Well said Wally I couldn't agree more, this matter has well and truly moved on from who was at fault.
The issue now is what appears to be a severely compromised Final Report from the ATSB and the reasons why...coercion, political expediency, covering the Minister's ass etc.
Here's a quote from an experienced pilot who reviewed the ATSB report before it was released:
“Tomorrow, the ATSB will release a Final report into an aviation accident at Norfolk Island.
The Final report in it’s current form contains factual errors. These have been brought to the attention of the (name and position withheld), and also the (name and position withheld).
Despite these many areas under dispute having been brought to the attention of both of these men on numerous occasions and requests that the Final report be delayed pending dialogue to resolve the inaccuracies, (name withheld) has determined that this report will be released tomorrow.
(Name withheld) has also let it be known that he is expecting a lot of media attention. I ask what is the point of media attention to a factually incorrect report?
Obviously a report with facts in dispute should not be released. Having spoken to both pilots concerned and as a professional aviator myself, I am left dismayed at the attitude of the ATSB and their willingness to issue such a questionable report. As Minister, I would ask you to stop the release to give all parties involved the opportunity for continued dialogue before it’s release.
At the moment, I am extremely disappointed in the attitude of the ATSB and have been left with great doubts about their investigations. At this point, I would most certainly be advising my colleagues in the airlines that they cannot rely on the ATSB to report the facts nor give them a fair hearing if they are ever involved in an incident.
This is obviously not the reputation that the ATSB should be making for themselves.”
From Planetalking 26/09/2011
Pel-Air report errors ignored by ATSB says expert reviewer | Plane Talking
If Beaker thinks this will all just fade away into the "Never, Never" I've got news for him and it's all bad!