Eddie - In respect to the second FAA visit, what was the outcome?
Good question..
If you read further on the Willyleaks cable:
Preventing Worst-Case Scenario
-------------------------------
¶5. (C/NF) A downgrade to Category 2 would be the worst-case
scenario, which would entail measures such as
freezing Australia-U.S. flight operations to current levels
and terminating code-sharing arrangements, such as the one
between Qantas and American Airlines. CASA officials are not
taking this possibility lightly and seem committed to
resolve the shortcomings in order to avoid a downgrade.
¶6. (C/NF) Comment: FAA team members were extremely satisfied
with CASA officials' openness and eagerness to
make constructive improvements based on the assessment. FAA
Qmake constructive improvements based on the assessment. FAA
and CASA clearly have a good working relationship and
we will monitor progress toward maintaining Category 1
status.
We will also monitor that CASA's efforts enjoy
adequate support at the ministerial level as well as from
CANBERRA 00001081 002 OF 002
Australia's commercial airlines.
BLEICH
I think it is called diplomacy...
Then we had the former DAS commissioning Wodger to write a largely plagiarised report:
11Internal CASA report titled "Oversight Deficiencies- Pel-Air and Beyond" also known as the Chambers report (dated 1 August 2010), received 10 October 2012;(PDF 6210KB)
The DAS then went armed with the report and cap in hand to MM & Albo, best explained here from about 03:45...
Whether that $89 million had the desired effect (i.e addressing the FAA concerns) well the jury is still out...
However after the PelAir debacle etc. the average punter (person at the back of the room) will definitely be struggling to see any major improvements in the way FF go about business. And now with the $89 million effectively spent, some would even surmise that the situation is in fact much, much worse...
MTF...
