One would hope that this pilot will front up to give evidence at the Senate Inquiry:
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
Ben Sandilands nails the issues that need to come out under parliamentary privilege, here's an example:
Plane talking 26/09/2012:
Together with the chief commissioner of the ATSB, Martin Dolan,
arguing on a
4 Corners program that the failure of Pel-Air to pass a CASA safety audit immediately after the accident was immaterial, the ATSB report, and the apparent determination to publish it with incomplete or untrue claims, leaves a big question hanging in the air.
Why did the safety regulator and safety investigator go to such extraordinary lengths to avoid public disclosure of the state of operations at Pel-Air at the time of the crash?
Maybe Sandilands could make an appearance himself or does that go against journalistic code of ethics??
The last two paragraphs from Fumblenese's letter shine the light on where all this pony pooh originates from, what a self-effacing load of tripe!
Question: Have we ever had a Transport Minister who is less engaged with the Aviation Safety Portfolio? I know we have some real numbnuts for Ministers and some had some pretty dopey policies but, to give them their due, at least they were interested!!
