Skytrans not happy about the competition
 

The riff between Skytrans and Hinterland seems to be widening. Skytrans failed to apply for approved short field landing approval for their C208 operations in the straits and subsequently were stoped by CASA from operating into the strips. Since then approval has been obtained for all the strips bar the shortest Darnley and Mabuiag.



Hinterland seems to have obtained the required approval and been granted an emergency contract by the QLD Government to conduct scheduled air transport operations into Darnley and Mabuiag Island’s.



As one can imagine the upper echelons at Skytrans are not happy about this.



The chief pilot of Skytrans was whiteness boarding one of Hinterlands services to Mabuiag disguised as a tradesperson.

Word on the street is the CP has been heard saying “we are going to get these boys grounded”.

Looks like the management at JTs airline are throwing the toys out of the cot.

What’s the better company to work for? Who treats the Pilots better? Does PC from Broome still own Hinterland? Many Pilots sitting in the front of big jets around the world because of that gentleman.

Seems a bit rich to whinge about the competition when it was your organisation that made the error.

I know of a few people at each place definitely seems as far as the 208 Ops goes Hinterland has better pay and conditions.

I wonder if the HOFO used his real name? Or fake. If fake I would think it would be illegal.

Only heard good things about working for PC and Hinterland.
Can’t comment about working for Skytrans but if they had their head in the sand about the new Part135 requirement I’m sure it says a lot about how it is being managed currently. Maybe the CP should keep his dress ups and take on being a tradie instead 😂.

Good point MD, questionable intent from a key person is an organisation like that.

Sly tactics like that are normally an indication that things are getting desperate.

Skytrans apparently thinks it's necessary to dress up in disguises and resort to questionable measures. Seriously? How sad.

I have been following the Torres Strait story in the cairns post. There was a lot of finger pointing towards Casa and others in the news articles, meanwhile apparently Hinterland already had the approvals since last year!

competition is healthy and should be based on merit Perhaps it's time for Skytrans to focus on their own internal issues and address the root causes of their setbacks, rather than trying to shift blame onto others. After all, pointing fingers and engaging in covert operations won't get their planes off the ground or fix their management woes.

God in trouble with CARZA again?

is thick minee back?

The Cairns Post reported last week that this situation was resolved and Skytrans had regained all their approvals.

Celebrity part owners do not guarantee success. The success of a company relies upon the staff and CASA compliance. If Head of flight Ops, Quality assurance, and the CEO/GM have dropped the ball; then failure results.

CASA's concern about operating into remote or shorter than normal airstrips is justified if the aircraft are operating outside the AFM performance charts. Likewise if the airstrips do not meet current regulations for RPT/CHT ops. (I'm NOT suggesting Skytrans are operating illegally)

The issue is poor leadership from management and Chief Pilot; the concerns are not new; it is an issue that been on the table for a fair while. Forget public media, the public has little or no idea about aircraft performance. It may also be suggested that the Underwriter has also dropped the ball and has not been conducting annual audits.

When a company's problems are aired in the public domain; it takes a long time to address any shortcomings.

From an ex Skytrans t&c: Skytrans flight ops manager went up to mabuiag to install a webcam so they can determine wet/dry runway, as wet runway is not possible on that length. He also said Hinterland appear to be ignoring the 135mos and the C208 POH re 50ft crossing height and landing on the keys or close to.

The great thing about instruments of approval is that they allow for specific procedures to be granted, as long as there is an equivalent level of safety with additional controls put in place. The provisions in Part 135 MOS Chpt 10 are quite useful for an operator that knows how to interpret it correctly and can develop effective procedures and risk controls. The STOL Blackhawk 208 has been landing on MAA nice and short exactly as the 135 MOS and provisions allow for.

So that would have been the alleged Chief Pilot disguised as a tradie! https://www.pprune.org/images/smilies/evil.gif

So the truth comes out :=. Sounds like Hinterland setting their guys up for failure…

Glad to hear the blue birds are landing nice and short on the short runways. I would be worried if they weren't touching down before the numbers!

Macca

Spot on Macca, I don’t think people have an appreciation for the length of these runways.

My thoughts exactly. A test pilot flying an exact airspeed, crossing the threshold at exactly 50 feet, slamming it on the ground and applying maximum braking gets the numbers into the AFM.
A bush pilot attempting the same stunt on a really short strip would quickly be unemployed.
It's not a bloody Boeing landing at Brisbane FFS.

Those Blackhawk converted C208s look quite capable.

Maybe the issue is Skytrans never really read the Regs in the first place, hence the reason they got in trouble for not being compliant 12 month after Part 135 came in.

Hinterland GM and HOFO are brave boys thinking that their piece of paper gets them around the P135 and the C208 POH.

Probably something that you’d want to run by the punters in the back, wouldn’t you say?

unless you know exactly what’s on the approval or what the approved procedures are that’s a bit rich. Maybe the approval has considerations that the other operator has not even thought of?

Plenty of exemptions and approvals getting around the traps for interesting things that are completely safe and compliant.