Persons following this tragic accident and consequences may be interested to read something of the questions and answers being asked and given in the Manx Parliament, Tynwald. Here is a link to Tynwald website. If one types 'Manx2' into the search box at top right you can find some of the exchanges by reading through the papers:
Tynwald - The Parliament of the Isle of Man
What follows is copied and pasted from Hansard and includes some of the exchanges between Mr. Kerran, a member of the House of Keys (the lower house) and the Minister for Infrastructure at the session on April 11th in Tynwald. It is a trifle disconcerting to discover Mr. Kerran seems to have a firm grasp of the seriousness of this affair yet many of his colleagues do not. At least that is how I read much of it. Here is the passage:
Isle of Man based airline operations
Oversight and supervision
12. The Hon. Member for Onchan (Mr Karran) to ask the Minister for Infrastructure:
In relation to an airline operation based on the Isle of Man, using an Air Operator’s Certificate to operate
the flight from (a different) jurisdiction (A), an aircraft registered in jurisdiction (B), wet-leased from
jurisdiction (C), with the pilots’ licences issued by jurisdictions (D) and (E) and operating a service from
jurisdiction (F) to jurisdiction (G); what powers of oversight and supervision his Department has in
relation to –
(a) the experience and skills of the flight crew;
(b) the avionic equipment on board the aircraft;
(c) the standard operating procedures of the flight operator;
(d) the airfield instrument approach charts that have to be carried on the aircraft in the event of diversion;
and
(e) the safety record of the aircraft type to be used for the service; and
what plans the Minister has for his Department to take a more proactive role with regard to aviation
supervision?
The President: We move on to Question 12.
Mr Karran.
Mr Karran: Eaghtyrane, I ask the Question standing in my name.
The President: Again, Minister Gawne to answer, please.
The Minister for Infrastructure (Mr Gawne): Gura mie eu, Eaghtyrane.
Again, I would reiterate to the Hon. Member that the Department operates the Island’s airport. It does not
have any regulatory oversight or supervision with regard to airlines. Therefore, with specific regard to the five points, (a) to (e), in the Question above, the Answer is none in each case.
The Department is confident that it meets the international standards required for running an airport and
has no plans to step into an arena outside of its airport operation. International aviation already meets the
standards laid down by the European Aviation Safety Agency and the International Civil Aviation
Organisation and is well regulated by the appropriate national aviation authorities.
The President: Mr Karran.
Mr Karran: Eaghtyrane, a supplementary.
Is it not the case, Eaghtyrane, that neither the Minister for Infrastructure nor the Minister for Economic
Development, who have shared responsibility for aviation supervision on the Island, have any powers of
oversight or supervision on these matters?
Is it not also the case that one of the… and probably more than the issue that relates to the crash at Manx2airport… at Cork airport, on 10th February 2011… therefore the changes… Does the Minister, in conjunction with the Minister for Economic Development, intend to make sure that a similar accident cannot happen at Ronaldsway Airport, in order to make sure that we have minimum standards, as far as safety is concerned?
The President: Mr Gawne.
The Minister: I wish that the Hon. Member would listen to the Answers because I have already said what
he has asked, so the Answer is on Hansard and I am sure that he can follow that.
As I have already said on several occasions today, and in the House of Keys on previous occasions, I
believe that we do have at least minimum levels of safety at the Airport.
The President: Mr Karran.
Mr Karran: Eaghtyrane, would the Shirveishagh not agree that the issue, as far as the play on words on
the minimum standards… Yes, you have the minimum standards within the European Union, as far as the
minimum standards are concerned, but those minimum standards would not be acceptable if they were a
British-run air service, like I said in the previous… where you can have 14 hours being on constant duty in
certain jurisdictions, and yet only nine hours in other jurisdictions, like the United Kingdom. Surely, as
responsible people, both his Department and the Department of Economic Development should be bringing in minimum standards, as far as who operates from Ronaldsway Airport as far as any commercial routes are concerned, in the interests of public safety?
The President: Mr Gawne.
The Minister: Gura mie eu.
Having now, I think, possibly, got to the bottom of what the hon. questioner’s concern is, I am more than
happy to look into this issue, and I hold open the invitation for him to come down and talk it through with us. International aviation regulation is a very large area and, quite frankly, until the Hon. Member really
identifies that it appears to be this 14 hour issue that is his concern, I could have spent from the moment I got the Question through to now trying to brush up on every single aspect of international aviation and we would still probably have missed the issue that he is trying to talk about.
So now that we know what the issue is, as I have said, I am more than happy to look into it, although I
have some degree of optimism to think that we have considerably more than the minimum level of safety
requirements at the Airport.
The President: Mr Karran, finally, I think, sir.
Mr Karran: Eaghtyrane, thanking the Shirveishagh for his reply, would he not agree that the whole
principle of these questions has purely been not just about the 14 hours, but making sure that we do not have
operators being able to use the most lax rules, as far as safety is concerned, to provide commercial services from our Airport? Will he reconsider the fact of talking to his other Minister from Economic Development,and let us have a meeting on this subject, so that we can see whether we bring about acceptable standards,even allowing it is allowed for under international agreement?
The President: Minister Gawne.
The Minister: Gura mie eu.
I am going to compliment the Hon. Member now, so I hope he does not blush! (Laughter) He is extremely
good at picking parts of documents and making them sound like terrible slurs and situations and… ‘Oh, this is an awful, terrible, shocking state of affairs.’ There is a strong implication, through the series of questions that the Hon. Member has asked, both in Keys and here today, that in some way airline operators, ticket providers operating from the Isle of Man, are not meeting appropriate standards. I think that is a very unfortunate slur that has been put out (Members:Hear, hear.) by the Hon. Member. I think it is a shame that he has refused, on three occasions, to meet with at least one of the airline operators on the Island who, had he been prepared to meet them, might have been ableto give him some reassurance.
It is a bit unfortunate, I think, if the level of concern is as great as the Hon. Member suggests, that he has
not, as yet, after almost a month of putting questions down, bothered to actually go and talk to anyone to say what his specific concerns are. If there is a major safety concern on the Isle of Man, leaving it a month to actually clarify what that is, I think, is very unfortunate on the part of the hon. questioner.
The President: Finally, Mr Karran.
Mr Karran: Eaghtyrane, would the Shirveishagh not agree that the fact is that what I am saying is that,
under the present procedures, an operator can use acceptable levels in parts of other jurisdictions that would not be acceptable in the likes of what we have come to expect, as far as the Isle of Man is concerned?
Does he not agree that the fact is that he should be able to answer clear questions in parliament, without
trying to have the usual way of having us all mates together, behind closed doors, where we do not actuallyresolve the issues that need to be resolved, as far as this parliament is concerned? (Interjections)
1460 The President: Mr Gawne, do you wish to reply, sir?
The Minister: Gura mie eu, Eaghtyrane.
I suspect that I understand the answers better than the Hon. Member understands the questions in this
regard. (Mr Downie: Hear, hear.) All I can do is reiterate I think it is unfortunate the Hon. Member is
choosing to try and slur at least one very successful Manx business. I think that is unfortunate. I think it would be a lot easier, if he has some major safety concerns, if he actually came and spoke to us directly so we could understand what they are.