Kharon:
It occurred to me that it would be nice to post some refreshing candour and a proactive approach to some of the problems. Greg Hood (ASA) just grasps the nettle, no bluff, no bull, just straight answers and an open forum on how he and his group have set about the tasks in hand. Have a read or a listen, compare the consummate professional on top of his game to mindless double talk Beaker trots out;
Well picked up "K"...
But wait there was more from the consummate professional Mr Hood in regards to the YMIA fog debacle
:
Senator FAWCETT: Thank you. My only question of substance goes to the incident at Mildura with the two 737s that had the met forecasting issue and then ran short on fuel. We have spoken to ATSB about their internal inquiries. I would be interested to know from Airservices's perspective, as the provider of that information, what you are doing internally to learn from that incident to prevent it occurring.
Mr Hood : I will clarify the last point first. The lateral proximity of the 737 to the parachuting area reduced to 2,100 metres. With regard to the Mildura incident, I think I answered a question last estimates from Senator Xenophon in relation to the fact that our inquiries were continuing into the diversion of two aircraft, a Qantas and a Virgin aircraft, from being inbound to Adelaide, where unforecast fog eventuated, to Mildura. We have undertaken our own internal investigation and we are also an active participant in the ATSB's investigation into that incident.
Senator FAWCETT: So, not only was there the unforecast fog; the conditions at Mildura also deteriorated below landing minima unforecast.
Mr Hood : That is correct. I think within about 30 minutes of the Virgin aircraft diverting from inbound to Adelaide to Mildura the aircraft requested the weather for Mildura from an area traffic controller and was advised that the weather was broken at 3,400 feet. That may have formed the basis for the aircraft's decision to divert to Mildura. The TAF at the time, the terminal area forecast, had a tempo period, which indicated you required 60 holding for Mildura, but the conditions when requested of ATC were still broken cloud at 3,400 feet.
As we know, the Mildura AWIS, the Aerodrome Weather Information Service, which is jointly owned by the airport, by Airservices Australia and by the Bureau of Meteorology, was unserviceable. The way in which aircraft could have derived updated information about the weather at Mildura could have been via request to ATC through the AERIS, which is the Automatic En Route Information Service. There is one available at Mount William where you dial up the VHF and it provides you with that information. Or in fact through ACARS, which is the airline system. They have their own system where they can request the information from their respective operation centres in Qantas and Virgin to be provided with the latest information.
Hoody is all over this incident..
..line of questioning continues:
CHAIR: So, was the Qantas aircraft landing legal? Did it have sight?
Mr Hood : I am not familiar with precisely what the cloud base and the visibility criteria were. The ATSB investigation will come out with that. In respect of your question, I suppose the point of clarification from the Airservices perspective is: do we continue to provide continuous weather updates to aircraft? In sectors like Mildura you have Mildura, Broken Hill and Swan Hill, for example, all of which you may have aircraft inbound to. As you know, those sites that have a Bureau of Meteorology officer on the ground may be originating multiple special climate statements. Every 5 or 10 minutes you might have the weather changing. That tends to happen a lot with thunderstorm activity and also with changing visibility and fog. What you are likely to be faced with as the air traffic controller is several changing weather scenarios on your particular sector. So, the passing of updated weather information to every aircraft or every destination becomes impractical. At all times it was available to the pilot to request that information of ATC, but specifically we did not provide an update on the weather at Mildura to the two 737s.
In our investigation we had
10 findings and
two recommendations {Comment: God forbid not SRs..
} . We are certainly acting on the two recommendations, and we are also participating with the ATSB, next month I believe, in the meeting with CASA, the airlines and the ATSB in relation to the clarification of who was responsible. The other thing that we do not have access to is what they received from their own company in terms of ACARS messages from Qantas and/or Virgin.
Senator FAWCETT: Are you able to table those findings and recommendations for the committee?
Mr Hood: Certainly, but not today. I am happy to provide the Senate a copy with our internal investigation.
Senator FAWCETT: Thank you.
{Comment: See how easy it is when your armed with the known facts, have nothing to hide and are proactively seeking to address the highlighted significant safety issues...}
But wait there is still more...
Senator XENOPHON: I have some supplementary questions directly on the Mildura incident. The ATSB, in its interim report into this incident, state in part that information about the actual weather conditions at Mildura was not available to the crew from the Automated Weather Information Service, AWIS, as the aircraft approached Mildura'. It goes on to say that the AWIS link from the automated weather station is a very high frequency omnidirectional radio range, which was operated by Airservices Australia, was unserviceable. Does Airservices agree with this statement by the ATSB?
Mr Hood : As I said, the ownership of the AWIS sits with three parties. The Weather Information Service itself sits with the Bureau of Meteorology. The line that takes it from the bureau to the navigation aid belongs to the airport and we own the navigation aid which broadcasts the information. The navigation aid, the NDB, was out of service and had been NOTAMed five days prior.
Senator XENOPHON: What was unserviceable? Was it the automatic weather station or the omnidirectional radio range link?
Mr Hood : My understanding is that the non-directional beacon, the navigation aid which broadcasts the weather, was out of service.
Senator XENOPHON: That is the responsibility of Airservices?
Mr Hood : That is correct.
Senator XENOPHON: How long had that link at Mildura been non-operational?
Mr Hood : My understanding is that it was NOTAMed five days prior to the incident. Whether it was previously NOTAMed I would have to take on notice.
Senator XENOPHON: If you could. Is it operating now?
Mr Hood : That navigation aid has been decommissioned. The AWIS at Mildura is now owned by the airport and was commissioned, broadcasting on a VHF frequency, in mid-November. My understanding is that it is operating.
Senator XENOPHON: You do not have responsibility for it anymore?
Mr Hood : That is correct.
Senator XENOPHON: You used to but not now?
Mr Hood : It used to be a joint responsibility. Now the airport owns and operates the facility in conjunction with the Bureau of Meteorology.
Senator XENOPHON: Finally, is there any oversight or regulatory framework to ensure that weather information can be accurately transmitted to crews considering the many parties that seem to be responsible?
Mr Hood : The Aeronautical Information Publication, the pilot's bible in relation to how information is disseminated, is basically an interpretation of the rules for laymen. One of the recommendations made in our investigation is that it needed some clarification, specifically in relation to the unavailability of an AWIS and what the air traffic controller and the pilot's responsibilities are if the AWIS is unserviceable.
Senator XENOPHON: Thank you.
Here's a thought?? Perhaps Beaker should consider transposing, with additional info, the ASA investigation report for the bureau's report, could save a mountain of taxpayers green?? Oh that's right it has been done before and look where that ended up...
And we have the small problem that ASA is a DIP to the incident so their ultimate objectivity would come under question...
Still top job by Hoody, it is good to see that he is not relying on the proposed Beaker
love in to find out all the, politically correct, obfuscated facts/findings..
Maybe the miniscule should consider offering Beaker's position to Hoody, he'd certainly go a long way to restoring some credibility to the ATsB (make that s a big S again..
)...