‘Reckless’ Canadian pilots commit major quarantine breach in Darwin
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‘Reckless’ Canadian pilots commit major quarantine breach in Darwin
‘Reckless’ Canadian pilots commit major quarantine breach in Darwin
A PAIR of Canadian firefighting pilots that had been allowed to quarantine at a Darwin hotel broke critical COVID-19 safety rules by leaving the building “several times”, in a major breach that has angered authorities.
NT Health confirmed the two men, who were due to travel interstate to work as a bushfire emergency management team once they have finished quarantine, arrived in the Territory from Canada on Monday, November 9.
In a reckless and disrespectful act that authorities said “put the safety of Territorians at risk”, the men left their hotel several times and were spotted not wearing masks while inside the premise.
Their breaches were uncovered during an NT Police compliance check.
The men were fined and carted off to the Howard Springs facility for the rest of their quarantine stint.
The men had returned a negative coronavirus test according to NT Health.
All other international arrivals have been made to quarantine at Darwin’s Howard Springs facility but an NT Health spokeswoman said under national guidelines flight crew are able to undertake quarantine “under an alternative arrangement”.
Canada has seen a significant spike in coronavirus cases this week, including a total of 5516 cases on Thursday — the highest daily caseload the country had seen since the beginning of the pandemic.
By contrast, the Northern Territory has not recorded a single community-transmitted case of coronavirus since the start of the crisis and no one has died.
NT Police Incident Controller acting commander Sachin Sharma said it was “disappointing that these individuals engaged in irresponsible behaviour”.
The NT recorded five cases of coronavirus on Friday, with all the new positive tests being recorded among newly repatriated Australians flying into Darwin from overseas.
A total of 829 repatriated Australians have been put into quarantined at Howard Springs since the operation began on October 23.
Another little reminder that what you do when you are "not in the office" matters - let's hope there are no collateral consequences.
Two Canadian firefighting pilots breach quarantine by leaving Darwin hotel ‘several times’
A PAIR of Canadian firefighting pilots that had been allowed to quarantine at a Darwin hotel broke critical COVID-19 safety rules by leaving the building “several times”, in a major breach that has angered authorities.
NT Health confirmed the two men, who were due to travel interstate to work as a bushfire emergency management team once they have finished quarantine, arrived in the Territory from Canada on Monday, November 9.
In a reckless and disrespectful act that authorities said “put the safety of Territorians at risk”, the men left their hotel several times and were spotted not wearing masks while inside the premise.
Their breaches were uncovered during an NT Police compliance check.
The men were fined and carted off to the Howard Springs facility for the rest of their quarantine stint.
The men had returned a negative coronavirus test according to NT Health.
All other international arrivals have been made to quarantine at Darwin’s Howard Springs facility but an NT Health spokeswoman said under national guidelines flight crew are able to undertake quarantine “under an alternative arrangement”.
Canada has seen a significant spike in coronavirus cases this week, including a total of 5516 cases on Thursday — the highest daily caseload the country had seen since the beginning of the pandemic.
By contrast, the Northern Territory has not recorded a single community-transmitted case of coronavirus since the start of the crisis and no one has died.
NT Police Incident Controller acting commander Sachin Sharma said it was “disappointing that these individuals engaged in irresponsible behaviour”.
The NT recorded five cases of coronavirus on Friday, with all the new positive tests being recorded among newly repatriated Australians flying into Darwin from overseas.
A total of 829 repatriated Australians have been put into quarantined at Howard Springs since the operation began on October 23.
Luckily they didn't do it in Singapore, a FEDEX pilot got a month in jail for leaving his hotel.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...-dugan-yeargan
https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...-dugan-yeargan
This is pretty disappointing behavior - on the whole, aircrew have been granted pretty minimalistic restrictions for interstate and international travel. It only takes a few turkeys to upset what are sensible and reasonable arrangements to allow continued air travel.
This kind of thing makes my blood boil. I simply do not understand why governments expect persons in exempt categories to do the right thing when that trait is far from common. Howard Springs should be a mandatory inbound quarantine for every entrant regardless of rank or title.
On another note...I will be in mandatory isolation next week after returning from MEL. I cannot leave home, where my vulnerable family reside, except to go to and from the airport, where I am free to infect all and sundry. Crossroads of the modern world, and all of that. Other operators can go to SYD or MEL and not have to isolate at all.
Either there is a risk, or there isn’t.*
* I realise that after 20 days of no cases the risk at MEL is very very small, but this procedure has been in place throughout the second wave.
On another note...I will be in mandatory isolation next week after returning from MEL. I cannot leave home, where my vulnerable family reside, except to go to and from the airport, where I am free to infect all and sundry. Crossroads of the modern world, and all of that. Other operators can go to SYD or MEL and not have to isolate at all.
Either there is a risk, or there isn’t.*
* I realise that after 20 days of no cases the risk at MEL is very very small, but this procedure has been in place throughout the second wave.
IF they have breached their quarantine directions as reported.....
then if anyone knows or meets them, please give them a right upper cut from me. And if they are still standing, another one.
As we move towards zero nationwide, the states are tightening up on things for those of us still (lucky enough) to be still flying internationally. Having spend 4 months in aircrew quarantine this year due to overseas flights, I've managed to get it done in either apartments (if interstate) or at home. Due to &^%$knuckles like these Canadians and an asian aircrew a couple of months ago, the opportunities for aircrew to quarantine in a nice one bedroom apartment or at home have already been rescinded in a couple of states (e.g. Holiday Inn only for Aussies returning as international aircrew into Perth). I think it will be worse from now on.
F$^%^$rs.
then if anyone knows or meets them, please give them a right upper cut from me. And if they are still standing, another one.
As we move towards zero nationwide, the states are tightening up on things for those of us still (lucky enough) to be still flying internationally. Having spend 4 months in aircrew quarantine this year due to overseas flights, I've managed to get it done in either apartments (if interstate) or at home. Due to &^%$knuckles like these Canadians and an asian aircrew a couple of months ago, the opportunities for aircrew to quarantine in a nice one bedroom apartment or at home have already been rescinded in a couple of states (e.g. Holiday Inn only for Aussies returning as international aircrew into Perth). I think it will be worse from now on.
F$^%^$rs.
Last edited by compressor stall; 15th Nov 2020 at 07:26. Reason: gramma
CS yep and I think a left and right hook from me.
The ‘free’ world is far to soft, make an example early and people will get the picture. As you said all it takes is a few clowns!
The private / corporate aviation sector is not talked about much, however things like this can and will have huge implications.
The ‘free’ world is far to soft, make an example early and people will get the picture. As you said all it takes is a few clowns!
The private / corporate aviation sector is not talked about much, however things like this can and will have huge implications.
Edit: Maybe I should explain...
Do you understand that that would mean living almost each day of your life in isolation? You'd fly a tour for a week overseas - and when you're overseas you are in hotel lockdown (or if not you're likely in a country where you don't want to leave the hotel room anyway, nor should you under the terms of the AirCrew exemption) and then you come back to 2 weeks hotel isolated quarantine, which is longer your time off. Then you go to work again. Repeat.
Now do you see the problem? A life never seeing the sun (except maybe between the airport and the taxi). Or anyone else for that matter besides the co-pilot and the ground staff. Health implications - DVT, sanity?
Last edited by compressor stall; 15th Nov 2020 at 07:32. Reason: added bits.
Are they on some sorts of working visa？ If yes, would this quarantine breach result in they visas to be cancelled? I might have been watching too much Border Security.
Howard Springs should be a mandatory inbound quarantine for every entrant regardless of rank or title.
Sums up Australia... they love rules and barracking those who break them.. Dogma, is your location correct? MAN = Manchester, UK?? Did the UK have 26,860 new COVID cases on the 15 Nov in the UK?
Australia (that loves rules) had 14.
Last edited by josephfeatherweight; 15th Nov 2020 at 09:01.
I take it people down under are still acting all hysterical about this virus then...