Mr McCormick : I cannot speak for what the then regime did 12 years ago with those recommendations—
Senator XENOPHON: But you can tell me, surely? CASA obviously dealt with this pretty promptly. It was back in 2000. When was the review in relation to the fuel requirements for flights to remote islands concluded by CASA?
Mr McCormick : As far as that report goes and the recommendation and what the disposition was, we will have to take that on notice. None of us were involved, unfortunately, in the year 2000. There is a project at the moment involved in fuel for remote islands—
Senator XENOPHON: Surely, it cannot be the same project? Surely, it cannot be the same project from a recommendation issued on 22 February 2000? It cannot be!
Mr McCormick : That is the first I have heard of that recommendation, myself personally, so I do not connect the two. As I said, we will take on notice that particular report—
Senator XENOPHON: I reckon that we are going to have to have you back here, because it relates to a number of incidents in relation to a BAe 146 aircraft, a Piper Navajo Chief, a Chieftain and another BAe 146; it gives a number of instances where things got pretty hairy because of the unreliability of weather forecasts at Norfolk Island. CASA was undertaking a review in relation to fuel requirements for flights to remote islands—this is over 12 years ago—surely, it has been resolved? It must be! Please do not tell me that there is still an ongoing review of fuel requirements for remote islands 12 years after it was raised—nearly 13 years, rather, after it was raised.
Mr McCormick : Senator, I appreciate that what you have raised there is that people should be very prudent when they are flight-planning to Norfolk Island. I agree with that, whereas the project—
Senator XENOPHON: No, no, no! I am sorry, Mr McCormick—there was a role for CASA to take:
… the Civil Aviation Safety Authority has commenced a project to review the fuel requirements for flights to remote islands.
Can
anyone at this table please tell me what the review involved? When was that review concluded?
Mr McCormick : Sorry, Senator, we were not involved in this. We were not in these positions in the year 2000. I do not know what has happened to that report; I will find it out on notice.
Senator FAWCETT: There is actually a broader issue, though, Mr McCormick. There is no closed-loop system so that recommendations that are made by ATSB, that CASA agrees—particularly we have seen a number where, in a coroner's court, the coroner has said, 'We'll close out this issue, because ATSB made a recommendation and CASA said they will do it,' and then a decade later there is has been no action. Is that an issue for the travelling public? I hear you that you were not there for that whole 10 years, but we are talking about a system now, not personalities. Is the system not working as it should?
Mr McCormick : I cannot speak for what happened in 2000.
I only got here in 2009....blah..blah..blah
Senator NASH: Was anybody at the table employed by CASA in 2000?
Senator FAWCETT: Mr Boyd, were you around?
Mr Boyd : Yes, but not in that position.
Senator NASH: Anybody else?
Mr Farquharson? Dr Aleck?
Dr Aleck : I was in Montreal.
Senator FAWCETT: You've got an alibi!... Going to the terms of reference here, though, looking at an ATSB report into this incident at Norfolk Island, here are two regulatory issues, one to do with the categorisation of aeromedical flights—and that should have been upgraded to charter so there was more protection granted, and that did not occur—and that we should be more prescriptive about fuel requirements for remote islands. I understand that Pel-Air has actually implemented that, post your special audit, and I understand CASA has undertaken again to look at that issue—both of which point to the fact that here is a regulatory issue that, if implemented 10 years ago, either of those, this accident probably would not have happened...
Mr McCormick : I think—and someone may have said it earlier; we did not get to hear all the testimony—the more that is in an incident report,
not to be used for punitive measures but information which informs people of the background of what has happened, what some of the other factors are, even if they have no real bearing on the outcome, I think that is all to the good. That is a move to the good...
Yeah right!
The more that is in the report the better. That is my personal view, but I have no control—as I have said, and I will now say it again. You know I am going to say, 'I have no control over what the ATSB puts in the report.'...
Yeah right!...blah..blah..blah
CHAIR: We took evidence this morning that 13 per cent of the flights into Norfolk Island had a fuel critical issue when they got there.
Mr McCormick : From Pel-Air or in general?
CHAIR: In general.
Mr McCormick : We would not have that information—
CHAIR: We will get it to you.
Senator XENOPHON: Chair, could I just go back to this issue, and I will read the analysis to you of a report that is now almost 13 years old—the ATSB report:
Reports to the Bureau, including those detailed in the factual information section above, indicate that the actual weather conditions at Norfolk Island have not been reliably forecast on a number of occasions. Current regulations do not require pilots of regular public transport aircraft to carry fuel reserves other than those dictated by the forecast weather conditions. The safety consequences of an unforecast deterioration in the weather at an isolated aerodrome like Norfolk Island may be serious.
The present level of reliability of meteorological forecasts and the current regulatory requirements are not providing an adequate level of safety for passenger-carrying services to Norfolk Island.
Very serious matters were raised in that report. Is it fair to assume that in fact CASA has not, after almost 13 years, reviewed the fuel requirements for flights to remote islands?
Mr McCormick : In actual fact, we have reviewed the fuel requirements to remote islands, but not Norfolk Island. We have reviewed them to Christmas Island in relation to some of the flights being conducted on behalf of the Australian government.
Senator XENOPHON: But not Norfolk Island.
Mr McCormick : Norfolk Island as a specific issue is now included, as you said earlier—or somebody said in the committee on Pel-Air's list of remote island air fields, et cetera. The regular public transport that you are referring to there, of course, carry an alternate if required and carry the contingency fuel required, which is the difference to aerial work... blah..blah..blah
...What we have in place as far as regulatory development goes,
and again I cannot talk about what happened in 2000, is the removal of that anomaly. But we are also cognisant of ICAO's requirements.
Senator XENOPHON: Let's not take it any further, other than to ask you to please advise us on notice what action CASA took following recommendations made on 22 February 2000.
Mr McCormick : Yes, we will take that on notice.