Italian Government sacks ENAV Board
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Italian Government sacks ENAV Board
Italy Daily - Herald International Tribune. .Milan, Friday, February 8, 2002
The government fired the board of the national flight control authority ENAV on Thursday night and named attorney Massimo Varazzani as interim commissioner.
At press time, the government had yet to provide an official explanation. However, the move was not unexpected after ENAV Chairman Giulio Spano sparked alarm by remarking he could not vouch for the safety of air transport in the wake of Italy's worst air disaster late last year.
"Today, more than ever before, I don't feel I can guarantee air safety," Mr. Spano told the Transport Committee of Parliament's lower house last month.
Milan prosecutors investigating the air disaster at Milan's Linate Airport, which killed 118, found that ENAV exerted leverage on the contracts awarded at the airport. A Transport Ministry probe also highlighted a series of safety procedure violations of which ENAV was indicated as responsible.
The airport's ground radar system had not been working for more than a year when the accident occurred on a foggy Oct 8. Runway stop signs were also said to be inadequate in the report.
Seven people have been placed under investigation in connection with the disaster, including two top ENAV officials.
Mr. Spano's doubts about air safety came shortly after the EU reduced the minimum vertical safety distance between planes, raising more concerns.
They also came amid regular sparring between Mr. Spano and ENAV CEO Sandro Gualano.
Mr. Varazzani has a background in banking and an accomplished record of turning around ailing firms.
Most analysts expect his interim administration will be a prelude to a larger reform in which the role of ENAV, to which air traffic controllers report, will be reduced in favor of an enlarged ENAC, as Italy's civil aviation authority is know, in order to clarify accountability and reduce turf wars.
The government fired the board of the national flight control authority ENAV on Thursday night and named attorney Massimo Varazzani as interim commissioner.
At press time, the government had yet to provide an official explanation. However, the move was not unexpected after ENAV Chairman Giulio Spano sparked alarm by remarking he could not vouch for the safety of air transport in the wake of Italy's worst air disaster late last year.
"Today, more than ever before, I don't feel I can guarantee air safety," Mr. Spano told the Transport Committee of Parliament's lower house last month.
Milan prosecutors investigating the air disaster at Milan's Linate Airport, which killed 118, found that ENAV exerted leverage on the contracts awarded at the airport. A Transport Ministry probe also highlighted a series of safety procedure violations of which ENAV was indicated as responsible.
The airport's ground radar system had not been working for more than a year when the accident occurred on a foggy Oct 8. Runway stop signs were also said to be inadequate in the report.
Seven people have been placed under investigation in connection with the disaster, including two top ENAV officials.
Mr. Spano's doubts about air safety came shortly after the EU reduced the minimum vertical safety distance between planes, raising more concerns.
They also came amid regular sparring between Mr. Spano and ENAV CEO Sandro Gualano.
Mr. Varazzani has a background in banking and an accomplished record of turning around ailing firms.
Most analysts expect his interim administration will be a prelude to a larger reform in which the role of ENAV, to which air traffic controllers report, will be reduced in favor of an enlarged ENAC, as Italy's civil aviation authority is know, in order to clarify accountability and reduce turf wars.
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Seems that the ministry of transportation wants to change ENAC too, ENAV will cease to exist and everything will be under one body only
NAC.. .The latest news is that the minister of transportation wants to change even the actual ENAC's structure and management after the LIN accident and after the latest protests about the safe application of RVSM.. .Who knows...maybe we are witnessing an hystorical change for the better...cannot be worse anyway!
NAC.. .The latest news is that the minister of transportation wants to change even the actual ENAC's structure and management after the LIN accident and after the latest protests about the safe application of RVSM.. .Who knows...maybe we are witnessing an hystorical change for the better...cannot be worse anyway!
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The Flight operation branch of ENAC has been one of the most powerful "brake" for the italian civil aviation development....but an "accelerator" for "special customers".
If we look at the skills and the...integrity... of some People running the department as "kings"....Clear examples of how to bend the rules for "friends" (...those with big $$$ power...) and to apply the "small printing" of hardly used rules for all the others...are under everybodys' eyes.
Few of those individuals are still there, at least one with big conflict of interests...being the owner of a small airline ("officially" under his wife's name) and belonging to the regulatory authority that looks after his company operations....unbelievable...!
When there was the "merge" between the RAI (the airworthiness side) with Civilavia to form the ENAC, the RAI managers (with a more international mindset) found a department where people had no idea about Information Technology, very little knowledge...if any.. in the English language...and of course about the international regulations (unless they were translated into italian...with globalization and open skys being the new frontiers since much time...!)...but with big arrogance...being only able for "miracles", that is applying mostly anacronist rules in favour of the chosen few and in a lethargic state for the rest of the customers community.
Just as an example (for the chosen few), it's still a mistery from where Civilavia developed (...or under which interested suggestion...) the Flight time limitations that were introduced at the end of the '80s, valid for aircraft with flight management systems, as at the time Civilavia had absolutely no idea about the new cockpit technology (as they normally used/still use "to run" years after the most recent aviation developments).
Those "FMS" new limits were for a 2-pilot crew: 13hrs flight time, 14:30 duty time; for a 3-pilot crew: 17 hrs flight, 20 hrs duty. Of course, no mention about sectors, zone times, rest periods.
Alitalia,(and ANPAC,the pilots association), that always had/have a big influence/interference in the CAA directors appointments, were its only reference: but, in turn, these latter had also no experience on glass cockpits (...maybe they were just dreaming for that..), as Alitalia was still operating only "steam gauges cockpit" fleet still for the followig years, until they introduced the MD 11.
Also the Pilots association always declared such limits to be dangerous!
So, where did Civilavia "envision" these "safe limits" from?
...Somebody made big $$$$$ from it....sparing a lot of crews.
If we want really to belong to Europe, it's time to wipe out this culture straight away!
....Civitas magna opulentia....
If we look at the skills and the...integrity... of some People running the department as "kings"....Clear examples of how to bend the rules for "friends" (...those with big $$$ power...) and to apply the "small printing" of hardly used rules for all the others...are under everybodys' eyes.
Few of those individuals are still there, at least one with big conflict of interests...being the owner of a small airline ("officially" under his wife's name) and belonging to the regulatory authority that looks after his company operations....unbelievable...!
When there was the "merge" between the RAI (the airworthiness side) with Civilavia to form the ENAC, the RAI managers (with a more international mindset) found a department where people had no idea about Information Technology, very little knowledge...if any.. in the English language...and of course about the international regulations (unless they were translated into italian...with globalization and open skys being the new frontiers since much time...!)...but with big arrogance...being only able for "miracles", that is applying mostly anacronist rules in favour of the chosen few and in a lethargic state for the rest of the customers community.
Just as an example (for the chosen few), it's still a mistery from where Civilavia developed (...or under which interested suggestion...) the Flight time limitations that were introduced at the end of the '80s, valid for aircraft with flight management systems, as at the time Civilavia had absolutely no idea about the new cockpit technology (as they normally used/still use "to run" years after the most recent aviation developments).
Those "FMS" new limits were for a 2-pilot crew: 13hrs flight time, 14:30 duty time; for a 3-pilot crew: 17 hrs flight, 20 hrs duty. Of course, no mention about sectors, zone times, rest periods.
Alitalia,(and ANPAC,the pilots association), that always had/have a big influence/interference in the CAA directors appointments, were its only reference: but, in turn, these latter had also no experience on glass cockpits (...maybe they were just dreaming for that..), as Alitalia was still operating only "steam gauges cockpit" fleet still for the followig years, until they introduced the MD 11.
Also the Pilots association always declared such limits to be dangerous!
So, where did Civilavia "envision" these "safe limits" from?
...Somebody made big $$$$$ from it....sparing a lot of crews.
If we want really to belong to Europe, it's time to wipe out this culture straight away!
....Civitas magna opulentia....
