Col Pay's crash was no accident - he was set up long ago.
Col Pay died because he believed as passionately as I do in
the effectiveness of scooping water tankers in fighting
fires especially in quickly reaching and hitting spotfires in the early stages.
Col Pay died because of the decades of continued refusal by
all the downunder armchair experts, apathetic politicians, egotistical fire service bureaucrats and even some firies themselves to acknowledge the viability of fixed wing scooping tankers complementing helo and ground forces. Proven off the shelf technology which strangely works so well elsewhere around the world but which has been repeatedly rejected again and again downunder.
Notably by the likes of the then NSW Fire Commissioner Phil
Koperberg - recently stood down as Environment Minister over
domestic violence claims. He and others rejected out of hand
the well proven Canadair water bombers on offer many years
ago at bargain prices.
Every year the same old tired (and largely false) arguments
against why this equipment which works so well overseas is
not suited to Oz - no water,salt water,terrain,vegetation,
retardant toxicity, yada yada yada..... It has even been
suggested that the water would kill firies on the ground or
that the aircraft they would fan the flames on to them.
Or this from Pprune in 2001 - PK was interviewed by an
aviation magazine a number of years ago and asked about the
effectiveness of fixed wing aircraft for firefighting. His
response was quite negative including the comment that
"fixed wing aircraft carrying water would damage the trees".
And from the South Australia Environment, Resources and
Development Committee Canadair CL-415 Inquiry 1994
"The Committee was concerned however at the generally
negative reaction of these authorities to the various
proposals to acquire, to use, or even to test Canadair
aircraft for firefighting in Australia. It almost appeared
to the Committee that some opponents of the aircraft have
first decided that the Canadair is not suitable and then set
about constructing arguments to justify that decision.
This raises the suspicion that there has been no genuine
attempt to examine the benefits of the aircraft objectively."
Today dozens of these scooping air tankers and their crews
sit idle and silent on snowy airfields across North America
and Europe.
And so Col Pay died giving it the good old Aussie go of
trying to develop and test a local replacement for what all
these so called "experts" claimed was not relevant to
downunder conditions.
Responsibility for the death of Col Pay lays squarely at
the feet not only of the bureaucrats and politicians but
also the armchair experts who so willingly aided, abetted
and encouraged them.
Footnote -
I recall talking to the crew onboard the Canadair at Avalon some time in the 90s. IIRC the deal offered that year was no upfront $ commitment, that the company bore the cost of positioning the aircraft and crews into Australia. All the authorities needed to pay for was hours/fuel/crew when actually actively deployed fighting fires.
The Canadian guys simply were not able to comprehend the
crass stupidity of local authorities in refusing a deal like
that. Nor could I.
But they did say they wouldn't waste their time coming back
to Australia again. And sure enough - they didn't.
Vale Col Pay - a fair dinkum Aussie pilot and one who was
prepared to give it a bloody good go despite the naysayers.
Stuff it mate - you should have just let the country burn.
