- Like selective deafness, is an acquired art; learned at the teat by 'crats and perfected over the years. Once the Canucks have gotten past the stultifying 'manual and protocol suite' and get onto the juicy stuff; will the beauty be in the eye of the beholder. It's a question of view point; that which abhorrent to one man, may easily be seen as the very quintessence of elegance to another. As our safety 'bodies' view their output as 'perfection', is it reasonable to assume that like minded Canuck 'crats will find the same perfection in the dissembling, obfuscated ramblings our 'crats hold up for scrutiny? Because if they do, dismiss any notion of an independent, constructive return report being provided. The reading list includes:-
• Final Report of the Safety Oversight Audit of the Civil Aviation System of Australia (February 2008);
• Civil Aviation Safety Authority’s Post-occurrence Special Audit of PelAir;
• The Chambers Report: Oversight Deficiencies – PelAir and Beyond (August 2010);
• Government Response to the Report into Aviation Accident Investigations (March 2014).
The not so subtle influence to take the line of least resistance is apparent throughout the reading set and you can see how it will be worked. From the CASA supplementary (my bold):-
2.6 The two Human Factors experts contributing to the work of the Special Audit team were Mr Ben Cook, then Manager of CASA's Human Factors Section, and Mr Malcolm Christie, another CASA Human Factors Specialist. Like other members of the Special Audit team, their role was to examine and analyse those aspects of Pel-Air's operations in respect of which they had particular expertise, and to provide input into the final audit report on that basis.
You will note the Canadian omission of expert reports and interviews; it is reasonable to ask why. The answers follow shortly, if you ignore 'selective' reading.
2.8 In this case, the so-called 'Cook Report' was a subordinate contributory piece of evaluative work from which the Coordinator of the Pel-Air Special Audit team, Mr Roger Chambers, then Area Manager of CASA's Bankstown Office, could, (and did) draw on, in his preparation of the final authoritative Pel-Air Special Audit Report.
Read paragraph 2.8 again, properly. The dismissive ("so called") attitude to the report of a qualified expert was to be reduced to only the 'elements' selected by the acting area manager who was free, even encouraged to plagiarise and cherry pick to achieve the desired outcome. Cook's missive, in full is a crucial report to anyone remotely interested in operational safety. Is Wodger qualified to be 'selective'; not on your Nelly. You may also note that there is no mention, whatsoever of Christie, which of it's self is 'passing strange'.
2.9 As he quite properly did with the submissions of all members of the Audit Team, Mr Chambers included in the final Pel-Air Special Audit Report those elements of Mr Cook's assessment that were germane to the audit. Material was excluded only on that basis and in accordance with generally applicable audit protocols. Accordingly, relevant FRMS-related findings in Mr Cook's assessment appear consistently in the corresponding sections of the Special Audit Report.
Try again – same-same – hand picked 'elements', 'germane' why carve up the report, when, standing alone the whole would be beneficial. But no, once again selective reading is influenced by selected parts.
4.9 Of course, at the time there was no 'Chambers Report' to which Mr McCormick might have referred. However, having advised the Chief Commissioner of CASA's intentions, the existence of information-and the likelihood that there would be further information of a kind that could be said to fall within the broad scope of paragraph 4.4.6 of the MoU-was conveyed to the ATSB on 26 May 2010.
Interesting – Cook gets bundled out after producing a 'so called' report; but the Chambers missive is granted the accolade of being 'a report'. This is a canny ploy; the expert rendered nugatory, the plagiarist nudged forward as the 'ultimate' expert. Read that selectively.
You know, I could, possibly care less about the Canuck report – if I tried. My Grand Mamma was a whiz at card games and a naturally gifted amateur magician who delighted us children with card tricks and sleight of hand (some say this was due to a forbidden liaison with a vaudeville stage magician). Grand carefully educated those who were interested in how to spot a stacked deck, a marked card and many of the card sharps tricks of trade.
Some say – "there's one born every minute, Hallelujah".
Some sources claim the quote is most likely from famous con-man Joseph ("Paper Collar Joe") Bessimer, and other sources say it was actually uttered by David Hannum, spoken in reference to Barnum's part in the Cardiff Giant hoax. Hannum, who was exhibiting the "original" giant and had unsuccessfully sued Barnum for exhibiting a copy and claiming it was the original, was referring to the crowds continuing to pay to see Barnum's exhibit even after both it and the original had been proven to be fakes.
Toot toot...
