SIUYA,
In the world to which Creamie refers, I think the answers are clear:
1. What was the reason behind CASA and the ATSB taking the risks that they both did in the Pel-Air debacle?
2. Why did they do what they did?
simply because there was no identified risk because both agencies thought that the event would be ignored - it was not RPT and no one was considered to be a passenger.
I think John Sharpe has a lot of friends and I think there were a lot of people who considered that their career trajectories meant that it would be wise not to make him (and therefore his political connections in
both major parties) enemies...
I think that the three main agency players thought that they would sweep away the problematic issues while no one was paying attention, as so often had been the case before. However, as has thankfully been the case before, a number of players considered previously to be of no import chose not to read or accept the script and played with a straight bat, thus allowing the light to be shone where others wanted the dark to remain.
After that, it just became a test of damage control, reticence and political inertia.
Simple really...