CASA reply to PPRuNe email re TVL.

[Frank Burden]

If it is the one I am thinking of, then a great choice has been made. Very professional, great lateral thinker, and not easily put off by the bulldu$t surrounding an issue.

[Cousin Cletus]

and what of the more important other stuff, that effects one ability to do their actual job up here, like:

Can the boy play a banjo...........

[Lefthanded_Rock_Thrower]

Now Cletus, boy, i may be your uncle, but i'm still yer father.

How many active fixed wing flying schools are in the CS area, 2 i think.

[Cousin Cletus]

Can the boy marinate a mackeral............

[Mainframe]

Cousin Cleatus and LHRT

Appreciate the input, but please refrain from trivialising what is hopefully a serious reform process.
As the regulator is closely monitoring this thread, how about sticking to constructive comment.

If you just want to play, there are other threads that can accommodate you on Pprune.

This is, after all, the PROFESSIONAL pilot's rumour network, so professionalism please.


OK so we have a substantive rumour that a new FOI is heading north.
Does this mean an existing FOI heading south or out?

YBCS currently has two FOI's one acting under duress and one with a reasonable degree of ethics.
Will there now be three, as in the past, or has the axe fallen?

Any news on Batman and Robin and their replacements?

[Captain Starlight]

Mainframe

Batman and Robin off elsewhere to hunt down evildoers?
Great news, when is this likely?

Stinkie

You're firing some accurate shots, AAT filtering etc for damage control wrt TLFO.

Also JM's role in this sordid business, rumoured to be protecting TLFO for reasons at this stage unknown.
Realistically, with BB looking very hard at HO staff,
might be time for JM to distance himself from those he may have been protecting.

Frank Burden

Reassuring comments on new FOI attributes. However, unless the TLFO is moved on,
the new FOI will, as a new boy, need to obey and conform to either the TLFO or to the new AM,
hopefullly the latter.

Otherwise the deck chairs have merely been re arranged on the Titanic to provide a better view of the tragedy.

[Cousin Cletus]

Aw shucks Mainblame...!!

No need to be all rude and the like.

Mr Creampuff said

Hatfields and McCoys and its no coincidence it occurs in the aviation equivalent of Delverance territory

and Mr Stinkfinger said

one of the bastardised, lets call him the banjo player

Sounds like my kind of thread. I dont think im goin anywhere!!
Dont worry abou the kid rock chucker. He jes wishes he wuz kin.

Hell, now we got comic book characters and conspiracy theories too from Mr Starlight. Damn, I,m getting me into my delivered Rangoon rockin chair, tippin me back some sour mash and enjoy the show....................

[Stink Finger]

Another interesting occurence was, a year or two ago a CP from a Qld based metro operator was interviewed for the position of FOI in FNQ.

Shortly after the interviews, a spiteful prick in CASA ( lets call him Pinochio ) photocopied this guys ( lets call him JL ) application and interview results and faxed it to a number of Western, southern QLD and NQ people, other companies, those whom he worked for and a number of random organisations, i saw a copy of it at a QLD aeroclub being bandied around like a new edition stick book.

Very inappropriate indeed, this was investigated by CASA, it is common knowledge who did it ( Pinochio ), but was unable to be proven.

I have spoken to the someone in CASA in the recent past who has been commisioned to remove these trouble makers, he is quite aware of the nature of the problem and as has been previously mentioned on this thread needs our support.

The POC is the AM at TL and is the best man to talk to, Mr Alan Cook. ACT NOW.

BB, please act soon, there is alot more of this stuff to come, and it needn't, it paints an image of CASA none of us want seen.

[Stink Finger]

JetA_OK,

the copy i saw had the TL offices fax details on the top of the page and the 07 4750 2699 number, which is infact TL offices fax number, what are the chances of that ?, Pinochio was the only one in the office that has any negative history with JL, do some research and you'll see.

It's all just too transparent in nature.

These types of actions are just a very small example of the craft and corruption used, there are very many more of these types of " totally bizarre and unexplainable happenings".

[Stink Finger]

JetA_OK, in all due respect, guess again.

[Stink Finger]

JetA_OK,

"if you have any further info on the topic then I suggest you take it to the investigator who cleared said individual. I can't see how pointing a finger on a public forum makes you any better than the people you are criticising".

Guess you need to ask yourself what is it we are trying to achieve by bringing this, and other, issues up, i am certain i am not supplying info that has not been provided " in house".

I am most certainly am better than these individual, all i am doing in giving those that are looking directions to head in, these individuals did these things, ( plus or minus chinese whispers ) they must be accountable for their actions, as those in the industry are.

Infact many of us here are being judicious enough to ensure we provide very little information, so as to give BB and AC a direction to head in, they will make their own minds up one of two ways, they will look at whats happened and sack to offenders outright or, as CP denies is possible, will see a trend within the TL office.

You might suggest it's a smear campaign, not the case, these things actually happened, eg:

Pinochio, sits in the middle of the bush ( 6 hours drive each way ) waiting for the CYAS mail run to arrive, ramps the pilot ( excellent, just what CASA should be doing ), after the event trumps up an RCA to the operator stating the pilot was not carrying his current medical certificate.

Mr Rum, removes a MR from a Mt Isa based operators aircraft at TL, which was on a charter MA-TL-MA, Mr Rum Removes the MR and heads back to fort fumbles, pilot come back from the terminal and blast off back to MA ( obviously without the MR as Mr Rum has it ), and the TLFO moves to issue the pilot with a RCA for breach of CAR 139.

TLFO, SOP is to issue staff he's not happy with "Personal Show Causes Notices" at 1630 on a friday afternoon when this person ( HC ) is walking out the door to head off the NZ for a two week skiing trip, how much fun do you think this guy had on holidays.

TLFO, has an FOI ( banjo player ) in TL who is well regarded and exceptionally experienced doing pretty much exclusively fire work permits for 9 months.

A bit of a slow day today, only 6 PM's from other ppruners with similar stories to cut and paste, still some pending, that will do for tonight.

[Paul Phelan]

Response to "critiques." Part 1

I’m a relatively rare visitor to this site but I see that my name has come up lately in the forum and I’d like to make a few points clear.
While my industry contacts are reasonably confident that initiatives recently taken by the Director will be followed by others with the same potential to clean up the mess, I am in doubt that many in the industry or in CASA will ever understand the size and scope of the misconduct and incompetence that has damaged so many businesses, careers, and lives, and so degraded the regulator’s industry and international standing.
Notwithstanding any reversals achieved by the Director’s current and future initiatives, it needs to be understood that CASA sees itself exposed to untold litigation which would be triggered by any admission of responsibility for wrongdoing – and will therefore be averse to resurrecting old issues. This leads to a focus on the “bright new future” image at the expense of injured parties, and an unwillingness to revisit the past. Certainly the perception would be that any attempt to redress them would be an admission of wrongdoing, which could expose the regulator to major lawsuits. This will offer little comfort to (among others) the present or former owners of Aerotropics, Air Bush Charter, Air North, Aquaflight Airways, Arcas Airways, Cape York Air, Crane Air, GCA Australia Pty Ltd, Midstate Airlines, Ord Air Charter, Schutt Aviation, Skytech Aviation Services, Sydney Seaplanes, Uzu Air, Whyalla Airlines, and Yanda Airlines – along with numerous individuals apparently singled out for special treatment.
I assert that I am well aware that some operators and individuals may be less than fully compliant, may be bad businessmen, or suffer from other deficiencies. I am also aware that many of these have never received regulatory attention. (It is a measure of corporate attitude that when I made this statement to a former public affairs official I was told that it was my obligation as a member of the “aviation community” to disclose anything I knew!)
However, because of the awesome power bestowed on a CASA “delegate” and the negligible oversight of resulting activities when the wrong kind of individual is appointed, it has really only been necessary in the past for a “delegate” to form an opinion that an individual should be hounded out of the industry and it’s as good as done. The penalties that can be imposed on a certificate holder by (for example) a licence or certificate suspension will normally be incalculably more severe than a the outcome of a prosecution at law – and the perpetrators well know it.
For example, I recently did the industry a disservice by pointing out in an editorial that individuals within CASA can simply shut an operator down by unreasonably withholding or withdrawing a chief pilot approval. That has been increasingly the course which some such individuals have taken, because (unlike suspensions or cancellations of certificates) the “delegate” is fully empowered to withhold or withdraw an approval without reference to any other individual. It would be interesting to compare the acceptance of a highly experienced chief pilot nomination by a major airline – a single telephone call I have been told – with more recent events in which a delegate clearly stepped outside his own area of expertise to obstruct the acceptance of a chief pilot, thereby throwing an operator of a large number of aeroplanes and a major employer of pilots into chaos and causing the loss of major international contracts the operator has serviced for years.
I would also like to respond to comments by the regulator which accuse me of various violations of a journalist’s obligations, see http://casa.gov.au/media/2005/letter05-01-11a.htm and
http://casa.gov.au/media/2005/letter05-01-11.htm:
The content of the two letters to are similar and the following remarks apply in the main to both.
The material for the article was collected from a number of well-known industry identities with strong backgrounds in regulatory development, most of whom did not wish to be named because they hold various CASA approvals and certificates which are essential to their businesses. However because the material was filed in mid-October to a 10 week lead time, following a call from DOTRS I was concerned that something of a material nature might have changed in the interim. So I phoned the CASA media relations manager who made some inquiries, rang back, and confirmed:
• "Nobody in CASA has raised this issue yet, it was just raised by a person from the department";
• "There has been no change beyond the normal NPRM process, the only thing that has changed is that Bruce Byron announced in late November that a 'regulatory advisory panel' would provide an additional step in the consultation process and the maintenance NPRM will have to go before one of these panels. However that's not designed to delay things, it'll pretty much run in parallel with the other process anyway. Apart from that there has been no other change. The establishment of the panels isn't designed to put anything further back."
• "The panel however may of course come back and say it's all a load of [inaudible] and we want it changed."
• "From the point of view of DOTRS, we haven't announced that the maintenance suite NPRM process has been halted or suspended, or anything at all at this point, the NPRM stands, comment closed in December and the comments will be examined. So subject to input from the panel, nothing has changed at this point."
• [A CASA official] just told me it's continuing as per schedule, and Bill [McIntyre's] absence hasn't changed the schedule at this juncture.
• "On the basis of that I don't think that anything has changed, and [DOTRS] may have jumped the gun a bit. So if whatever you've written at this point is a statement of what's currently out there, it is still valid."
I don’t wish to thump my chest too much but the following are relevant
• My industry background comes from 45 years of (mostly commercial) flying, and senior flight operations and head office management roles with a major regional airline.
• I don’t write this kind of material from my imagination, but from observation, and from the thousands of contacts I have at all levels of all aviation-related industries, who trust me to reflect their situation and opinions. The fact that I have become to some extent focused on regulatory affairs is due to the vast volume of related documentation that reaches me because it is appreciated that people who understand the issues, believe I report accurately on these events.
• People who believe I am biased against CASA as an organisation, have probably spent too much time listening to one another over a cup of taxpayer-supplied coffee, and not enough time listening to the industry which is their raison d'etre. Even if a government organisation is doing the best job in the world, it has a problem if it is the perception of its client base that it is not performing according to its obligations. I'm actually pro-CASA, and have a lot of friends within the organisation. I acknowledge having a regulator is inevitable, just like death and taxes, but CASA will never be able to deliver on its obligations unless the many individuals within it who have created the mess it's in are identified and neutralised.
• Among other issues industry is urging the strongest possible continued pressure on the "maintenance suite" issue because people in CASA are (unbelievably) still saying all that's needed is a bit of "tweaking around the edges." This is called "denial," a phenomenon still quite evident around Northborne Avenue. I would like to make the point that most of the denials contained in the letters were unexplained and non-specific rejections without supporting argument.
• The material was written about three months earlier, and in the intervening period there wasn't any announcement that suggested anything had changed.
• Contrary to statements from DOTRS that "the regs have now been recalled," CASA has confirmed that the "maintenance suite" of draft regulations has not been withdrawn.
• In evaluating the maze of draft legislation, I rely not on my own very limited expertise in legal drafting and rule development; I draw on industry people, either with coalface experience or with strong backgrounds in regulatory development and intimate knowledge of the processes and mistakes since 1966. My commentary on the implications and consequences of badly drafted legislation, which moves Australia further away from international standardisation, intelligibility, interoperability, simplicity and effectiveness, is not something I have dreamed up; it is an accurate reflection of the mood of a very concerned industry.
• Since becoming aware of an apparent campaign to discredit my material, I have taken the trouble to explore with three individuals who know far more about it than I do, the labyrinth of draft legislation. They have satisfied me that the tenor of the quotes and comments in my articles is consistent with the situation that currently obtains, and with the mood of the industry with very few exceptions. One exception we have identified is understood to be an applicant for a position with CASA.

[Woomera]

Pual Phelan post second bit of Part 1

Continuation of above Paul Phelan comment
Woomera had to split the post as the original was beyond the programme limits of 12,500 characters with spaces.

Below is a continuation of Paul Phelans post above;

PPRuNe comment

Where appropriate, I’m also responding below to some comment on this forum. The comment will be in italics, and my response is be in normal typeface. (Let’s see how that formatting translates from MS Word onto the site!)

A very considerable amount of damage has been done to a huge number of businesses and individuals, which clearly should be redressed, despite the comment:

There is at least one other explanation which makes perfect sense……..and that’s that the allegations are unsupported by the facts. We may just be seeing another lap of the tired old aviation merry go round, during which a new CEO and AM in CASA will have their intelligence and integrity insulted when they beg to differ from the same tired old accusers. We can certainly add Mr Skehill to the list of eminent and powerful people insulted this time ‘round. There’s no trend here. It’s the same people bearing the same grudges, year in, year out. They’ll go to the grave bearing those grudges.

This is called “denial,” a science almost perfected by CASA’s past public affairs structure and exemplified by the publication of two “letters to the editor” which made vague accusations that the articles were “full of errors” but did not deal specifically with any issue raised.

The “Eminence and power” of any professional person will always remain a subjective assessment by individuals.
As to internal investigations, it is clearly inappropriate for an agency whose employee has been accused of misconduct, to appoint its own “independent investigator.” This practice certainly raises conflict of interest questions, especially in the case of an external consultant engaged through the Authority’s Office of Legal Counsel.

CASA Public Affairs may be putting itself in the unenviable position of getting involved in a dialogue of a highly technical nature, but being briefed only by people who have clearly dug in to hold their positions under siege. I drew from material provided by people whose background in technical and regulatory issues I and the industry can only respect.

Anybody in CASA Public Affairs wishing to qualify themselves to comment on complex technical issues, should look for advice from people who are committed to Mr Byron\\\'s reforms - or look outside CASA – rather than asking for comment by the person/people who created the problem in the first place.
Denying that there is a problem, as CASA appears on many occasions to have done in public over many years, has been the prime obstacle to meaningful reform since the early nineties, and I\\\'m surprised that people in CASA and in government continue down that path. Any intelligent analysis of the fiasco surrounding the development of the “maintenance suite” of regulations would support that conclusion.

If I didn’t have anything important to do, I’d start with exposing the mates of Torres and Walking Eagle in CASA, who, rather than doing what the taxpayers are paying them to do, leak half truths and selective information, in breach of various criminal laws.

One is surprised that this commentator actually claims to have “something more important to do” and wonders what it may be, other than possibly the pursuit of gainful employment.

“Walking Eagle” was my PPRuNe tag about 10 years ago, before I realised the advantages of not concealing my identity. I have never said that anybody “leaked” information to me. I have however had my attention usefully directed at times to specific issues and available documentation (Hansard, newspaper articles, CASA website etc,) by individuals who were ashamed of the conduct of some of their colleagues’ - and still are.

As for the website, another dream, sorry

Watch this space.

Two wrongs don\\\'t make a right and neither is justice served by a self serving journalistic beating up without the other side being appropriately represented

I would be deeply interested to be able to understand the above tirade. Unless they’re unusually stupid, politicians don’t argue both sides of an issue in the Parliament. Lawyers similarly don’t argue both sides of a case. And journalists – at least in the editorial mode – try to avoid arguing with themselves, especially when so many other people are happy to do it for them!

As for the “self serving” epithet, do I perhaps have a Swiss bank account somewhere that I don’t know about? Can anybody tell me when I last earned a single dollar in the pursuit of “Safe Skies, Procedural Fairness, Due Process and Social Justice For All”?

The proposed industry website that will publish documented instances of misconduct should answer most of your concerns. As it will also publish details of the miscreants it will assist BB, CASA and the industry. It will therefore be of be of great benefit in achieving the reforms desired by the Minister, by Bruce Byron and the industry.

Thank you, but it may not be as easy as that for the reasons explained above.

I am therefore in the process of establishing a web site which will record recent and current CASA regulatory failures, misadventures and apparent misconduct. This may provide guidance as to possible directions of reform, especially regarding the activities of individuals who appear to have been prominent in the organisation\\\'s failure to meet its commitments and goals. It will publish only documented facts, including naming the writers of documents, and separately where appropriate, opinions which will be identified as such and not represented as facts. All published facts will be cross-referenced to supporting documents. CASA will be offered space in which to respond to each topic when it is published. I will not circulate the web address yet because it is still under construction; however about 2,500 addressees will be made aware of it by e-mail, and with the permission of the moderator, participants in this forum.
There are encouraging signs that a turnaround is in process. I intend however to proceed as if nothing was happening regardless of CASA actions or reactions, some of which may or may not be interpreted as responses to material I have published.

Anyone who has anything to contribute, and which is supported by available and verifiable documentation, is welcome to contact [email protected]. I cannot digest or re-publish insinuation, rumour, or anything that may be defamatory. I also don’t plan to enter into debate on the above in public, but will respond to any e-mail which is constructive. All sources are guaranteed protection of their identity.

Separately, CASA is invited to brief me on any or all of these issues on a formal and non-confidential basis, but with the reservation that without their consent, I may not be able to disclose the identities of individual complainants.
Quotable quotes:

The evil men do lives after them. The good is oft interred with their bones (Mark Antony, in Julius Caesar)

Signed – a “tired old accuser” – nursing new hope.

Edited by Woomera to correct formatting, the / goes before the format command in the closing bracket.
and I had to split the post because it was larger than the software programme permits. = 12,500 character with spaces.

[Frank Burden]

Looking forward to seeing the material on the website.

But surely in a land where natural justice is meant to prevail and hungry litigious commission based lawyers abound, people have recourse to the courts if they have a case. Or am I just plain stoopid?

You seem to have a lot of energy Paul. Why not use some of it by getting involved in the regulatory consultation process? This way you may achieve the same goals through a more constructive approach. Oh, but I forgot, journalists like things to fester and ferment otherwise there would be no reason for them to exist.

Not against you Paul but just some thoughts from the deep rooted cynic that I have unfortunately become watching the fragmented Australian aviation industry rip itself apart again and again and again.

[Nipper]

STINK FINGER

There is a slight factual error to this:

TLFO, SOP is to issue staff he's not happy with "Personal Show Causes Notices" at 1630 on a friday afternoon when this person ( HC ) is walking out the door to head off the NZ for a two week skiing trip, how much fun do you think this guy had on holidays.

The guy was actually taking time off to look after his three children, under five, and it was also his birthday and not handed to but place on the key board of his computer for him to find. The reply had to be in the day of his return to work.

The reply to his response was again delivered, on Xmas eve, stating the show cause would stand and disciplinary action of serious breach of conduct would proceed.

Skehill did find that this person should not have been given a show cause and all reference to it has been removed from CASA.
The T/L was not reprimanded.

[Torres]

Frank You really have little experience with CASA's conduct in the AAT, have you?

Perhaps you need to read Paul's article on UZU Air, posted elsewhere in this forum.

[Mainframe]

Nipper

your post lends weight to the older rumour that TLFO, NQAO,
is being protected by someone he may have compromised in HO.

Given that BB is now looking over his shoulder a bit more often,
that protector will soon expose himself by his actions, if he hasn't done so already.

Standby for a another round of musical chairs in Canberra. It's coming.

Frank Burden

Torres may be right, you may have little exposure to what the rogue element can and does achieve with impunity.
It may be just as hard for you to understand that there are some seriously nasty types hiding in CASA.
BB will find them as they progressively reveal themselves.


Stink Finger:

The Royal Commission, that can't be allowed to happen, would be the simplest way of exposing the rot,
and dealing with it. Then, and only then, can CASA start to get on with the reform that is so painfully overdue.

The misconduct website, however, will serve as an interim clearing house,
and put CASA on notice that it's time for improvement.
It will help CASA identify behavioural practices that our out of step, and their exponents.

The TLFO's practice of using 16:30 Fri in his bag of nasty tricks is well known,
as is his penchant for issuing instruments without the wording "whilst employed by"
and instead having an expiry date that he can use to "fail to renew" at or close to expiry.

Power, and it's use and abuse, is his stock in trade. That was clearly seen in the bastardisation of his staff,
leaving them in no doubt that he will demonstrate that power if they don't understand his lack of integrity and ethics.

Pinnochio understands how his beloved "My illustrious Leader" thinks and acts,
and has quickly adopted a similar style to not only please, but to ensure his own survival,
after all, this will be his last job in civil aviation in Australia and he knows it.

[Sunfish]

AP, I did believe you, just wanted to know more. Its an amazing story

[Captain Starlight]

Nipper

thank you for uncovering a little gem.
If factual, the revealtion that Skehill saw that HC was bastardised
and that the record was amended is quite disturbing.
This then led him to conclude that there was "no basis for the allegations"?

It was quite possible that other examples of the TLFO's perverted style of leadership were also evident.

A process has been followed by bastardised CASA employees, and by bastardised in the industry.

The results of that process is that nearly six months down the track, the TLFO is still TLFO.

BB,NH, AC, we're all aware, we're all watching and we're all waiting for action.

You know about the problems that don't exist and the conduct that didn't happen,
the investigation that didn't investigate,
and now we are expected to accept the action that wasn't taken.

There is either a denial process happening,
or hopefully not, a contempt being displayed toward the industry.

What has been allowed to happen has been disgraceful.

Please be seen to be doing something about it,
something decisive, and not more rhetoric.

[Mainframe]

Nipper and Capt Starlight

rumour has it that HC resigned in despair and disgust,
if true, then an enviable income foregone, and a career ruined.

Captain Starlight, you can go back to sleep. The tyrant reins, and will continue to do so.
Given the possible protection from above, what chance does the AM have to buck his superiors?

The banjo player appears to be the only one left with his integrity intact,
(Integrity is a bit like virginity, when surrendered, it can NEVER be regained)
perhaps he would be an ideal TLFO?

So where do we locate (relocate) Batman and Robin?

Is there another area office out there needing a team like this?