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Old 23rd Oct 2014, 00:46
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Sarcs
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
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Thumbs down Murky connections??

Kharon - The minuscule may have forgotten or choose to remain in the ridiculous position assumed by the ostrich during the mating season; but Pel Air ain't going away – not ever. Dolan is just a national embarrassment, the Pel Air report a national disgrace, the Canadian willing compliance in delaying publication is disgusting and the dismissal of some 60 safety system recommendations simply and cynically shows what the Australian public voted for.
Dan's comment from Ben's article deserves a choccy frog...:
Dan Dair
Posted October 23, 2014 at 3:55 am | Permalink
Much as I (& many others on this blog) can sometimes get a bit fed-up with Ben keeping ‘banging-on’ about the Norfolk Island, Pel-Air crash;
The fact is that the ATSB has made a rod-for-it’s-own-back over this issue & Ben is right to try to keep it in the public eye..

The Westwind FDR’s could be recovered for the amount they’ll spend on toilet paper, during the time it’ll take to complete the MH370 search.!!!
If anyone in Government or in the governance of the ATSB had any balls, (which clearly they haven’t (Nick Xenophon excepted)) they’d get this monkey off their back by recovering the FDR’s & having them independently analysed.

The results would either vindicate the existing report or tear it to shreds.
Either way, so long as the current, significantly flawed report is allowed to stand as the official record, the ATSB will be a laughing-stock
AND
any claims that it’ll have the “full confidence” of the rest of the world over this issue is as likely as if they’d given the job of co-ordination to the (deliberately disingenuous) Malaysian Government.

Should the MH370 search ultimately not find anything meaningful over the next couple of years, I’m reasonably certain that the Chinese & Malaysian Governments will be quick to point out the ‘well known’ failings of the ATSB & attempt to leave Australia ‘holding the baby’ for the mission-failure.

(perhaps if it actually got to that stage, the solution to recovering some of the nations self-esteem might then be to resolve the Pel-Air issue & publicly castigate those responsible for the original failings as well as the possible future) MH370 ones.??)
The fact that Beaker is still painfully being trotted out at Senate Estimates & in pressers to do with the MH370 search (besides being vomitus....& cringe-worthy) is perhaps a true reflection of the current status quo of the administration of aviation safety in this country... However maybe there is another reason (other than an inept, seemingly disinterested miniscule asleep at the wheel..) that Beaker still remains in the top bureau job??

First let me reflect on a "K" post from the Senate thread to do with Secondary Airports:
No one has as yet mentioned the 'redefining' of what constitutes 'air-transport'; you notice the Mrdak careful selection of 'words', for the devil is in the detail of 'his version' of the translation, he did after all redefine the meaning to exclude pretty much any class of operation bar 'heavy' RPT.
Hmm...interesting how the 'classification of operations' & in particular 'air transport' will again be redefined in the upcoming (maybe next decade) Part 135, 121 & 133.

Perhaps an example of how AT maybe be re-defined is highlighted in the recently proposed amendment to CAO 82.0 'Carriage of Fuel on Flights to a Remote Island' - Civil Aviation Order 82.0 Amendment Order (No. 1) 2014and in the NPRM - Regulation of aeroplane and helicopter ‘ambulance function’ flights as Air Transport operations. Where it would seem that FF (at least) is attempting to bring us in line with the ICAO definition for...

"..commercial air transport operation (is) an aircraft operation involving the transport of passengers, cargo or mail for remuneration or hire."

Interestingly back before M&M became embroiled in the Commonwealth Govt Airport sell off/lease agreement project (& ultimately his rise to Dept head) both Beaker and M&M were on an equal footing in the ranks of the PS:

Mr Mike Mrdak, Acting First Assistant Secretary, Territories and Regional Support Division.

Mr Martin Dolan, First Assistant Secretary, Airports Division

However the point of interest is that Beaker (before going to COMCARE) had a significant role in administering the airport sell off, from Estimates Hansard May 2001:
Senator O’BRIEN—In relation to the government’s policy for the Sydney basin and the planned sale of Kingsford Smith airport, according to Mr Anderson, KSA, Bankstown, Camden and Hoxton Park airports are to be sold through a 100 per cent trade sale in the second half of this year, that is in the next six months. Is all of that on track as far as the department is aware?

Mr Dolan—The other Sydney basin airports are due for sale in the second half of 2002.

Senator O’BRIEN—So only KSA this year?

Mr Dolan—KSA is for this calendar year.

Senator O’BRIEN—And Bankstown, Camden and Hoxton Park?

Mr Dolan—Second half of 2002.

Senator O’BRIEN—So getting back to the Kingsford Smith sale, is that process proceeding.

Mr Dolan—Yes. Expressions of interest were sought and have been received. They have been evaluated and the results of that evaluation are currently with the Minister for Finance and Administration for his consideration.

Senator O’BRIEN—What is the government’s financial expectation from the sale?

Mr Dolan—I do not know. OASITO is the sale manager and they are the ones who are arriving at those sorts of valuations and expectations.

Senator O’BRIEN—What role does the department have in the sale process?

Mr Dolan—Our role is to ensure that the Airports Act is fully met and complied with in the sale process and that the sorts of objectives which are associated with the act are taken into account in the sale process. We are the regulators, if you like, in this process.

Senator O’BRIEN—So the department does not have any preparatory work to do in relation to the sale?

Mr Dolan—We had a lot of preparatory work to do in relation to the sale in terms of the information memorandum that is currently being finalised for potential bidders and in terms of a range of other sale documentation to ensure that matters covered by the airports legislation are appropriately reflected so that owners—I am sorry, bidders—make fully informed bids.

Senator O’BRIEN—I would have hoped the owners already knew. In his media release dated 29 March, Mr Anderson said:
Additional work will be undertaken by relevant agencies to determine the nature of airspace re-design, and terminal and runway developments required at Bankstown Airport to ensure that it operates as an overflow for Sydney Airport ...
He says in that statement that these changes will be ‘subject to the completion of environmental assessments’. Firstly, which agencies are doing that work?

Mr Dolan—Over time, a range of agencies will be doing work. The key work being done at the moment relates to the air traffic arrangements and will be done largely by Airservices.

The other work, which is to do with what we would hope to see from potential bidders for Bankstown in terms of developments in Bankstown airport, will probably be done in the second half of this year, after the bulk of the work on the Kingsford Smith sale has been completed.

Senator O’BRIEN—Who did you say was doing the work?

Mr Dolan—There will be work on the air traffic arrangements by Airservices Australia. We will work with OASITO and the Department of Finance and Administration, as the owners are exercising the ownership responsibilities of government for the current companies to look at the sorts of requirements or expectations we would have for potential bidders for
Bankstown, Hoxton Park and Camden.
Hmm...maybe tenuous but their is a connection...

Addendum - More on Airports from Oz Flying:
Senate grills Department over Development Threat

22 Oct 2014


The Standing Committee on Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport (RRAT) has questioned the Department of Infrastructure about development on federally-leased airports.

The question was put during the Senate Estimates hearing on Monday night, 20 October in Canberra.

Senator Heffernan opened the proceedings with a direct question to department Secretary Mike Mrdak.

"What guarantees can we give the Australian general aviation industry that they will have airports at which they can land planes in the future, given the pressure on the land space surrounding airports by developers getting a quid by putting up high rise and aerials on top, et cetera?", Heffernan asked. "Do you see a risk from the power of developers co-operating with state governments to the future of general aviation operating out of the likes of Archerfield, Bankstown and other airports?"

Mrdak replied: "I think some concern is warranted in relation to the development pressures around our general aviation airports and our major capital city airports in a number of our cities. Quite clearly, as state planning policies come into effect seeking to increase the density of development in our urban areas, there is pressure to build right up to the boundaries, including in some high noise areas around our airports.

"There is also pressure to increasingly look at high rise developments which start to impinge on the PANS-OPS [Procedures for Air Navigation Services - Operations] and OLS [Obstacle Limitation Surfaces] services of the airports. There are two critical areas. Firstly, the Australian government is very firm in its view that these sites will be and must be retained for aviation usage as the primary purpose. Hence the master planning process for airports such as Archerfield is very much driven to making sure that sufficient aerodevelopment takes place on the site for continuation and there is no reduction of access for aviation.

"Secondly, as you would be aware, over the last few years under successive governments we have sought to work with the state planning agencies under a process called NASAG—National Aviation Safeguarding Advisory Group—where we have sought to get planning arrangements agreed with the states that mean we can protect the approaches to those aerodromes and we do not have development pressure which impinges on the safe operation. That process has been ongoing and it continues to be ongoing."

Senator Heffernan, who chairs the RRAT committee, returned to the issue later in the session, this time targeting the department's approval of the draft master plan for Archerfield Airport, asking Mrdak if the department shared the view that the master plan provided for the loss of runway 04/22, as alluded to in correspondance to the senate.

Mrdak: "Certainly, our view is not—as you have outlined—that that has that impact on the general aviation industry. The master plan has been carefully assessed, and our advice and the advice of the aviation regulatory agency is that the master plan does provide for a continuation of aviation operations. We would not share the view expressed in your correspondence there in relation to the impact on general aviation."

The Archerfield master plan was approved by Anthony Albanese under the previous government, but will be the subject of an upcoming appeal in the Australian Administrative Tribunal.

MTF...

Last edited by Sarcs; 23rd Oct 2014 at 01:35.
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