Thanks Siuya
I posted this earlier but deleted it in case I had my Dr Michael Walkers wrong.
Dr Michael Walker has a strong and emotional interest in the PelAir report, and he displayed this in front of about 200 people at the 2012 AAvPA symposium at Manly.
Martin Dolan had just spent the better part of an hour talking about Organisational safety factors and how the ATSB firmly believed in following the thread of causation all the way back to find the true cause of the accident.
After crapping on about "long before I became an ashen-faced thin-lipped beauracrat" for an hour he gave us the opportunity for questions. I had to ask:- something along the lines of
"The Aviation Industry has greeted the PelAir report with disdain and disbelief, and many are questioning its findings. Given your obvious belief in Organisational factors contributing to aviation safety, how do you defend the fact that the Pel Air report ignores all the organisational factors?"
Mr Dolan said that he would allow one of the team to answer that.
The man sitting directly in front of me stood up, trembling with rage and indignation. Thanks to the photo sentto me by SIUYA, I can now be sure it was Dr Michael Walker.
He proceeded to defend the report's findings and the ATSB's integrity with surprising venom.
His exact words escape me now, but sometimes it is clear to you that a person's venom and defensiveness stems from a guilty conscience. as I sat, buffetted by his abuse, I formed that opinion and I was not alone. Of the 200 people in the room, most if not all were psychologists or at least formally schooled in human behaviour.
Afterwards I was approached by 2 ATSB personnel and they both told me that the report had not reflected the original findings AND that there was some significant anger and frustration with the findings as they had been published.
I have probably posted this story earlier in this thread or on another thread on this topic, but to have Dr Michael Walker conduct the ATSB's review on this report given his obvious close relationship to Dolan an his emotional investment in the original report STINKS TO HIGH HEAVEN.
