Slats . . . . you can't copy and paste that item from The Australian?
is this it? - dated Dec 3 2014
https://plus.google.com/107158623429005505864
The Pel-Air Aviation Westwind air ambulance is parked on the tarmac at Nauru Airport before its ill-fated flight that ended with it ditching into the sea off Norfolk Island in November 2013.
Source: AFP
DEPUTY Prime Minister Warren Truss has asked the Australian Transport Safety Bureau to re-open its controversial inquiry into the Pel-Air crash off Norfolk island in 2009.
The ATSB was forced to defend its handling of the investigation before a Senate Committee after irregularities emerged in its handling of the Westwind jet crash in November 2009.
All six occupants of the jet survived the night-time ditching of a CareFlight medical evacuation from Noumea but CASA suspended the licence of pilot-in-command Dominic James and the airline grounded its Westwind operations.
The ATSB took almost three years to produce a report that identified mistakes by the flight crew relating to fuel planning and weather checks as contributing safety factors and to a lesser extent criticised the available guidance on these issues from the company.
The Senate committee was formed after an ABC
Four Corners investigation revealed a CASA audit after the crash, and not mentioned in the ATSB report, uncovered 57 breaches and “serious deficiencies’’ at Pel-Air.
Mr Truss announced today as part of the government’s response to a report in aviation safety chaired by industry veteran David Forsyth that a review by the Canada Transportation Safety Board had found the ATSB made mistakes in its investigation.
“While the Canadian TSB found that ATSB investigation methodology and analysis tools represent best practice and have been shown to produce very good results, they found that in the case of the Pel-Air investigation, there were errors made,’’ Mr Truss said.
“I am concerned that the TSB report raises some concerns about the application of ATSB methodologies in the investigation into the ditching of a Pel-Air off Norfolk Island in 2009.
“As a consequence, I have asked the ATSB Commission to give serious consideration to reopening the investigation.’’
Mr Truss said he had appointed an additional ATSB commissioner with aviation experience and would be issuing a new Statement of Expectations to the bureau once the government had the opportunity to review the findings of the Canadian review.
The Minister also announced the appointment three additional CASA board members.
They are: chartered accountant and long-term sport aviation industry figure Anita Taylor, aviation insurance specialist Ian Smith and former Qantas general manager or regulatory and industry affairs Murray Warfield.
The government had previously announced that retired Air Vice Marshal Mark Skidmore would replace John McCormick as director or aviation safety and had appointed industry veteran Jeff Boyd as deputy chairman.
The government had been taking flak because of its delayed response to the Forsyth report which was released in June and found relations between CASA and the industry had soured to the point that safety improvements were being stifled
Mr Truss said that the government had agreed to or would undertake a more detailed examination of 36 of the report’s 37 recommendations.
He endorsed a number of key aviation principles and reaffirmed CASA’s role as part of system charged with “protecting all passengers, their crew and the community’’.
He acknowledged industry complaints about CASA’s regulatory approach and perceptions it did not pay enough regard to how regulatory changes affected operators.
“Aviation services can be complex and expensive operations,’’ he said. “The business environment in which aviation operates is a challenging and often highly competitive one with fluctuating market conditions. Even well-established and well intentioned aviation operators can encounter problems.
“In such a complex environment the Government expects the regulator to be firm but fair in how it conducts its role.
“The regulator also needs to be well-informed about the industry context, conscious of the impacts that its actions have on operators and open to approaches which achieve safety outcomes without unnecessary impacts on industry.
“This approach calls for effective and ongoing engagement and communication with the industry, both at a strategic and working level.’’
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Note that Mr Creedy's credibility takes another tumble, when he cannot get the departure point right in the above