Dick Farmer (of the Crikey variety
):
When “Big Tony” (the Minister) takes his broom out, maybe Bruce Byron should go too along with Greg Russell and the ASA Board; it’s a joke that a first world nation has less ability than most 3rd world nations relating to air traffic control coverage.
Hmm..wasn't one Mr Forthright from the TASRR panel on the ASA board back then while being the Chair on Safeskies??
So let's see Byron went, Russell eventually went but what happened to the ASA board??
And Safeskies well...??
Taking a look at some of the presentations from 2011 (if you can bear it..
) you will see some of the usual suspects...
Safeskies 2011 webcast
You'll see Beaker tripping the light fantastic with his
beyond all sensible reason mantra...
...coupla of quotes..
..."
Don't get me wrong: we pass information from all the occurrence reports we receive to CASA on a daily basis and this informs their regulatory scrutiny of the system of safety. That's as it should be. My point is more that the concepts of just culture are embedded in the overall system of safety and how roles are allocated within it..."
&
..."
We're getting better at putting our investigative attention where it should be, at scoping our investigations and completing them more quickly without reducing quality. And we're heading towards a sustainable level of investigation activity - and some reasonable prospect of giving each significant occurrence the attention it deserves..."
& the first signs of the '
Beyond reason' methodology..
:
.."While we issued recommendations, the key point here is that there is no single party that is able or can be held to account for fixing a set of issues that start with design and certification, move through operator-specific configuration decisions to maintenance procedures and their oversight and extend to flight training and procedures.
The no-blame investigator can specify the problem, but we need to find better ways of getting all the relevant parties alerted to the issue and active in resolving it. We've got to get beyond recommendations to communicating safety issues in a compelling way...."
The current DAS surprisingly looked a bit like a roo in the headlights but he stuck to the task and prattled on about the introduction and safety advantages of new technology..(GNSS/ADSB etc), UAVs and interestingly enough the
GA Task Force...
..err a coupla quotes:
"
In recognition of the significant changes and challenges facing the general aviation sector in Australia, today and in the future, CASA has established a General Aviation Task Force to review regulatory issues affecting activities and participants within the GA Sector..."
&
"
The task force’s engagement with the industry is intended to complement and supplement CASA’s existing consultative and outreach mechanisms, not to supplant or supersede those activities..."
As for Mr Professional Chair well the jury is still out (till at least May 2014) but he certainly makes an excellent MC..
This year's safeskies conference has yet to publish key note speeches etc but it is interesting to look at who made presentations (besides the usual suspects..
), see here:
Safeskies 2013 Speakers
On the '
Safe to report to us', PP article this quote obviously comes from an IOS bored member (probably the Chair would be my bet..
):
A cynical viewer from the industry whose views we respect, isn’t so sure:
“Well, we’ll see. The Panel acknowledges that all the submissions including confidential submissions may be made available to ‘interested government departments and government instrumentalities under certain circumstances.’ I personally think [CASA] are so thick-skinned, and so full of the ‘we’re the authority, so you can all get lost’ attitude, that they won’t care how open it is, because it will never get to the politicians and the general public in a way that will say ‘this is corrupt conduct.’ There are subtle ways they can shaft even somebody who’s made a genuine submission and set out all sorts of genuine and provable problems, but CASA can still just keep doing what they’ve done before: ‘Oh! This bloke’s got such a problem that we’d better conduct a special audit,’ and we all know that a lot of his problems are actually found in a special audit and draconian limitations put on his business. That’s the real problem the panel faces.”
Got my vote at the next AGM...
Question Mr PC..what about a couple of public hearings in the mix??
Maybe the Senate Committee could facilitate that? After all R 13 suggested
..
..."The committee recommends that a short inquiry be conducted by the Senate Standing Committee on Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport into the current status of aviation regulatory reform to assess the direction, progress and resources expended to date to ensure greater visibility of the processes...."
That way people who feel they need confidentiality will get it by being able to give evidence
'in camera'...just a thought??
Hate to think we would have to revisit R13 at a later date just to salvage the integrity of the Minister...now that would be a waste!
