Most of the Engineers are ex-Ansett, many of the pilots have retired from Legacy Airlines and at any given time the average hours on the flight deck are over 40,000.
Really?? BG, you wouldn't by chance be the Daddy Captain who paid for Juniors training and for him to become an F/O on the TOLL 737 fleet would you? It was the first time Junior had ever flown 737's, he certainly wasn't a legacy pilot because when Ansett collapsed he was around 11 years old!!!
I have nothing personal against TOlL as there are good pilots there, and yes I know them (the pilots I know don't even mind being called "drivers") but to imply that they perhaps set the bar when it comes to standards and experience on 737's is laughable and lamentable.
Interesting how 'safety oversight' has already been mentioned. Here is a fact, CASA has been told for years that there is not enough oversight being done on freight operators. But the response has always been 'passenger oversight is the greater risk' so we must apply our resources there (even though they chase lone Chopper pilots like Quadrio and expend resources and millions on that). For many years in Australia freight operators have operated some pretty large tin such as 737, 146, 727 and others, all of which could make an ugly mess if they landed in your neighbourhood, yet they have received minimal baseline oversight.
Because TOLL 737's are not VH registered and they sit on the NZ register they receive even less to nil oversight from CASA, this into opinion creates a greater potential risk.
CASA have to ask the CAA if they can conduct surveillance or any other activity in relation to TOLL's 737's. (Incidentally the Metro's and ATR's are on the Aus register so they are surveilled and audited).
Make no mistake, these 737's have been operating in, out and around Australia for a number of years with virtually free reign with almost nil Australian CASA oversight. Then again, is that really surprising?