OliV2,
it was meant to be harsh. This kind of quick fix response has become systemic in the industry and management alike.
People are sick to death of hearing people like Dick, who have a reasonable all rounded voice which people are inclined to listen to, comment in such away.
What he has in effect said is lets treat the symptoms or what we see on the surface. People have been screaming at the top of their lungs for some time now about the underlying problems and causes, or the disease if you like that is destroying this once great industry in Australia.
Why don't people like Dick take the time to look at the root of these problems. Would installing a portable GPS in the cockpit of a 747 have stopped the water from getting to the BCU's, would it help the engineer to have been more qualified and better resourced to carry out their inspections. That is the root of the problem.
By the way the APU can't supply electrical power in flight. It can't be started in flight. If it departs with it running it can supply pneumatics to around 15,000'.
Dick to his credit has been a great champion to improving the aviation industry. Airspace and the like. This is all to no avail if the planes continually drop out of it.
