The question has been put, numerous times, on why it is that Beaker has repeatedly refused (including just recently in Senate Estimates & QONs) to grab the lifelines thrown by the Senators, the revelation of the Chambers report and FRMS SAR was one such lifeline:
Senator Fawcett’s QONs were answered like this:
1. ATSB Response:
The ATSB has reviewed the Chambers Report to see whether it contained evidence that might support substantive changes to the report of the investigation into the Norfolk Island ditching. In this context, it should be noted that the ATSB had already, as part of its investigation, assessed the content of CASA’s special audit of Pel-Air and had regard to that audit in finalising its report.
It should also be noted that the primary (but not sole) purpose of an ATSB investigation is to establish the factors that contributed to an accident, and that the Chambers Report does not contain any new evidence that organisational factors were likely to have contributed to the accident.
In the view of the ATSB, there is insufficient additional material within the Chambers Report to support changes to the existing findings of the ATSB report or to require new findings. As regards the accident flight, the Chambers Report reflected what was separately reported (and available to the ATSB) in the reports of CASA’s accident investigation and of its special audit of Pel-Air.
The Chambers Report could have been an indicator to the ATSB of potentially relevant organisational issues within Pel-Air and CASA. The report’s availability to the ATSB investigation would likely have led to a review of the scope of the investigation to determine whether there needed to be further examination of possible organisational factors in the accident.
That said, it is unlikely that the Chambers report would have led to substantive re-scoping of the investigation, since the CASA accident investigation report already indicated the existence of organisational deficiencies and the ATSB safety factor identification processes include the consideration of organisational factors as part of the scope of an investigation.
The ATSB does not consider that lack of access to the Chambers Report was a constraint or limitation to the ATSB investigation and its assessment of factors contributing to the accident.
The ATSB has also reviewed the CASA fatigue audit. The ATSB notes that it provides more detailed information and evidence to support the FRMS findings listed in CASA’s Special Audit (which were briefly summarised in the CASA Accident Investigation Report). The CASA FRMS audit identified several important safety issues associated with Pel Air’s FRMS. However, the audit report does not provide any new information that would assist with determining the level of fatigue associated with the accident flight, and the main themes of the report do not appear to be associated with the circumstances of the occurrence.
As the ATSB has previously advised the Committee, any judgement about whether to include, within the scope of a safety investigation, matters that are not contributory to the occurrence involves considering a range of factors. In this case, the ATSB was aware that CASA was conducting a review of the operator’s FRMS. Accordingly, the ATSB judged that the safety enhancement value of considering this non-contributory issue in its investigation was limited.
Beaker maintaining his obstinate stand on the PelAir investigation, besides decimating the reputation of the ATsB, is akin to committing public servant suicide.
Senator X take on Beaker’s position…NX media release 19 June 2013 and in his 04 March adjournment speech, where he said..“ I do not understand how Mr Dolan's position in the ATSB is tenable”.
So what is it that is so terribly damning in all these shenanigans that would cause an essentially rational (muppet
) like Beaker to commit harakiri?? Could it be that someone has got leverage on Beaker; or maybe Beaker is just a loyal bureaucrat prepared to fall on his own sword for his miniscule; or maybe he just believes he is right and the rest of us are wrong???
Either way when he goes the rest of the bureau commissioners must also go because they are obviously complicit in the Beaker hardline view on the PelAir report…
Rumour has it that the AFP investigation is still very much active so maybe, for the benefit of the AFP investigators, we should re-examine the key moment where Beaker apparently did a complete 180 back in February 2010, mentioned here by Senator Heffernan..
:
Link for ATSB email:Internal ATSB email regarding the ATSB and CASA's approach to the Pel-Air investigation (dated 9 February 2010), received 10 October 2012;
(PDF 1093KB)
As mentioned in the last couple of posts, there is also the outstanding issue of the unrecovered CVR/FDR…
Sunny: "...One can only conclude that the ATSB deliberately did NOT want their contents revealed because it would have given the lie to the story and subsequent fitting up of Dominic James..."
And from Nick’s adjournment speech:
The committee also raised concerns about the ATSB's decision not to retrieve flight data recorders from the ditched plane despite the ATSB's responsibilities under the International Civil Aviation Organization's annexe 13 ruling. The committee was so concerned with Mr Dolan's comments on this front that it stated in its report:
Mr Dolan's evidence in this regard is questionable and has seriously eroded his standing as a witness before the committee.
This is an incredibly strong statement in regard to a senior public servant. I do not understand how Mr Dolan's position in the ATSB is tenable. And yet, neither the previous government nor the current government has formally responded to the committee's report—but I understand it is coming shortly.
It should be remembered that the ATSB decision not to retrieve the CVR/FDR was not always the case, well at least up until the release of the Aviation Occurrence Investigation AO-2009-072 Preliminary report :
The ATSB has interviewed a number of witnesses and people who were associated with the occurrence, and is assessing the feasibility of recovering the aircraft Cockpit Voice and Flight Data recorders from the seabed.
The investigation is continuing and will include further examination and analysis of the:
•meteorological information and its effect on the decision making and actions of the crew during the flight
•fuel planning relevant to the flight
•operational requirements that were relevant to the conduct of the flight
•crew resource management
•aeromedical flight classification and dispatch.
The remainder of the investigation is likely to take some months. However, should any critical safety issues emerge that require urgent attention, the ATSB will immediately bring such issues to the attention of the relevant authorities who are best placed to take prompt action to address those issues.
Hmm it would appear that from January through to August 2010 was where it all went south for Beaker (& the ATsB), if I was the AFP investigator (IIC) I’d be asking some serious questions about that point in time..(hint?)
Dear Miniscule, 6 more sitting days to go TICK TOCK!