Interesting comment about Sir John. You have to remember that he was a different breed of person to ‘Junior’. Junior is all about money only, not that his father wasn’t, but Junior does not care about lives. The two worst accidents with fatalities have occurred since he has been MD, on his watch. And exactly what has the CAA done? The safest place for the industry would be with him behind bars. The current MFO and CEO are no better. Kicked out of the Aussie industry with nowhere to go due to stuffing up Skytrans with their mismanagement, poor decision making and compulsive need to break rules and regulations. Junior gave them a spot at APNG, some sort of misguided loyalty which has seen both his airlines become $2 outfits......And has the place improved over 18 months at APNG since wee man and the dangerous Captain took over? Nope, good pilots and engineers have been punted to save costs, contracts lost and the place is virtually broke with the word ‘safety’ becoming the new evil. It is a disgrace. The MFO, CEO and MD should be walked. No wonder that on the day the Dash 8 accident report was released all staff were told to stay at the airport or in their compound as it was feared that locals would initiate reprisals. I actually wished the locals would have because enough lives have been lost to this mob.
I hope for the sake of the decent people left in the company that a takeover by PX occurs and the current managers are shipped back to Australia on the very next flight. The little man with a huge ego needs to go back to being a financial auditor as he isn’t capable of anything else having stuffed up two airlines is bad enough. The MFO needs to manage a tinpot fleet of 5 seat scud runners carrying freight only. Plus getting rid of them would save the company a fortune in salaries, bonuses and travel and accommodation expenses that is wasted on them both and their ‘3 day work week’. Skytrans future hinges on the DTMR contracts and successful tenders should be announced this month. The word on the street is that they will not be winning all 4 contracts, so cactus may be more in the know than some give him/her credit.
Both APNG and its sister airline Skytrans are an embarrassment. If I was a resource company or government I wouldn’t be putting my highly remunerated employees on either of them as they are only consistent with regulatory inaction, crashes, runway incursions and a pathological framework that underpins them both. Aviation is like evolution and eventually the diseased and dying die out and make way for new life, and that is where these two airlines are headed. The dodgy behaviors and mentalityof these guys should have been extinguished in the eighties and is not what is acceptable or should be considered the norm in 2014. CAA and CASA, where are you?