox6, TAIC always have the first option of conducting an investigation. Sometimes, if the accident/incident doesn't fall into their guidelines, they will decline to investigate, and pass it onto the CAA.
You'll note in the report, that it states that TAIC declined to investigate. Just because CAA are investigating, doesn't mean it won't be impartial. If the investigator takes his/her job seriously, they'll be impartial alright!!
Helijo. Pilots kill people everyday by making errors of judgement, or by blatantly breaking the rules. Coming down hard on people often has a negative affect on future investigations, as things may try to be hidden. We don't come down hard on pilots when they make mistakes that kill people, so why the engineers?? (having said that, police will try their darndest to make manslaughter charges stick. Remember Ansett Dash 8??) If dodgy parts had been knowingly used, that would be different. This seems to be a case of lack of supervision, and lack of knowledge about the aircraft type (incorrect dash number drive shaft installed, and flexplate incorrectly installed). How many hours had the engineers worked in the past week?? How many had they worked that day?? How about some duty time limitations, so that fatigue doesn't cloud their better judgement?? Oh yeah, can't do that, that would affect aircraft availability. The lax state of affairs with Part 43 rules doesn't help either.
Tuk Tuk, if you want supervising LAME's to have their sh
t together, you better be prepared to pay them better money for the responsibilities that nobody seems to be willing to acknowledge they have. The situation is only going to get worse as less and less engineers take on more and more work. Have you noticed how the average age of engineers is steadily increasing??