Pel Air Victoria under investigation
 

Article in the Herald Sun today regarding an investigation into Pel Air over a spate of aircraft not pressurising. 3 occurrences in the last three months!

(Paywall) https://www.heraldsun.com.au/subscri...ment-2-NOSCORE

Well perhaps you can paste the content, I don't know anyone that subscribes to that rag.

An independent audit has been launched after paramedics highlighted safety issues they say are plaguing Ambulance Victoria aircraft.Breathing gear has dropped from the ceilings of ambulance planes mid-air after “alarming” pressurisation check failings.

There have been three such pressurisation incidents aboard Ambulance Victoria aircraft making an ascent since last October.

They were among a litany of safety issues which whistleblowers say are plaguing the service’s fleet of four fixed-wing planes.

Ambulance Victoria sources say the cases were caused by compression instrumentation not being properly set before takeoff.

As planes reach a certain height, the oxygen equipment would drop without those settings being applied because the altitude meant breathing assistance was required.

One paramedic said it was extraordinary to think that there had been three cases in as many months, two in October and another this month.

That officer said he could not remember such issues occurring before and that breathing gear was deployed in two of the incidents.

No one was injured.

One paramedic said what had happened was a symptom of a stretched pilot workforce and had led those who fly to question what other mistakes could result.

“It shouldn’t be happening,” he said.

Paramedics say the fleet’s pilot roster is understaffed, resulting in overwork.

They say the pilots are high-standard operators but their workload means mistakes are inevitable.

“They’re all great people but the demands on their roster are so great. Small mistakes are creeping in. The workforce is concerned a small mistake could become a big mistake,” an officer said.

Multiple sources say it has become difficult to find and retain pilots because of the attraction of better air ambulance pay rates interstate and the lure of commercial work.

At other times, an ageing fleet meant there was a shortage of aircraft because of the number in for mechanical work.

Those sources say that there had been instances in recent weeks where only one plane was available.

“This is the tremor before the earthquake. We’ll have a proper safety event soon,” one source said.

The planes are operated by Pel-Air under contract and there is an agreement for four new models to be supplied by the middle of this year.

AV’s executive director of clinical operations Anthony Carlyon said no mechanical issues have been identified and all four fixed-wing aircraft remained in service.

“Ambulance Victoria takes the safety of our people and patients very seriously,” Mr Carlyon said.

“Any in-flight incidents are reported promptly, in line with protocols to ensure our high standards for safety and service are delivered – and our contracted aeromedical partner Pel-Air conducts maintenance and safety checks on the aircraft after each event.”

Mr Carlyon said Pel-Air had been a respected AV contractor for more than a decade.

He said the organisation worked closely with Pel-Air to ensure it continued to meet the contract requirements, including for the fixed-wing fleet and

pilot availability.

Ambulance Victoria has commissioned an independent aviation safety audit to examine what happened in the pressurisation incidents.

Ambulance Employees Union secretary Danny Hill said the pressurisation incidents had happened at an altitude of about 11,000ft.

Those cases were clearly concerning for his members and any patients on board, Mr Hill said.

If the spaghetti has been falling out of the roof at about 11,000ft, it would indicate to me that the pilots have been forgetting to turn the bleeds on after take off.

Three similar events in a short period of time is pretty serious, particularly if the events weren’t isolated to one aircraft.

Been at least one King Air accident in Australia, where the pilot may have forgotten to put the bleeds on and ended up crashing on the other side of the country due to hypoxia.

Transition scan and checklist should capture the bleeds if they have been forgotten, pilot fatigue isn’t an acceptable reason for this in my opinion. If it is, why haven’t they had three gear up landings?

Bleeds should go on entering the runway. I don’t understand how they can miss it with bright green lights lighting up the annunciator panel!

Pay peanuts get low time pilots who treat it like a stepping stone and don’t stay around long enough to get experience. Those remaining get overworked and tired and leave. And the cycle repeats.

100k fora B200 pilot and soon to be 115k for a B350 aeromedical pilot for a state government in a big city? Please tell me I’m wrong.

Increase pay and you’ll get some who stay for the lifestyle.

AV almost certainly chose the lowest bidder. The chickens coming home to roost.

Any truth to the rumour that the NSW gov is contributing to the salaries of Pelair pilots to stop them leaving and guarantee keeping the medical service because the original bid was so cheap?

If you do your FLOW checks; you really cannot miss selecting bleed ON.

Bright green lights suggest all is well. The bleeds off lights should be amber, but from memory Beech did it wrong, in keeping with the rest of that cluttered cockpit. It's as if they set out to trap the unwary. That includes yours truly, who when flying several types, got sucked in by B200 green bleed lights more than once (fortunately picked up after takeoff).
Also, waiting until the line up phase to select something so vital as pressurization is another trap. The B200 factory checklist is truly stone age. Modern thinking is to get critical stuff done before moving, leaving pilots free to concentrate on the outside world as they taxy.

The AFM says on hot days switching the bleedes to pneumatic OFF, the middle switch selection, can provide extra cooling. So pressurisation is off but cooling is on. If you do that after you have done the before takeoff checks you then don't have a checklist to back up putting them back on. The pilot must adhere to checklist discipline. I won't even comment on the after takeoff checks and the transition checks both calling for a pressurisation check. Inexcusable to miss a cabin climbing at the same rate as the aircraft in those checks (after I just said I won't even comment)

Ahhhh! That just answered a question that I had forgot about...Someone in the know...what happens if you turn the bleeds on say at 9 to 10k feet? Does it push the cabin pressure back to sea level pretty quickly?

The trick is, if you forget the bleeds, level off before 10,000ft, wind the pressurisation cabin altitude up to 9000ft, turn the bleeds on one by one, then continue the climb. Once in the cruise, slowly wind the cabin down.

Wind the cabin to approx match your height, wind rate control back and select bleeds, should give reduced cabin buffet and then adjust cabin back to where it suits then reprimand self

Trouble is, if you go into flight levels and let the rubber jungle out for a trot around the cabin, you can do whatever you want with the presurisation and bleeds,
ya gotta turn around

3 covid jabs, as well as flu jab every year could be a barrier to entry for new applicant pilots, as per Health Dept outdated contract, which still says covid is vaccine preventable. (We all know has been proven not to be true.) :ugh:

Correct on the last 4 points.
As far as the first point, yes they pay peanuts, It's definately not it's not a stepping stone. This is single pilot high intensity flying. Minimum requirements for Ambulance Victoria are: 2,500command, 1500twin, 200instrument & night. Airlines are taking 500hrs total and you don't require jet/turbine time.

They may be the published minimums, but what are they actually taking?

Two hours in a Hyundai Excel or similar, which includes the time taken to drive to the interview. Oh, and you have to at least passed two sets of traffic lights during that time.

Is there no “Cabin Alt” warning in a Kingair?

By memory we had a white cabin altitude advisory / yellow L and R Bleed Air Off cautions and red Cabin Ht High Cabin Diff High Left and Right Bleed Air Fail warning indicators plus aural tones at 10,000 and 12,500ft in the “350” can’t remember what the 200 had

Yep, about right. I recently interviewed and after getting the pay scale, bond for type rating, length of roster, cost of a 1 bedroom unit in proximity to Mascot being about $700 to $800 a week it just didn’t make sense.

Makes sense only as a stepping stone. They make it obvious that a new joiner is not a valuable asset, half pay until released to line, a bond for a poorly run type endorsement. Not sure they actually want people to stay long term.

See what happens when you go and drive tractors mate!

You do raise a very valid point, ie. the colour of the annunciators.

My personal discipline in regard to this particular matter was that apart from the Med Bus On (specific to our aeromed aircraft) annunciator, there should be no lights down there before take off. If there was, then I’d missed something.

Any time that I had reversed a switch after a completed checklist, I scrolled the electronic checklist back to the start of that phase and checked the necessary checklist had been completed on lineup.

Yes Don, you are so right. The adult leaves the room and the pea shooters come our, finger paint gets chucked around, the girls light up............. Like when you left the old Plank mate, the place fell apart. The PLTOFFs all went stupid...aaah, flamin 'eck, whaddayado??

Re the colour of annunciator lights issue, wearing my CVDPA director's hat I can't resist pointing out the exquisite irony of colour usage that confuses. Identifying the meaning of lights that happen to be coloured produces the safety outcome, not identifying the colour. Perhaps pilots with some kinds of colour vision deficiency wouldn't be so confused?

In any event, any aviation-related context in which important information is conveyed by colour alone is the product of very bad design, plain and simple.

(And I could be wrong, but I thought all the studies of hypoxia - or maybe it was CO poisoning or both - showed that audible alarms were more likely to be acted upon?)

That's the minimum, end of story. Ambulance Victoria will never compromise on this.

If that’s true, I find it hard to believe they’re getting any applications at all considering how abysmal the wages are (if they are as claimed above).

Worth pointing out this is commercial work. It is a government contract operated for profit by Pel Air to provide a service. So if they aren’t paying enough to retain qualified staff they need to pay more money. They should not now be trying to make out like they’re a charity because they don’t won’t to pay market salary.

its the rex way

Crop duster down near Bourke - Pilot deceased.
 

It is always heartbreaking to hear about accidents in the aviation industry, especially when they result in the loss of a pilot's life. The recent incident involving a crop duster down near Bourke is a stark reminder of the risks that pilots face every time they take to the skies.