BH - The senators' implication that there is a conspiracy about the CP being recruited by CASA to protect the Operator is spurious to say the least, wonder if they would be willing to repeat without parliamentary privilege.
3 points of interest here; (i) the Chair doesn't have to do without privilege, that's why it's there, to examine without 'legal' nitpicking the why and how of the whole mess, (ii) the 'Chair' has a shed load of information we don't have to use, (iii) think about how long "Bill" has been in politics, if he was a drunken incompetent they would have sent him to knackers yard years ago. He may just know a wrinkle or two.
BH - to the extent that his lack of preparation for ditching was caused by the company - can you bear it.
We only so far have the 'James speak' for what actually happened in the cockpit. Where the FO statement is and why no one wants it heard is a puzzle. It was an 'unusual' procedure for preparing for ditching and evacuation in water at night; "the we were too busy" bit sticks in my throat, yes, it could have been done better.
But for weel or woe there it is. The bit I don't like is the unsecured life raft and the lack of crew 'reflex' assistance to evacuate. The company procedure taught by TC at CAO 20.11 training is brought into question, the CASA approved system is the root cause. Even if James had NFI about using the auto pilot and sending the FO out of harms way to assist, the FO should have done it, as a matter of 'trained' to do so. They will only do what they have trained to do as per the CASA approved system of training.
No mate, as said before, there is plenty of it to go around, but CASA and the ATSB have to carry their share. Resignations all around I reckon until the truth is established. If the Senate need to use privilege and confidential reports to get to the truth, so be it. But please just lets draw the very real 'safety' issues from the mess and make sure that next time, this whole farce can be avoided.
From the immortal
Légion étrangère, It seems that this quote is attributed to a soldier named John Corry.
"We the willing, led by the unknowing, are doing the impossible for the ungrateful. We have done so much for so long with so little that we are now qualified to do everything with nothing."
Apt, nes ce pas?