Unlike the ATSB report planetalking has no problem heaping it on to one and all of the various stakeholders that were party to this incident:
Which also means CASA’s rules, contrary to the posturing of the safety regulator after the accident, were so weak that Pel-Air wasn’t obliged to carry enough fuel for a diversion caused by weather or other circumstances right up to the point where it overflew its intended destination.
But three years later, CASA ‘intends’ to fix the problem.
This triumph of prompt regulatory intervention, follows an incident in which poor pilot decision making by an apparently fatigued Pel-Air employee, resulted in six people, comprising two pilots, a nurse, an attendant, a patient, and her companion, flying four missed approaches to the Norfolk Island airstrips, and then making a controlled water landing at around 160 kmh after which the jet broke into two parts and sank 48 metres to the sea bed, leaving those on board to tread water or cling to wreckage before being found by a boat that had been looking in the wrong area when its skipper fortuitously glimpsed the pilot’s torch from afar.
It also confirms the truth of the astonishing comment by Pel-Air chairman, John Sharp, the morning after the near disaster, that the pilot, Dominic James, had set off from Apia with no plan B in the event that the flight couldn’t land on the island where it was to refuel.
There are parts of the developed world where this level of regulatory and operational performance would offend aviation law. But not in Australia.
There are parts of the developed world where this level of regulatory and operational performance would offend aviation law. But not in Australia.
Pel-Air ditching report hurts the more as it sinks in | Plane Talking
There is also more evidence of the ATSB's 'softly, softly' approach in accident/incident reports over the last few years:
The safety issues identified during this investigation are listed in the Findings and Safety Actions sections of this report. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) expects that all safety issues identified by the investigation should be addressed by the relevant organisations. In addressing those issues, the ATSB prefers to encourage relevant organisations to proactively initiate safety action, rather than to issue formal safety recommendations or safety advisory notices.
Sheesh....bring back the BASI and the Crash Comic (hardcopy)!
