Swiss Cheese ASA Style
 

Australian air traffic control ‘loses’ large jet for hours
April 9, 2012 – 12:36 pm, by Ben Sandilands

In the early hours of Saturday 31 March Australia’s profitable but increasingly dangerous air traffic control system run by AirServices Australia ‘lost’ a Garuda Indonesia Airbus A330-200 with 222 seats for some hours while it was in Australian airspace on a flight from Bali to Sydney.

The situation apparently arose because of a staffing shortage in the air navigation service providers Brisbane control centre and communications or administrative failures which are now being investigated by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB).

As a result, the Garuda flight, which the system had somehow lost sight of, was cruising unknown to controllers on a general south-easterly heading at 39,000 feet while an Air Asia X A330-300, with fitted with 377 seats, was cruising at 38,000 feet in an opposing north-westerly heading toward Kuala Lumpur, and at some stage while both were in the same area of the outback skies near the remote Curtin airport, the Air Asia X flight was authorized to climb to 40,000 feet, or right through the cruise level assigned to the Garuda flight after its departure from Denpasar.

The general sequence of events outlined to Plane Talking is that AirServices Australia in Brisbane took down the airspace around Curtin for some five hours soon after midnight Brisbane time on 31 March, declaring it a TRA or Temporary Restricted Area, after it couldn’t find two qualified air traffic controllers to meet a roster requirement.

In a TRA aircraft are responsible for arranging their own safe separation, a procedure which relies on all aircraft in the area listening to and talking to other aircraft on the correct frequency.

However for reasons that have not been determined, the Garuda flight was either left unaware of the TRA, or otherwise failed to gain approval to enter it, meaning no-one else would have even expected it to be there, somewhere.

When AirServices Australia found enough qualified staff to lift the TRA and bring it back under fully controlled separation the controller assigned to it noticed that there were details shown in his display concerning a Garuda flight that if it had left Bali when scheduled should be within his area.

Attempts by the controller to raise the Garuda flight were unsuccessful, and calls to Indonesian ATC were said to have been unable to determine if in fact it had even left for Australia as scheduled.

Soon after that the Garuda flight sought clearance to enter airspace controlled by Melbourne from a position in the airspace that should have been controlled by Brisbane.

Until shortly before that call this meant that ATC directions given to a number of international flights crossing the inland skies of the continent had been made without any knowledge or consideration of the movements of an additional large airliner.

It is believed to have been at this point that Air Asia X was told to climb from 38,000 feet to 40,000 feet. It is not clear whether or how it was known it was safe to this. The rule for passing through the altitude level of another jet when aircraft are subject to radio control and not within radar range is that at least 10 minutes must have elapsed after their positions have passed each other.

There are some very important factual and procedural details to be clarified by the ATSB investigation. If this was a trivial matter there wouldn’t be an investigation.

In the expectation that efforts will now be made to label this story scaremongering, several matters need to be keep in sight.


For Australian ATC to ‘lose’ a 222 seat scheduled airliner for several hours in a supposedly first world country because it can’t even staff its air navigation system or keep tabs on a flight is suggestive of criminal incompetence in AirServices Australia’s management. You don’t just lose airliners.
The responsible minister, Anthony Albanese, has already caused an ATSB inquiry to commence into the nature and frequency of AirService Australia’s record of recent failures in this matter.
There is a series of ATSB reports in which the failure of AirServices Australia to complete its recurrent training obligations or otherwise ensure the competency of its staff have been identified, and
Australia’s airlines have for some time been alarmed by the diminished quality and reliability of AirServices Australia, and have said so, on the public record.

http://blogs.crikey.com.au/planetalk...jet-for-hours/

Its only a matter of time. When will Albo do something about this organization :ugh:

Really? An a330-200 only has 222 seats?

And the -300 has 155 more?

I didn't know that

Things will only change in THAT organisation when:

* Accountants are no longer in charge of determining CORE & MATURE staffing.

* Training specialists are put in charge at the Training College.

* A return is made to setting a standard to be achieved BEFORE leaving the Training College. Therefore not wasting the fields precious few resources in sorting this mess out.

* A return to management integrity. That is: Excuses not being made for organisational failures. Admitting the problem and FIXING it.

There are probably a few others, feel free to add.................

Based on the current annual report there are 1,552 Air Traffic Controllers including trainees. The same report suggests (some job classifications are unclear - probably purposely so) that there are 1,400 managerial & admin jobs. It would seem to me that this is a key issue. Too many hangers-on for the number of guys doing the real work.

If you go through the CV's of the board members, I wonder if anyone on the board knows what the organisation does. The overhead to services ratio's are so far from best practice, that clearly no one is paying attention.

The sadness is that we pay for it while AsA has no effective accountability.

The ratio is far worse than that akro. I think it's more like 950 ATC's actually at consoles. The number of admin/managers etc has ballooned, there are titles in there that would baffle you..............

Garuda Indonesia Airbus A330-200 - SeatPlans.com

SeatGuru Seat Map AirAsia X Airbus A330-300 (330)

Sooner or later they will live up to their motto.

"Connecting Australian Aviation"

Unfortunately it won't be in the spirit of what the 'group huggers' and consultants envisioned.

I pray it won't end up like the DHL, or the 738 over the Amazonian jungle in class G.

As I said... I didn't know that!

So, they can't staff the seats or keep track of the a/c, however, experienced controllers are not required?

A colleague (ex- AsA controller) got a rejection letter last week after applying to go back (for family reasons). 15 years experience, much of it in busy places abroad, but he isn't suitable, he alleges, due to relevant experience and "cultural fit".:rolleyes:

Obviously his "culture" of years of separating aeroplanes doesn't fit with whatever AsA is doing...........

Apparently not :rolleyes:

Tick tock goes the Air Services clock
 

Jack, your first post was spot on! Describes this bureaucracy perfectly. Under it's bureaucratic dictatorship the frontline is left understaffed, admin and support roles balloon and of course management grow fatter under the leadership of a guy earning $800k per year! Training is sub standard, manpower deficient and the organizations direction abysmal.
Yep, Albo doing a fine job of his portfolio?

Government does a fine job of breeding parasitic management of organizations like Air Services and CASA, and let's not leave out the under resourced ATSB out of the loop.
In the meantime the countdown clock to a major hull loss continues along it's not so merry path, the spinners keep spinning, the politicians and their puppets grow fatter and the bureaucratic pile of steaming pony poo gets smellier.

Out of the three organizations the ATSB won't be the first to cross the 'Race To The Bottom' finish line as they have the privilege of mopping up after the event. The main two contenders for this not so prestigious award are Teams Russell and Skull.

I would like to see both Sandilands and Phelan rewarded for their under appreciated passion for exposing and highlighting the fundamental flaws and incompetence in the Australian aviation governmental bodies. These 'offices of the Minister' are what could be described at best as 'a frightening joke managed by a conglomerate of bureaucratic shysters'.

Tick tock

SLOP 1nm right, thanks Bloggs. And keep those eyeballs peeled!

Bloggs, 1nm right wont help you in a crossing situation!

plus 350 feet then as well :oh:

Just dont tell the other guy....

Unless you're on radar (or ADSB) :E

In which case, I'd get pinged for slopping.:{ Oh, hang, on, there's nobody watching the screen, is there? :}

Must be on the black list? This supposedly does not exist anymore. P & C's influence in these matters is slowly subsiding. From what I've heard this area is in turmoil at the moment.

If I was him I'd be e-mailing Mr Xenephon, Mr Sandilands and his 'nominal' local member.

I think it's more like 950 ATC's actually at consoles.

Probably is. The fact that they have one while still running TRA's (badly) speaks volumes about the management and their competence. Blacklisting people who leave- what is this, 1950? Coupled with the fact that the retirement wave has been looming for years- YEARS while they did nothing about it. :zzz:

Isn't pride one of the Corporate Deadly Sins? Certainly 'cutting off your nose to spite your face' is not new at AsA.

...or he could join me, this Northern Summer, sipping a Pina Colada on a Caribbean island full of half-naked Scandinavian backpackers :p

Fatigue factor ??
 

Out of simple curiosity and interest, how many 'crew' should there be; in an ideal, sane world.

Never thought about it much, but there must be a 'minimum' sort of roster, variable I guess but if we are chronically short on a regular basis, then it's a real worry. The troops may conceivably carry the odd shortage, Bloggs falls of push bike on the way to work, Jones has flu and Smith went to bucks party etc. so there are some holes to plug, but this must raise the issue of fatigue.

It's probably fine to cover the odd shortage, but on a regular basis? – I wonder how many are operating below par, simply because they're knackered.

Much is made of pilot, flight attendant, truck drivers etc time on duty, have the ATS troops got such a thing??.

Kharon - ASA has a "robust fatigue management system" :ugh:, but there are only 3 rules that are inviolate when it comes to overtime. 10 hour maximum shift, minimum 8 hours off between shifts and maximum 10 shifts without a day off (day off being 30 hours including midnight to midnight). Everything else is about mitigating fatigue risks, rather than avoiding it. We actually have some shifts where the official advice is to "nap on breaks", and probably like any fatigue management system, there is no such thing as too tired to work.

I think ASA management realised their mistake a few years ago, even if they never admitted it. The college has been recruiting and training people as fast as it can for some time, it's just not fast enough.

PS Scarily enough, the 10/8/10 rules are part of ATC employment conditions, not fatigue management, and so are up for grabs in the CA negotiations.

...and have not been derived from established knowledge of consciousness and sleep psychology.

FRMS
 

Thanks for a good reply; thing is though it must be like flying, you get some 'horror stories' which can leave you drained for a day or so and really, given your druthers, a day off would be welcome.

I've often wondered about how you make an individually tailored 'fatigue plan' to suit the individual, would it becomes very complex and very quickly subject to open ended abuse?.

It intrigues me though, some guys can fly night shift and do well, then collapse in a heap on a change to day roster, others (me included) can go all day or night but, get held up or have to wait about a few hours and exhaustion sets in.

Yep, it's a puzzle, but I think 'modern' life is a factor not often considered, sometimes just getting to work on time is worth a day off. Anyway – as Fatigue Risk management is an inexact science, guess we'll just have to do what we have always done. Grin and bear it.

But it would be nice to know that this hole in the famous cheese was plugged up and could never be an element in the unthinkable.

In a sense there is an individual fatigue plan, if you are tired don't go to work. If this means going sick or declining overtime then so be it. It is open to abuse (very workplace has one), and if you are going sick once a week due fatigue the I think its reasonable for management to suggest this job isn't for you. Conversely there is also usually someone who will grab every scrap of overtime they can get, often going sick on rostered shifts as a result.

Which circles back nicely to the original cause of the TRA, if its anything like the group I'm in. A roster that provides barely enough staff at any given time and not enough staff to actually fill that roster so the buffer provided by overtime is often already used up.

Those rules are over 20 years old so probably predate most research. However, they provide more protection than FRMS2 (ASA's current system).

With regards to the "black list", in my darker moments I wonder if its "pour encourager les autres" as much as to punish deserters.

The ASA yes men are ONLY interested in "service continuity" - screw everything else. Gotta keep Albo happy so he can continue delaying the YSSY 2nd airport decision.....

Greg & Co have torn the guts out of the operational side of ATC. Tripled middle management with a flawed management restructure a few years back - never recovered. Wanted to make them more accountable for Admin duties among others. All under the guise of reducing admin staff, however as has been highlighted in an earlier post the hangers-on in Canberra are breeding at an exponential rate. Hell rumours are that they need a 1 (yes ONE) day course in moving from one floor to the next in the same building!!!

No questions, no investigations - just more band aids. Controllers are being compromised by this structure and the continued denial of the current problems - never mind the problems looming on the resource horizon.

They have re-jigged the measurement of staff numbers so as to justify the existing shortfall - the old "hire the consultant that gives you the answer you want" management theory.

NO, I REPEAT NO frontline controllers go to work wanting a front page BOS incident. They are being let down by an inept management that is living in denial and continues to use bigger and bigger whips so that everyone jumps as ordered.

Big tip of the hat to Ben Sandilands and Co for continuing to pursue this story and I hope that he can expose the truth before some poor overworked, under appreciated, under paid controller has a REALLY bad day.

Keep asking the questions!!

TICK TOCK as Gobbles would say! Don't worry Ben is still on the job:Qantas 737 and Air China in NT collision risk scare | Plane Talking :ok:

Pure undiluted self interest
 

I do apologise for a lack of knowledge here, but in my own defence “we” (the lads) the pilot body always thought it was not a bad 'gig' on the ATS side of things. Not so ?, apparently.

There is (or was) a very strong union which, we believed by protecting their 'troops' were protecting 'us' in Australian skies. I, for one am always bloody pleased to be back 'in home waters', even Darwin has made me smile and feel better about things overall (after Ujung on HF). There has always been a feeling of 'Great – now we can relax'.

Look, I could dance about the daisy's all day here but; there is really only one question. Despite the best efforts of our dedicated, esteemed colleagues in the ATS are our skies as safe as we suppose them to be ?.

I don't mean in some fluffy, woozy, bean counter, PC sort of way. I mean 'fair dinkum'. Tales of Bullying, overtime, massive, unrealistic compliance expectations, under staffed, under trained, experienced people ignored; and, run by people who, it seems wouldn't know how to do anything but use a company credit card. Well – it's all starting to look a bit grim, ain't it.

If there is a problem, or even a hint of a problem, surely the travelling public and the aircrews need to know. Even if only in the spirit of 'advice'. “Your government can longer guarantee your safety in the sovereign airspace it controls”. TRUE/ FALSE.

I believe 'we' should know.

Selah.

I don't get it.....
 

Could anyone please tell me if the following reply at the bottom of the post on Crikey is serious or sarcastic? I really am not sure how to take it. Honestly, I can't seem to sort it out. I really hope it is sarcastic though, then the reply would make sense.

"dnsmax": Is that you direct.no.speed? Please PM me.


dnsmax
Posted April 9, 2012 at 4:43 pm | Permalink
Cmon Ben,

Everyone knows that Airservices is not short of controllers. The CEO has said so on many occassions. Hell, there is a whole bunch of press releases going back years calling the controller renegades. If they were short they would have taken the controllers union to Fair Work Australia to ensure that they work overtime and threaten them if they could not provide a reason why they forfeited a day off. Hell, if they were short, controllers would be called 2,3 even four times a day on their days off to come to work. Controllers would probably even be turning off their phones. And Airservices is involved in a massive restructure of the airspace requiring huge amounts of training for unknown gain – this simply could not happen if Airservices were short of controllers.

I don’t know where you get your information from Ben. Cmon! Airservices are definitely not short of controllers.

Not sure if you are being sarcastic or not but, knowing the place, I think I would safely bet it is written sarcastically.

good luck guys, sounds like you need help.
Quokka, will be in the carribean july. what is the name of that beach?

What you said here...

Tales of Bullying, overtime, massive, unrealistic compliance expectations, under staffed, under trained, experienced people ignored; and, run by people who, it seems wouldn't know how to do anything but use a company credit card.

Is a nice little summary of some of the major issues.

I haven't worked there for a long time now but I still say with no hesitation that you are safe in Australian skies. Some of the 'minor' stuff which is considered 'unsafe' and dealt with in such a serious manner by ASA, would be simply overlooked in a 'lets get on with it' approach in many other countries.

The Australian ATC system is robust and thorough for all its faults - maybe less so than 5 or so years ago though as there are more holes in the swiss cheese layers than before. But I personally would feel 100% safe travelling and flying there.

Unsafe skies for all?
 

Quokka + Caribbean = ASA CEO!! Enjoy the 'work trip' Greg!

OK then
 

What, all day, every day - Hiundai ?? , then, I am sure the traveling public can sink back into their "lazy boy' chairs (Yclass) and just relax.

I only got here yesterday, wasn't born then. :D.

Doubt that there would be one ATC group in ASA that wouldn't benefit from more staff. The staffing numbers, although improving are really at a knives edge, increasing traffic (and not just through the major hubs), large numbers of staff with 30 years service who can retire with minimal notice.

More staff would enable the update of training programs, more staff would permit accrued annual leave and long service leave to be taken, more staff would enable operational ATCs to be released to the college to train the new recruits (rather than rely on retired ATCs, not that there's anything wrong with that...), more staff would enable more services to be provided (think Port Hedland, Wagga, Taree, Emerald), more staff would see an effective fatigue/staff management that doesn't rely on staff being called on their days off to fill a hole in a roster, more staff would enable direct operational input into the future ATC system (does it have a name yet)?

No, but I'll take his salary... and his Platinum Credit Card... :E ...and give him a run for his money.

Sorry... that should read... the aviation industry's money. :=

Only 3rd hand, but .... recently heard that, after an internal review at the ATC Training College, it was decided not to employ more "blip drivers" (who drive the simulated aircraft in the ATC simulator) to fill the current shortage ... but to create 10 new Management Positions in the College.

Don't know the rationale behind it, but, on the surface, it seems to be a packet of poo :ugh:

Thanks for putting me straight.
Baileys, I wasn't being sarcastic.
Thanks all.:O

Yeah, the internal review of the training college has resulted in the appointment of a new GM (like they need any more) who's grand total of training knowledge, pretty much = 0

I look forward to the seeing the improvement...

Think I heard somewhere that the 'Learning Academy' is no more and it's now being called a 'School' again??

That'll fix it. :ugh: