004 now that’s a rumour I can get my head around!
OK just wedge in here between the historians...the lawyers and the political commentators
all drifting away on the RRP and government policy..ho..hum...or whatever??
Now I propose that Mr Urquhart be placed in the IOS ‘Hall of Fame’ and that he be given a lifetime membership…hmm anyone second that??
Shane Urquhart edit for website extra
(Overlay beginning as per early version of story edit)
Samantha: Shane Urquhart lost his daughter in a plane crash and he’s been a passionate advocate for reform in the aviation industry since her death and, yes, he reached out to me when he heard my story and he’s been a really supportive person for me throughout.
Shane [00:06:58] ... we first made contact with Samantha and her family just after the Hempel incident and we had long conversations actually here in this room about the implications of what they were about to endure as a family and the long road ahead of them in actually trying to find out what exactly happened.
Shane [00:01:17] The really distressing thing about aviation since Lockhart River and the inquest into Lockhart River has been that there have been more deaths and really nothing has changed as far as the regulator goes and as far as the ATSB goes. The regulator now, and I’m talking about CASA and the ATSB, now have signed a memorandum of agreement or understanding and that was a recommendation from the Lockhart River um inquest.
Shane [00:04:18] ... I’m appalled by that, because now we have the two organisations that basically look at what happens in the aviation industry in Australia working together. You have the regulator making the rules and the investigator who investigates any problems with that working with them side by side. How can that be fair and just?
Shane [00:05:49] ... As far as my family and myself are concerned, and I’m sure the other families involved in uh aviation incidents since then, that was a huge waste of time and now we have the situation where CASA basically rules the roost. They tell the ATSB what- what- what to do.
Shane [00:10:47] Attending the inquest was um quite eerie actually and brought back some memories. Um some people have said to me that it would be quite emotional but I must say that I parked emotion a long time ago and really we’re just searching for some sort of answers as to why these things continue to happen and why the people who are supposedly regulating to stop these things from happening are still there and still applying the same rules.
Shane [00:27:51] ... I was very impressed with Coroner Hutton, whom I thought was across all the issues and certainly did not hold back in asking questions where they needed to be made.
Shane [00:12:02] For me, the implications of this particular inquest are the parallels with the Lockhart River inquest. CASA playing its blame game, not blaming themselves, trying to abrogate its responsibility and also making scapegoats of other people.
Shane [00:15:37] ... I’m very concerned that there’ll be scapegoats made of the doctors, both the CASA doctors a-and those who were advising Mr Hempel.
Shane [00:17:34] ... I think there are some other questions that need to be answered. The first one is why was Barry Hempel considered to be a fit and proper person to hold a pilot’s license.
Shane [00:17:59] The second one is I firmly believe as do others, that someone further up the chain in CASA actually made the decision and pressured the doctors to give him that particular license back. I’d like to know who that person was and why he made that decision.
Shane [00:19:35] So in the light of those questions, does it follow then that Barry Hempel was a protected species?
Also some pretty impressive stats for last night’s Oz story:
Nice rave from Glenn Dyer in today’s Crikey and very high regional viewership this week:
ABC1's Australian Story at 8pm averaged 1.317 million national/ 844,000 metro/ 473,000 regional viewers and again underlined why ABC news and current affairs programs are streets ahead of their commercial rivals in finding and bringing to air very good, news-making stories. Last night's episode was no exception. A Brisbane coroner has to report in August on the deaths of two men in a plane accident, but from what was shown last night, the aviation industry regulator, Casa, has a lot to answer for, on top of the Pel Air jet story, where Casa is up to its neck in doubt and poor regulation.
http://www.crikey.com.au/2013/06/25/glenn-dyers-tv-ratings-house-rules-nails-the-reno-demographic/
Okay….FO: ‘handing over’… now back to the armchair historians..lawyers…political commentators…blahblahblah…