Thank you gentlemen.
Monarch, Seaview, Whyalla, Lockhart River, Ghost Flight, Pelair, when will it end?
I've lost count of the dozens of others and we still haven"t got even remotely close to regulatory reform. Its like Agatha Christies "Mousetrap", been playing since 1952, 25,000 performances, same story, same lines, just different actors.
And as the Senator at the end of the Aherne You Tube Pt 3 asks, what about the fuel and the capacity of the aircraft to perform the task "legally" in the first place? It may have been "legal" but was it smart, and were the medical crew, patients or even the flight crew for that matter "informed" that it is was being operated on a degraded standard from that required for "fare paying passengers". The medics and patients may not have paid a "fare" but they sure as hell were entitled to the same standard as if they had.
We can learn a lot from all of these things, and it is a pity it is sitting on the bottom of the ocean.
Too many questions too many cooks and too many agendas, it stinks to high heaven.
And why is the co-pilot MIA, I have no doubt she is traumatised, no criticism, but did she corroborate the evidence or did she not or did she choose as is her absolute right to remain silent. I was shocked to hear Ahernes comments on her injury, bravery and fortitude with just half a lifejacket. And that they did not crack a mention nor did there appear to be any regulatory concern about their unserviceability. I know of at least one operator who wisely, in this knowledge, does not now
recertify but
replaces lifejackets when they expire. Significantly higher cost but smart given that they need to work in anger.
I can personally testify that recertified life-rafts carry the same risks of failure.
The OBR's were always meant to expose, post facto, what was actually "said" and what was actually "done" against the perhaps convenient interpretation by the participants of the drama.