LookLeft:
There were many who decided that AVM Skidmore was going to be a mere puppet of the real men in power but he seems to have already asserted his authority with the Angel Flight decision. CM is not replacing Dolan he is just going to provide some aviation experience on the ATSB Executive. I doubt he will have a hands on role in the day to day running of the place and I doubt he will have any more authority over the Chief Commissioner than the other Commissioners do. Hopefully CM will be able to tell Dolan that a report like the PelAir report is not good enough and then be able to explain why.
I am saddened by your continuing optimistic efforts to avoid the obvious conclusions arising out of the Pel AIr matter, the Senate review. the colour blindness problems, the continuing Quixotic attempts by CASA to rewrite Australian aviation regulations and a host of other troubling matters, starting with anomalous political donations by an airline and including the attempted appointment of the former DAS to an international aviation body.
Given the prior behaviour of CASA, the simplest explanation for CASAs decision (for now) to avoid a direct confrontation with Angel Flight has nothing to do with the appointment of a White Night, AVM. Skidmore, and everything to do with the cowardly avoidance by CASA of a direct public confrontation with a well liked charity with excellent
PR skills.
To put that another way if CASA has hard evidence that Angel Flight is a real threat to "safety" I would expect CASA to act fearlessly and immediately to close it down right now. Instead CASA has slithered away knowing that it can try again after the next Angel Flight incident.
As for Chris Manning "telling Dolan that the Pel AIr report is not good enough" don't be childish. The Pel Air report looks like a steaming pile of shyte that was deliberately concocted by Dolan and his acolytes to shield a subsidiary of a company with deep political links from any commercial damage and this saga is ongoing.
Mannings appointment to ATSB is just like Skidmores to CASA; attempts to put an acceptable faces on Two, now totally corrupt and dishonest institutions.
The fact that Skidmore and now Manning decided to lend their reputations to these organisations, knowing that they have no hope of reforming them, is to put it mildly, troubling.