Plane crash dad's fury
Caitriona Murtagh
Friday, June 27, 2008
The Cairns Post
THE father of Lockhart River air crash victim Sally Urquhart says the Civil Aviation Safety Authority's proposed spot checks are a cruel farce.
This week CASA announced it would carry out checks on aviation operators, aerodromes and airstrips in the Far North, including Cairns, in a bid to improve safety.
But Shane Urquhart, whose daughter Sally was one of 13 passengers to die in the 2005 Lockhart River crash, said news of the sweep "astounded and appalled" him and had given substandard airline operators advance notice of the inspections.
Mr Urquhart branded the operation a "sickening performance… wholly consistent with the deceit, dishonesty and contempt that CASA has displayed towards victims’ families".
"It is a cynical and blatant attempt by CASA to divert attention away from the forthcoming Senate inquiry into its multitude of failures to monitor and regulate the aviation industry," Mr Urquhart said in a statement issued on
behalf of victims' families.
Advance warning of CASA visits would give substandard operators a chance to "get their acts together", Mr
Urquhart predicted.
"This will enable CASA to say to the inquiry that due (to) its monitoring and regulation, compliance levels are high and that therefore, its efforts are working," he said.
But CASA's Peter Gibson said the exercise had been planned since January, well before the inquiry was
announced.
"It's taken many months to organise. It just happens that it's starting this week," he said.
"It's complete coincidence."
The announcement was made to avoid rumours spreading through the industry about the nature of the visits, he said.
"There will still be a major element of surprise," he said.
"We wanted to make it clear we’re doing this exercise and we'll be in your area, without giving any indication of when."
For information about submissions to the inquiry into the administration of the Civil Aviation Safety Authority phone 02 6277 3511.