FTS #24 –"Meanwhile I hear about engine shut downs and wheel fires during the last fortnight, yet there's nothing on the ATSB website. Surely they are a bigger safety concern than hitting a light pole?
I could completely understand a report like the A 380 incident, or AF taking a couple of years; big, multi discipline, multi jurisdictional investigation. Forensic, engineering, design, operating and future solutions take time and I'm glad they do. That sort of stuff needs to be spot on.
Looking back at coroner recommendations and ATSB reports is a tedious business, but when you do the home work a couple of things stand out. One of the most appalling (IMO) is the lack of educational information passed on to the troops. OK, there has been a fatal, not only do we need to know the what, why and how of the thing; we need to know how to prevent the thing happening again. Take CFIT for example; the FSF and other serious safety bodies have done some great work, produced invaluable material and made it freely available. Will it prevent all CFIT?, of course not; but those who take their responsibilities seriously, will have taken an hour of two, watched the video, read the material and are now aware of the risks.
The light weight, compromised, technically pathetic dribble presently being served up to industry achieves nothing but an increasingly large pile of glossy 'feel good' stuff, which probably convinces the public that ATSB has it all in hand, bit like the adverts on TV. "Buy one of these and all your dreams will come true". Problem is, some mugs do believe it.
The shameful travesty of Pel Air puts the current iteration of the ATSB in the class of snake oil salesmen. I hope they manage to straighten up their game before the whole sorry mess is exposed, yet again, at yet another inquiry into yet another preventable accident. Prevention has always been better, cheaper and more effective than cure. Stuff the budget, man up, do your job and regain the faith and trust of industry.
"Ave, Imperator, morituri te salutant" Suetonius reports that Claudius replied
"Aut non" ("or not")......
Translation here....: