I wonder how Ziggy's discussions with the FAA are proceeding.
I just read Ben's August 2011 column in Plane Talking
Wikileaks: Australia failed US FAA air safety audit in 2009 | Plane Talking
Of course, Ben didn't know of the special audit when he wrote this column. That only came out in 2012.
However we now know CASA was being audited by the FAA at the very same time CASA was performing the special audit on PelAir (November 26-December 15). That must have been .......interesting.
I wonder if the crash (November 18) actually triggered the FAA visit (November 30 - December 4), or whether this was just a coincidence. Regardless, imagine how delighted CASA would have been! CASA was conducting an audit into PelAir (an audit which was unavoidably critical of CASA as it was confirming previously identified problems were still present) at the same time the FAA was auditing CASA. The CASA special audit must have been a real hand grenade when it was finished. What to do with this in 2010? What to do with this while the FAA pondered its assessment of CASA.