[Kharon]

Straws, and the grasping thereof.

Hitch calls it (for wont of better) a storm in a teacup, which is probably more consideration than it merits. So what, there are a few blank pages in the ERSA, which is, in all probability, a printers error and has SFA to do with ASA. Blast the printers if you must, but how, realistically, can the printer check every single page, of every single manual made?

ERSA is a ‘planning’ tool and a source of information, handy item to have on board, and an essential for VFR operations. But it is mostly at the pre flight stage that the ERSA becomes important, although it is not used much by those who carry it in the manner it should be.

(Drags out pet hobby horse) :- take the STODA section for example; ask your mate to explain the implications, how to use it and why it is important. Try it. Aircraft like the ubiquitous PA 31 have ‘performance’ charts in the flight manual; these refer to amongst things, single engine performance. It is possible to produce an ‘envelope’ which gives a rough idea of how the aircraft will perform OEI, climb gradient, distance travelled to safe height, time required to reach OCH etc. The STODA section of ERSA will provide information of the runway distance available to make the gradient required to meet the minimum clearance.  Short field, hot day can reduce the take off weight by indicating that the gradient required, full length, is beyond the OEI climb capability of the aircraft.  But, I digress: riding hobby horses will do that to a bloke.

The only possible scenario where the ‘missing’ pages could, but should not, become a safety issue is when the first time the ERSA is consulted is prior to landing; old mate whips out the new, pristine ERSA to look up the information for Dust Bowl ALA – shock horror – a blank page. Now, not even I can parlay that into an ASA bash – it simply ain’t their fault. CASA most certainly will not see it as so. That dog won’t hunt.  No, a sensible pilot would have a little look in the ERSA, at flight planning. Then it becomes “Oh dear” and the only danger is not being able to find a computer and printer; even that is no great threat. Not these days, there things like mobile telephones which may be used to gather essential information – pre departure.

This almost hysterical attack on the ASA serves little purpose and may even be counterproductive. If I was ASA I’d tell ‘em, politely (of course) that there was an error made at the contracted printers, we have resolved that and a ‘new’ bible is available, free of charge at the local pilots toy shop; now, bugger off.  By the by: never, not once in the long history of CASA has there ever been any sort of action taken over ‘pages’ missing; even at audit. You may get an email saying ‘Oi, section A4, pages 10 through 17 are missing (or blank). Provided you can supply the missing (blank) pages the worst case scenario is a delay.

Hitch ain’t a bad scribe, not at all; but for me, the master craftsman sums it up best..

“It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

Toot toot.

[Gobbledock]

"Hey Barnaby, is that PFOS I can see on your willy"?

It would seem that Tamworth is a bit of a bad luck port for Bad Skin Barnaby and the NFI chromosome deficient Chester? First was the so-called verbal assault on them by the aviation IOS. Second was the infamous piss trough selfie shenanigans. And how we have a Council trying to make sure that no mitigation costs or blame be levelled at them;

Tamworth Council seeks action from Federal Government on PFAS contamination

Due to concerns the community will be "held to ransom" and forced to fund a clean up of contamination from a toxic firefighting foam at the airport, Tamworth Regional Council will ask the Federal Government what it plans to do to remediate the site in the northern New South Wales city.

But Deputy Prime Minister and the local MP, Barnaby Joyce, has not been quick to offer support, saying an assessment of liability and impact was needed first, and the Government is doing its "due diligence".

Council has started testing in an area north of the airport, to determine if the elevated levels of PFAS contamination have leaked off the site.

The chemicals are the same as those known to have leaked off some defence force bases around the country but the Environment Protection Authority said in this case the risk for potential exposure to the surrounding area appeared low, but more testing was needed.

Council had originally planned to start discussions with the Federal Government about recovering costs already incurred and any future costs incurred in addressing the contamination issue.

Council is blaming the Federal Government for the contamination as, according to a timeline it's prepared, various Commonwealth agencies had control of firefighting services at the airport from when it was established in 1956 to 1993.

At the urging of councillor Glenn Inglis at a meeting last night, councillors decided to ramp-up their approaches to the Federal Government.

Council will formally deny any liability for the contamination, and write to the Department of Defence and Air Services Australia to ask what those bodies will do to contain the pollution and clean up the site.

The issue is totally out of Tamworth Regional Council's control, he said, as "airport operators do not have control over ... firefighting services".

He said it was pointless for any single authority affected to try to find a solution and responsibility needs to lie with the Federal Government.

Government undertaking due diligence: Joyce Speaking at the Tamworth airport this morning, Mr Joyce said the Federal Government was doing its due diligence in determining a response.

The issue first came to light more than 12 months ago, when people living near the Williamtown RAAF base near Newcastle were told not to drink bore water after the discovery of chemical contamination.

"There has to be a diligent assessment, there is a process of assessment going on through the Defence Department," Mr Joyce said.

He said there would not be case-by-case assessments as a national approach was needed.

"We will have an assessment across the nation — it can't just be one airport — it has to be across the nation, we have to assess where the liability lies and who's responsible for it, and we also have to assess, what is the actual affect," he said.

"We have to also ask, is there a liability of the chemical companies, I mean, there's a whole range of questions, and what is the actual effect. We haven't actually had one person, who we can prove there's a clear connection between an ailment they have and this chemical.

"Not that we deny it, it just hasn't been proven that there is one, so just due diligence on behalf of the Government says you can't assume, you have to prove."

Burden of cost should fall on the Federal Government: Mayor
The council's Mayor, Col Murray, said council was seeking to ensure the community was not held to account for the cost of any work needed.

"The Australian Government and the Defence Force, who were the contributors to the contamination, should be the ones to bare the cost and not our community," he said.

"I think the Federal Government has quite a bit of work to do before they navigate a way forward on this one.

"We're just quite keen to see that our community's not held to ransom or held to account to fund any restoration, whatever that might look like.
"It's a very expensive program of testing that's required to quantify the extent of the contamination, so council's very concerned that there is ultimately somebody there that caused the contamination that should pay for the remediation."

Council will ensure all correspondence is provided to New England MP and Deputy Prime Minister, Barnaby Joyce.

Link here;

http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2016-12-14...fmredir=sm

Nothing scares a Council, it's Councillors and the Mayor and CEO more than bad publicity or having to shell out some precious $$$.

Tick Tock goes the airport contamination clock

[Gobbledock]

Unmerry Xmas and a PFOS new year!!

While our elite politicians were enjoying Xmas riches, poncing around the cafés of Point Piper, playing lacrosse, and ensuring their opulent shit doesn't stink, some of our fellow Australians suffered through another Christmas filled with PFOS misery;

The places in Australia where you can’t drink the water
December 23, 20161:20pm

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Charis Changnews.com.au@CharisChang2
[img=0x0]http://pixel.tcog.cp1.news.com.au/track/component/author/224aef2a7889390ef45b13c26720393f?t_product=tcog&t_template=s3/ncatemp/desktop/includes/content-2/authorBlockSingle[/img]
WHEN you’re the father of three children, spraying your gardens with contaminated water day-in, day-out, it’s hard not to feel like “collateral damage”.

Queensland resident Brad Hudson is one of hundreds of Australians who may have been exposed to contaminated water, food and soil for years and are only just starting to wake up to the risks.

For 15 years, Mr Hudson used bore water to shower, clean and irrigate his garden in Oakey without realising he was exposing himself and his family to potentially cancer-causing chemicals used in firefighting foams: PFOS and PFOA.

Mr Hudson’s 10 acre property is just 400m away from the Army Aviation Centre, one of the 18 sites around Australia that the Department of Defence believes could be contaminated by the foams used for nearly 50 years.

Investigations have only just started to reveal the extent of the problem, and it’s now believed the chemicals have leached into the ground and surface water.

Both chemicals have been linked to kidney cancer, testicular cancer, ulcerative colitis, thyroid disease, pregnancy-induced hypertension and medically diagnosed high cholesterol in humans.

In September, the United Nation’s Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee to the Stockholm Convention, said that PFOS and PFOA were linked to six diseases, including some cancers, and warranted a global response.

But the official line from the Federal Government is that there is no substantial proof the chemicals cause significant human health risks.

Experts have slammed the government’s position and say that the chemicals are a serious risk to human health.

Mariann Lloyd-Smith, a senior policy adviser to the National Toxics Network, said she was shocked at the government’s position.

“At best they’re being bloody minded, and when you look at all these residents potentially affected, it’s near criminal to do that,” she said.

Dr Lloyd-Smith said the level of chemicals that Australia considered safe was also “extraordinarily high” compared to other countries.

Australia has set an interim level that it considers safe for PFOS and PFOA in drinking water, which is “about 78 times” what the US accepts.

The issue is so concerning that renowned activist Erin Brockovich has even pledged to advocate on behalf of residents affected by PFOS and PFOA.


Sites around Australia contaminated by PFOS and PFOA.Source:Supplied

Shine Lawyers is currently pulling together a class action on behalf of Oakey residents that will sue the Commonwealth, and specifically the Department of Defence.

Lawyer Peter Shannon, who is leading the action on behalf of residents, said it won’t include a claim for health issues but for the negative impact on people’s property and business values.

“A scheme needs to be established to ensure affected residents are properly compensated for the financial damage they’ve suffered and the devaluation of their property,” Mr Shannon told news.com.au.

Residents have until December 23 to join the action and hundreds have already signed up.

“We are expecting approximately 500 people to join the action,” he said.

Proceedings are expected to begin next year, once they have approval from the litigation funder.

‘THEY ARE EXPECTING US TO SUCK IT UP’

So far, government assessments in local areas have suggested a “low and acceptable” risk to health but there was an outcry earlier this year, when a set of revised guidelines set “tolerable daily intake” levels for PFOS and PFOA in drinking water at 78 times higher than acceptable limits in the US.

To address concerns, the Australian Government commissioned a report to review the limits and a report by chemical residue safety expert Adjunct Professor Andrew Bartholomaeus endorsed the use of European standards, rather than stricter US standards, in September.

But it’s cold comfort to Mr Hudson, 44, who battled testicular cancer three and half years ago and believes the full extent of the problem has yet to be revealed.

“Every second person in this town that you speak to, has got cancer,” he said.

When The Courier Mailtested his irrigation bore it found PFOS at more than 425 times the maximum exposure limit.

His daughter Amba, 5, recorded PFOS and PFOA in her blood at 30 times the Australian average.

“I don’t think anyone would subject themselves to the chemicals we are subjected to,” he said.
“No one will come to my house and wash their hands in the water but we’ve got to do it everyday.

“No one is willing to swap spots but they are expecting us to suck it up.”

Mr Hudson said no one could tell him whether his daughter’s high chemical levels would impact her differently because she was so young, and people seemed more worried about real estate values.

“If I speak out, I’m treated like an outcast because they don’t want to wreck real estate in Oakey, that’s more important than health,” he said.

“Australians are too laid back and don’t care for fellow Australians. They feel sorry for them but they’re not going to do anything.”


Brad Hudson with his daughter Amba. Picture: David KellySource:News Corp Australia

While Mr Hudson no longer has to shower in contaminated water because his house has been hooked up to town water, he still has to wash his horses and gardens using the bore water.

“They don’t want to pay my water bill,” Mr Hudson said. “How irrational and unAustralian is that?”

The Australian Government committed this year to providing voluntary bloodtests for residents as part of a $55 million package to deal with the contamination, but Mr Hudson is scathing of the government response so far and also of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who hasn’t visited the area.

“I’d like to see his kids suck it up, like he expects us to,” he said.

“This is the biggest thing to ever hit Australia, the biggest contamination, and what does he do? Nothing.”

Mr Hudson said the Department of Defence was treating residents like they were “collateral damage”.

“This is a multi-billion dollar problem and they’re trying to get out of it as cheap as possible,” he said. “It’s come down to dollars and sense over health.”

Mr Hudson wants to be relocated but has not had any luck negotiating this with the Department of Defence.

He estimates his six-bedroom property, with granny flats and stables, was probably worth about $750,000 before the contamination was revealed but is probably worth far less now.

An equivalent property would probably cost about $1.5 million to $2 million.

“Even if I want to move out tomorrow, I’m screwed. I’m stuck in a house I have to keep paying off,” he said. “Even if I go bankrupt, I can’t even buy a new property.

“It’s not an easy thing to deal with every day, especially with kids. You’ve got to try and not let it get you down.”

THESE CHEMICALS ARE A SERIOUS RISK
Dr Mariann Lloyd-Smith is also part of the working group that reviews substances for the United Nation’s Stockholm Convention, aimed at controlling some of the world’s most dangerous chemicals. She said Australia’s representative to the UN review committee had agreed with every finding on PFOA.

But the government still insists there is no substantial proof the chemicals cause significant human health risks.

The position is also at odds with evidence available from sources such as the Dupont case in the US that found PFOA contributed to a woman’s kidney cancer after a Dupont plant contaminated local drinking water.

Dr Lloyd-Smith said letters from the case showed an in-house study circulated within the company found elevated rates of cancer like kidney cancer and endocrine disorders.

In 2005, Du Pont was fined $US16.5 million for failing to report these findings and other data to the US Environmental Protection Agency, and last year the company was ordered to pay $1.6 million to the woman who got kidney cancer.

When it comes to chemicals in a person’s blood, Australia has yet to set a safe limit.
But Dr Lloyd-Smith said one toxicologist for Defence suggested 2000ng/mL of PFOS in blood was safe during an inquiry into Country Fire Authority’s Fiskville training base in Victoria, which has also been contaminated with PFOS.

This is significantly higher than new limits Germany introduced this year, that suggest 5ng/mL for PFOS and 2ng/mL for PFOA as safe.

Dr Lloyd-Smith said the more evidence that emerged, the lower the safe levels were getting.

“Maybe in five years time, regulators may say there is no safe level just like mercury and lead,” she said.

ONGOING INVESTIGATIONS

Defence is conducting detailed environmental investigations at following sites:
• RAAF Base Williamtown
• Army Aviation Centre Oakey
• RAAF Base East Sale
• HMAS Albatross
• RAAF Base Pearce
• RAAF Base Edinburgh
Preliminary sampling is taking place at:
• RAAF Base Townsville
• RAAF Base Richmond
• RAAF Base Amberley
• RAAF Base Wagga
• RAAF Base Tindal
• RAAF Base Darwin
• HMAS Creswell/Jervis Bay Range Facility
• Holsworthy Barracks
• Robertson Barracks
• Bandiana Military Area
• HMAS Cerberus
• Garden Island HMAS Stirling

WILLIAMTOWN, NSW
The Department of Defence has known since 2012 that surface water leaving the RAAF Base Williamtown had elevated levels of both PFOS and PFOA but did not tell the public.
The air base located just 15km outside of Newcastle will now be remediated, along with Oakey.

A human health risk assessment found a small area immediately south of the base had higher concentrations of PFOA and PFOS. Residents have been advised not to shower, bathe or fill pools with groundwater. They have also not to drink milk from local cows or to eat beef grown within the area.

Those in the broader investigation area have been found to have a “low and acceptable” risk for eating local seafood.

Defence was providing water to more than 70 properties and will spend $3.5 million to get homes connected to town water. It is also funding a $9 million water treatment plant to treat contaminated water leaving Lake Cochran.

OAKEY, QUEENSLAND
Residents around Oakey are preparing a class action after it was revealed groundwater around the Army Aviation Centre, which is about 3km from the town centre, had been contaminated by PFOS and PFOA.

The chemicals were found in groundwater at the site as early as 2010, and further environmental studies found that soil, sediment, surface water and groundwater on and off the site were contaminated.

The two chemicals have been found in groundwater extending about 4.5km south to the confluence of Oakey Creek and Westbrook Creek, and 2.5km west of the site.

It’s considered likely that the use of groundwater containing detectable concentrations of PFAS for irrigation in the area to have resulted in the chemicals going into the soil.

A human health risk assessment released in September looked at whether the chemicals could find a way into those living in the area, via activities such as eating locally grown beef, fish, fruit and vegetables, and accidentally swallowing water during fishing, boating or swimming.


Mr Hudson is not allowed to use town water to irrigate his land or wash his horses. Picture: David KellySource:News Corp Australia

It found that there was a “low and acceptable” risk to health associated with typical exposure to PFAS for the general community around the site. This means the level of risk is calculated to be below the threshold where potential health impacts may occur.
But it recommended a precautionary approach because people in Oakey had been found to have higher PFAS concentrations in their blood serum than would be expected.
This includes not using groundwater for drinking supply, minimising use of water for showering or to fill swimming pools in certain areas south of the site and to avoid eating eggs grown from chickens in this area.

SALE, VICTORIA
Located in an agricultural area 220km south east of Melbourne, in Victoria’s Gippsland region, the RAAF Base East Sale is currently being investigated, with limited sampling finding elevated levels of PFOS in key source areas.

The base is surrounded by farms, cattle grazing and rural residential properties where shallow groundwater is used for dairy, stockwatering and for domestic (non-drinking) uses.

Deeper groundwater is the primary source for drinking water in the area but is generally not connected with shallow acquifers in the East Sale area.

A preliminary report was released in October suggested further assessment of the impacts were needed to assess whether people may be exposed to unsafe levels of PFAS within their environment.

PARMA, NSW
A preliminary site investigation has recommended a detailed report be done to analyse the extent of the problem at HMAS Albatross, located about 6km from Nowra.

BULLSBROOK, WA
More than 60 residents around the RAAF Pearce air base in the Perth suburb of Bullsbrook have been using bottle water as a precautionary measure while investigations take place.

Preliminary testing found PFOA and PFOS at Ki-it Monger Brook, which flows along its south-eastern boundary.

EDINBURGH, SOUTH AUSTRALIA
PFOS and PFOA have been found at RAAF Base Edinburgh, 25km north of Adelaide, and in two nearby wetlands.

Surface and groundwater testing at the base and on surrounding properties has started.
charis.chang@news.com.au

Original article here;

http://www.news.com.au/technology/enviro...accf0980a7

That's right Malcolm, as the man says 'let's see you and your stuck up family drinking that polluted shit for 15 years', you uncaring vile douchebag.

TICK TOCK Prime Minister.....time to pull your nose out of the trough for just long enough to assist our poor Aussie battlers.

P7 - Nice one GD, well done. One day perhaps - the little light will come on - you know - the protect the people one. MC GD and thanks.

[Gobbledock]

I love the smell of PFOS in the morning!

I have no doubt that 2017 will see the continuation of the PFOS issue. Ask yourself; 'how long is a piece of string', or 'how deep is a Ministers pocket'. Tick Tock as the tautology clock goes round and round and round and round.....

Low levels of PFAS chemicals found outside Tamworth airport
Dec 23, 2016

Chemicals associated with a toxic firefighting foam have been found at 10 private properties around Tamworth airport, in northern New South Wales, but the council's general manager says the levels are not concerning.
Testing began after it was revealed elevated levels of what is commonly known as PFAS chemicals had been found at the airport.
Tamworth Regional Council's Paul Bennett said the 10 properties were within about one kilometre of the airport.
He said at six properties, the levels of PFAS found was below the drinking water guidelines.
At another three, the levels were above drinking water but below recreation guidelines and at one property, the level was above the recreation guidelines.
He said the water at that property was only used for watering lawns, and no one at any of the properties had been drinking the water, so there was no concern for human health.
"Nobody's swimming in it or anything like that so it would appear at this stage that the results are all very good," Mr Bennett said.
"Nobody has been exposed to any sort of risk from any potential contamination but of course, these are the initial results and we'll now go into an ongoing testing regime to ensure that we keep a good handle on what's actually happening with this chemical.
"This is great news for the community in that the levels are very low.
"A very low number of households have been affected and those households are not using it as drinking water so the risk has been basically eliminated."
The initial results mean there are 117 properties in the investigation area where there was no PFAS found.
The Council will now await advice from the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) about the ongoing testing needed to monitor for further movement of the chemical.
Mr Bennett said the contamination appeared to have been moving slowly so far.
"Considering the airport has been there going back to the 1950s, and not exactly knowing when they used this chemical and when they've done their exercises and so on, the fact that it's only moved that far over potentially 50 years or more would indicate there's not a lot of flow through those particular types of soils," he said.
"We're very fortunate that we don't have the sandy soils like in other parts of the state that have been exposed to this potential contaminate."
Council seeking funding for containment and clean up.
Earlier this month, Tamworth Regional Council resolved to approach the Federal Government to seek information about its planned response to the contamination, which has been found at a number of other sites across the country.
It also resolved to seek financial assistance with testing requirements.
"Any sort of contamination will always be a concern to residents until it's better understood," Mr Bennett said.
"What we're asking the Federal Government to do is tell us what the national response is going to be to this particular chemical.
"If we still have to maintain an ongoing testing regime, should our local community be wearing the cost of that testing regime, or will that be something the Federal Government will facilitate into the future?"
Mr Bennett said the sense of urgency had disappeared but action still needed to be taken.
"There are areas that are much worse affected than Tamworth so I don't think ours is now this super-urgent priority where we're really concerned about people's health," he said.
"But nevertheless, we are in the bucket with all of those that have also been affected in a much more severe way and when a strategy is put in place to deal with those other airports, we want to be part of that solution as well."

Council watering down the risks? I wouldn't trust a word they say. The EPA has protected Councils in the past from financial exposure from potential lawsuits from constituents by hiding and burying environmental mismanagement of airports, waste depots and quarries.

http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2016-12-23...fmredir=sm

Tick Tock Mr MrDak. The issue isn't going to magically disappear! Some airports are terribly contaminated, some aren't. Some airports have a fast rate of contamination spread, some slow. Some airports have polluted neighbouring farms, residential properties, water tables, rivers, creeks, the ocean and wildlife habitats. People have this poison in their blood system, house and property values in affected areas have plummeted, and some folk are in financial distress. Just sayin........

[Kharon]

Second the motion.

“P2 verdict: Just like the AAAA submission, this contribution from Civil Air should be required reading for the good Senators and I would suggest Civil Air should be invited to provide further evidence in any future public hearing - choc frogs all round to the ATCO crew...”

Ayup - I reckon the ‘minister’ should be sent a copy of what is a first class submission by Civil Air; it is exactly the right type of advice he so desperately needs; sane, succinct, reasoned and (IMO) best of all, the motivation is ‘pure’.  There is no hidden agenda, just the reasonable concerns of a highly professional group who are responsible for managing air traffic.

Take a balanced view and read the CASA waffle then the CA submission – a responsibility obfuscation agenda versus professional safety concerns, not only for the public, but for that of the association’s membership who work under some of the most onerous rules ever. Chalk and cheese.

I say Bravo, second the CF awards and put the submission on the Senate ‘must read and consider’ list.  

Toot toot.

[Peetwo]

Hello Sir A? Harfwit? Comardy? 4D? anyone??-FDS... 

Courtesy of US publication GA Operator... :

Successful launch for start of worldwide ADS-B system
January 15, 2017
[/url] [url=whatsapp://send/?text=Successful+launch+for+start+of+worldwide+ADS-B+system%20-%20http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gaoperator.com%2Fsuccessful-launch-start-worldwide-ads-b-system%2F]
Aireon announced today the successful launch and deployment of the first ten satellites hosting its space-based automatic dependent surveillance broadcast (ADS-B) system.

Part of the Iridium NEXT satellite constellation, Aireon’s space-based ADS-B network will transform air traffic management capabilities, providing real-time air traffic surveillance and flight tracking across 100 percent of the planet. Currently, more than 70 percent of the earth, including oceanic and remote airspace, has no existing air traffic surveillance.
Aireon congratulates Iridium Communications and its partners, including Thales Alenia Space, Orbital ATK and SpaceX, on a successful first launch of the Iridium NEXT constellation, and looks forward to additional successes.

“Today is a landmark moment in history for global air traffic surveillance, air traffic safety and the aviation industry as a whole,” said Don Thoma, CEO, Aireon.

“This successful first launch brings us one step closer to changing the way the world flies by enabling the ability to track aircraft anywhere on the planet. Once our global ADS-B surveillance service is fully deployed, every ADS-B equipped aircraft can have its precise location accounted for 24/7.”

SpaceX is launching the Aireon ADS-B system with its Falcon 9 re-usable rockets.

Iridium has partnered with SpaceX for a series of seven launches over the course of 18 months out of Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. All 81 Iridium NEXT satellites are equipped with the Aireon payload.

Once in orbit, each satellite will undergo extensive testing by the Iridium team. After approximately 40-60 days Iridium will hand-off the ADS-B payloads to Aireon for verification of on-orbit technical specifications. Aireon will then conduct rigorous independent testing and validation of the space-based ADS-B system for approximately 60 days.

As part of this testing and validation process, Aireon’s ADS-B receivers, manufactured by Harris Corporation, will provide air traffic surveillance data through the Aireon network to the Service Delivery Points (SDPs) at partners NAV CANADA, NATS, ENAV, the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA), as well as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) William J. Hughes Technical Center in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

“Few technologies exist today that by simply reimagining their implementation can have such a dramatic, positive impact on safety, efficiency and the environment,” said Neil Wilson, president and CEO, NAV CANADA.

“Aireon is poised to revolutionize air traffic management over much of the planet, and we’re looking forward to an aviation industry where everyone will reap the benefits of 100 percent global air traffic surveillance.”

Aireon, formed by Iridium Communications and investors NAV CANADA, ENAV, the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) and Naviair, will be operational in 2018. The advent of space-based ADS-B is expected to show a remarkable ability to increase safety and efficiency while simultaneously reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The network will also provide a new service known as Aireon ALERT, a free global emergency-aircraft tracking service that will be hosted and operated by the IAA. Earlier this year, Aireon also announced a partnership with FlightAware, and together launched the GlobalBeacon flight tracking service. GlobalBeacon is designed to help airlines comply with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Global Aeronautical Distress Safety System (GADSS) requirements, and will provide airlines with minute-by-minute flight tracking data.

“Many congratulations to both Aireon and Iridium on the success of their first launch,” said Juliet Kennedy, operations director for NATS. “We look forward to further successes with the remainder of the launch programme and what this will mean for operations over the North Atlantic, the world’s busiest area of oceanic airspace.”

"..real-time air traffic surveillance and flight tracking across 100 percent of the planet.." 

&..

"..Once our global ADS-B surveillance service is fully deployed, every ADS-B equipped aircraft can have its precise location accounted for 24/7...”

&..

"..Aireon...will be operational in 2018.."

So within a year ADS-B via the Aireon system, will provide 24/7, 100% worldwide coverage...

Yet our unique ADS-B system that is dependent on ground stations, is yet to guarantee 100% nationwide coverage:

ADS-B coverage

When operating outside of radar coverage, ADS-B derived ATS surveillance services are provided to operators of aircraft that are ADS-B Out enabled, whilst within the coverage volume of commissioned ADS-B ground stations.

ADS-B ground stations are line-of-sight facilities. The ability for a ground station to received ADS-B data from an aircraft depends on altitude, distance from the site and obstructing terrain. Coverage exists near the surface within 20 nautical miles of the ground station. High level coverage can exceed 250 nautical miles.

In airspace where ADS-B coverage overlaps radar coverage, the radar derived aircraft position will be displayed to ATC.

ADS-B only coverage charts (as at June 2016) at various altitudes are available below (click for full size image):

ADS-B coverage 5,000ft

ADS-B coverage 10,000ft  

ADS-B coverage 20,000ft

ADS-B coverage 30,000ft 
 
Refer to active NOTAMs for advice on ground stations in operation

Reckon there is a case for the good Senators to ask some pointed questions at the Additional Estimates public session next month...


MTF...P2

[Gobbledock]

Oi Senators, here is another ASA disgrace! While Anus Houston and Buccular Boy Harfield are drinking expensive wines and eating caviar our trusted and flogged airport firies are forced to sleep on the floor in a shitter....


Exhausted firefighters forced to sleep on toilet floor at Canberra Airport

JANUARY 16 2017

Exhausted firefighters are sleeping on the floor in an office next to a noisy printer.  

Exhausted firefighters at Canberra Airport are being forced to sleep on the toilet floor as they battle fatigue between 18 hour shifts.

Pictures obtained by Fairfax Media show the cramped conditions at their airport station, with staff sleeping in the women's toilets, on the floor next to a noisy printer and in the gym area surrounded by weights.

In a letter to the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Darren Chester, the United Firefighters Union described the "unacceptable" conditions.

"Currently there are no proper rest or recline facilities at the [Aviation Rescue Fire Fighting Service] station at the Canberra airport," branch secretary Henry Lawrence wrote in a letter seen by Fairfax Media.

"Our members are forced to rest in the ladies toilet area, breathing apparatus maintenance room, printer room and the station gym. Obviously this is unacceptable."

Firefighters at the airport worked back-to-back shifts lasting as long as 18 hours, with as little as four and a half hours to rest in between.

The cramped quarters at their airport station has forced some to sleep in the gym surrounded by weights.
"To maintain a workable, user friendly and efficient roster our members work back to back shifts, sleeping and working at the station for anywhere up to 48 hours," Mr Lawrence said.

The union called on the government to help provide appropriate rest areas so they could safely perform their duties.  

Mr Chester said it was important firefighters stationed at the airport had an appropriate place to recover.

"Our aviation rescue fire fighters play a valuable role in ensuring the safety of the travelling public and it's important they have the appropriate resources and facilities to deliver this service," he said.

"I am aware of Airservice Australia's plans to upgrade [the] station at Canberra Airport to enhance its ability to support the aviation industry."

Airservices Australia, the government entity responsible for the station, said it was working to upgrade the facilities.

"Airservices Australia is currently working with the Capital Airport Group as part of a project designed to upgrade our station at the airport to allow us to better deliver our valuable safety service to the aviation industry," a spokeswoman said.

"The station upgrade project includes improved rest areas for our firefighters and an expanded fire vehicle engine bay.

"In the interim, while we continue to work with Capital Airport Group to move forward with the station upgrade, we have been in discussions with them on appropriate permanent and temporary arrangements, which would allow us to meet regulatory requirements."

The Capital Airport Group, which owns the airport, said it would help Airservices provide a temporary solution until a permanent fix could be sorted.

"The Capital Airport Group is working to assist Airservices Australia to provide temporary accommodation for its firefighters, until [Airservices] can provide upgraded facilities.

"The group ... has already offered the used of bungalows near the old guard house for firefighters wishing to rest during or between their shifts."

Full report with pics here in the Spamberra Times;

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news...ts7de.html

Absolutely disgusting. While the ASA muppets spend a billion dollars on OneShite and pay consultants a million bucks for a few months work, this is how our important first response frontline people are meant to rest - sleeping in piss dribbles and pubic hairs!! FFS NFI Chester, stop requesting 'reports' and instead demand things be fixed in your three alphabet soup clusterf#cks you complete and utter contemptible horses arse.

Tick Tock

[Gobbledock]

And........A PFOS a day keeps the ASA bonus away.

Once again, while Sir Anus and his lapdog Jason Half-inch enjoy lucrative salaries spinning endless bullshit and hiding in cracks like spineless cockroaches, the PFOS mess continues to grow.

Air Services Australia accused of being too slow in dealing with potential Tweed waterway contamination
Katherine Gregory reported this story on Wednesday, January 25, 2017 08:23:00

Air Services Australia has been accused of being too slow to act on managing potential contaminated waterways in northern New South Wales. Seafood from a Tweed waterway will be tested for toxins, which originated from the use of fire fighting foam on the nearby Gold Coast airport. The NSW professional fishing sector is playing down the contamination risk. But locals are not so confident, after another NSW coastal community experienced the same problem less than two years ago.

Listen here;

http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2016/s4609020.htm

Tick Tock Mr Beautiful One, DDDDarren Fester.

[Peetwo]

ASA & the duplicity of a self-serving bureaucracy -

Quote from Senate Estimates thread:

...Well another turn up for the books, remembering there was a 2nd Supp Estimates hearing, apparently miniscule 4D & Minister 'Pete the pot-plant' Nash have prompted M&M and his motley band of minions, to stick to the AQON requested timetable... - Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development

Not too many surprises so far, although it does appear that CASA & ASA are ducking for cover, while attempting to throw each other under the bus, on Sir A & Harfwit's attempt to save (accelerate me) the ever diminishing OSTF (OneSKY trough fund). More on this ATP funded cluster-duck on the ASA boards very soon...

Referring to the ASA AQON the pdf file looks to have swelled yet another MB...

Slowly plodding thru it but at this stage there appears nothing new, just Harfwit attempting to overload the Senators with reams of repetitive information...

As an ATP one take away from the AQON which I found quite disturbing was the Attach A to AQON 164 for the cost breakdown of apparent services rendered by the ICCPM...

 

It's probably just me but for some reason I find the financial gains by some of the ICCPM group for what appears to be pretty rudimentary business services is quite obscene. Especially when you consider that many of those individuals just so happened to be affiliated with the successful OneSKY contractor Thales..

 While on the subject of the dodgy OneSKY deal and Harfwit's equally dodgy 'Accelerate' program (remembering the ANAO are due to table a report on the 2nd part of their ASA ICCPM/OneSKY audit); I came across a ANAO 'out of sitting' report that is waiting in the Senate 'to be tabled' in-tray...  : The Auditor-General ANAO Report No.33 2016–17 Financial Statement Audit


Now if you go down through the contents at 4.13 you will see that Murky & some of his motley minions feature and in particular (at page 212) Harfwit...  

Here is a couple of quotes relevant to the OneSKY slush fund 'Accelerate' OneSKY trough top-up program and even a small feature on the ASA PFOS cover-up...  

4.13.20 The significant increase in total expenses and total liabilities mainly relates to Airservices’ restructuring program, Accelerate. In 2015–16 Airservices recognised a redundancy provision of $106 million and a provision for other costs associated with the restructure of $15 million. The Accelerate program also resulted in an increase in supplier expenses associated with engaging consultants and an increase in asset write-offs as Airservices redirected efforts to capital projects that met the direction of the Accelerate program. Other increases in total expenses relate to an additional $24 million provided for polyfluorinated chemical (PFC) related activity to support the ongoing scientific, risk-based approach to managing the response to PFCs
at Airservices sites.

4.13.21 Total other comprehensive income represents the actuarial losses associated with the valuation of the defined benefit fund. The movement to a loss position in 2015–16 in comparison

4.13.25 As mentioned above, the ANAO also considers the results of recent performance audits in identifying risks and designing an approach for the financial statements audit.

4.13.26 ANAO Report No.1 2016–17 Procurement of the International Centre for Complex Project Management to Assist on the OneSKY Australia Program was in progress during the 2015–16 audit and was subsequently tabled on 31 August 2016.

4.13.27 The audit objective was to examine whether Airservices had effective procurement arrangements in place, with a particular emphasis on whether consultancy contracts entered into with International Centre for Complex Project Management (ICCPM) in association with the OneSKY Australia project were effectively administered.

4.13.28 Given the nature of the audit objective the observations from the audit had a limited impact on the design of the audit approach for the financial statements audit.

The second phase of the performance audit Conduct of the OneSKY Tender is currently in progress. Consideration will be given to observations from the audit when developing the 2016–17 audit approach.

"...Other increases in total expenses relate to an additional $24 million provided for polyfluorinated chemical (PFC) related activity to support the ongoing scientific, risk-based approach to managing the response to PFCs
at Airservices sites..."

Notice how it is OK for these bureaucrats to take a 'risk-based' approach to issues that maybe (or will be) potentially libellous and embarrassing to the Government department &/or it's agencies; yet when industry beg and plead for the same 'risk-based' approach to be applied to such things as red-tape or mandated industry infrastructure investment (e.g. ADS-B), their concerns a met with yet another platitude, review or obfuscated/time delayed non-answer...


MTF...P2  

[Gobbledock]

Of brown nosing and pony pooh

Sir Anus sticking his nose in places it doesn't belong;

http://www.news.com.au/world/asia/former...3f210135dK

"A SENIOR defence expert has warned it’s “too late” to stop China from taking ownership of the South China Sea".

Thanks Sir Anus for telling us......nothing new!! Dipshit, I suggest you try finding something to do at ASA like fixing the place or retiring preferably, and leave current military issues to the experts. All you are doing, again, is acting as a footstool to the Turnbull government who are trying to justify spending hundreds of billions of more taxpayer dollars on shite Defence equipment to support the Military Industrial Complex, who ironically consist of organisations such as Goldman Sachs, who ironically used to employ Malcolm Turdball.

Sir Anus and Malcolm are pissweak little weasels.

[Kharon]

Your truly – Confused.

P2 – “It's probably just me but for some reason I find the financial gains by some of the ICCPM group for what appears to be pretty rudimentary business services is quite obscene. Especially when you consider that many of those individuals just so happened to be affiliated with the successful OneSKY contractor Thales.”

It is strange little set up; and, although not remotely qualified to evaluate the ANAO audit, or even dissect, for value, the things we have paid out for, the whole ‘thing’ just feels "wrong" - 'off'; from the beginning. I know, for a certain fact, that not everyone who works for government is a dummy; there are some extremely well qualified, very bright folk there scattered throughout the various departments. I also know that the ‘government’ through various departments ‘evaluate’ and ‘negotiate’ some very complex contracts. I wonder why at least parts of the One Shy project were not farmed out to ‘government’ departments? Even if there was a fee to be paid, surely keeping the bulk of this project ‘at home’ would have many benefits.

Why, for example are the ASA management drawing ‘expert’ range salaries not capable of providing the expertise and knowledge to this project? Looking down the list of ‘services’ provided one has to wonder if the military and civil experts could not have provided the services paid for: there seems little mentioned there which required ‘outsourcing’.

Take the “Development of change management process and documentation  - integrated master plan etc (four down, top list)”  Seems to me that the best folk to develop ‘change’ management is the department itself, from policy to paperwork; it is after all “their” department and those employed there are (or should be) placed best to evaluate and manage any changes.

Is it the avoidance of responsibility that creates this need for ‘outside’ consult and counsel. It provides a handy scapegoat and ‘in Montreal’ alibi. Which makes it fine to bring in consultants as and when required – provided those employed within the ASA are not drawing ‘expert’ consultant type salary for not taking the responsibility the consultant does.

You see what I am driving at – position, title and big money carry very real responsibility in the real world and you must earn it and get it right – that’s why the big bucks are paid. But to pay big bucks to someone who will simply dial 1300 Consultant every time a project or contract needs evaluation or managing seems borderline stupid to me. No doubt real dealings in the big world have nothing to do with the way ASA operate and it’s only public money anyway; always plenty of that.

Toot (puzzled) toot.

[Peetwo]

Dick & TASWAM revisited.

Excellent post "K" but because of the more 'general' relevance to this and other forums/threads I have copied across and added to the post over on the M&M thread: CASA, ASA & ATSB - Up for tender? ...

However while on ASA I noticed today that Dick Smith is back in the Oz banging the ASA drum.. :

Hobart approach stuck in manual
12:00amPAUL CLEARY
A hair-raising descent into Hobart has prompted Dick Smith to renew calls for an overhaul of air traffic control.

Paul Cleary
The Australian
12:00AM February 3, 2017
[img=0x0]http://pixel.tcog.cp1.news.com.au/track/component/author/a08d9264e3d273919bd17ac796225521/?esi=true&t_product=the-australian&t_template=s3/austemp-article_common/vertical/author/widget&td_bio=false[/img]
A hair-raising descent into Hobart airport last week has prompted veteran aviator Dick Smith to renew his calls for an overhaul of air traffic control at the popular destination.
At a time when air safety regulators say satellite-based technology is making Australia’s skies safer, Mr Smith says controllers at Hobart are still using a 1930s-style air traffic control system.

Mr Smith said Hobart controllers had the digital system known as automatic dependent surveillance broadcast (ADS-B) but were not using it. Instead, pilots are ­directed to manually descend using charts.

The ADS-B system is meant to replace “ambiguous radio instructions with data-linked screen messages in cockpits” for all aircraft operating in Australia from today, according to acting CASA chief Shane Carmody.

In letters to CASA, Air Services Australia, the ATSB, and Transport Minister Darren Chester, Mr Smith explains how he flew into Cambridge Airport at Hobart in a Cessna Caravan with six passengers on board and was told by traffic control to step down using a chart, rather than using ADS-B.

“At that time I was in cloud, in icing conditions and in quite severe turbulence,” Mr Smith writes.

“Locating the required chart is bad enough ... to work out that I was on the 186 degree approach, realise it was Sector B that was required, and then do the stepping down in accordance with that chart is complex — especially when flying single pilot in such weather conditions.’’

Mr Smith said that when he contacted the tower, he was told that “controllers are not rated for the ADS-B, and for them to try to step down a plane every 1000 feet or so would be far too great a workload”.

But Airservices Australia (ASA) said radio instructions were standard at all 29 control towers, including Hobart “and all aircraft are required to follow published instrument approach procedures”.

“An instrument approach is an International Civil Aviation Organisation safety procedure,” a spokesman said.

He said ADS-B was being used at Hobart for “increased situational awareness and enhanced decision making in relation to separation of aircraft”.

But Mr Smith likened air traffic control at Hobart to the circumstances that led to a crash at Lockhart River in Queensland in 2005, which killed 15 people.

Mr Smith told the minister that if nothing changed, there would be a serious accident and it would take a royal commission to bring about better safety.

After Mr Smith raised the issues last year, ASA introduced rules to tighten control of air traffic into Hobart following concerns about the state’s radar system, known as TASWAM.
A CASA spokeswoman said a “full airspace review” conducted last year did not identify any “significant” concerns about safety in the vicinity of Hobart.

The report on this review is being finalised. The spokeswoman said the report found “existing airspace classification and architecture is appropriate and should remain unchanged”.

Major airlines flying into Hobart seem relaxed about safety and efficiency. A Qantas spokesman said: “We’re very comfortable with the air traffic control systems in place at Hobart, both from a safety and an efficiency point of view.”

  
MTF...P2

[Kharon]

Wolf! – Wolf! – Bollocks.

I don’t believe stories like the one above ‘help’.  For starters there is nothing whatsoever ‘hair raising' about an instrument approach to ‘Cambridge’ – provided the pilot has self briefed, considered what is required and has ‘set-up’ early for the approach.  The very idea of ‘scrabbling’ about trying to locate a ‘chart’ is risible; the dramatic “186 Approach” is a nonsense. The approach to any point is set up like a wagon wheel; the airport (or destination navigation beacon) at the centre – the aircraft on one of the ‘spokes’ leading to that hub.  It is a simple matter to determine which ‘spoke’ you are on. For that spoke, to avoid hitting the obstacles below, there are an established series of ‘step-heights’ below which you may not descend – until you reach the next; e.g. @ 10 miles you may descend to not below 3600 feet until you are at 7 miles, where you may descend to 2220 feet etc. Routine, daily exercise, safe as houses.  Then there is the ‘drama’ of ‘ice’; well ice on an airframe during descent, through cloud is again, fairly routine. Unless the aircraft is equipped with anti or ‘de-ice’ equipment, you have no business deliberately operating in a ‘known’ icing environment; it is bloody risky. Any more ice on a non equipped aircraft than you would put in a rum and coke is too much. One may assume the Smith aircraft was suitably equipped; so why the fuss?  Tassy pilots have been successfully executing the approaches to Hobart for donkeys years; nothing has changed too much, simply because the topography and the weather have not changed.

There is no need for this type of overstated high drama; there are problems enough without the total lack of credibility in one part of the tale detracting from the real, valid points which get lost in the ‘derring-do’.  For example; there is little ‘ambiguous’ in any ATC ‘clearance’ yet the impression is left here that Smith – ‘covered in ice’; in ‘severe turbulence’, deep in the belly of an evil cloud was given a whimsical; ambiguous clearance and left to his own devices. This is neither true of nor fair to the ATCO – that aside for the moment (I digress).

The real story is the ADS-B system; or the lack thereof. ATCO not trained, tested and qualified to use a very expensive, controversial system is not, of its self ‘dangerous’; but, as the story tells; they ain’t qualified – so they don’t use it. This, stand alone points directly at the truly dreadful state the ASA is in, it highlights the unseen additional stress and strain on the ATCO and speaks volumes on the total disorganization within the hugely expensive, loss making monopoly the ASA is. It is truly disgraceful that the ADS-B system is ‘running’ but ASA cannot fully exploit the efficiency benefits the system ‘could’ provide.

Smith – “Mr Smith told the minister that if nothing changed, there would be a serious accident and it would take a royal commission to bring about better safety.”

Bollocks; counterproductive, emotive Bollocks. There is a great waste of time, public money and operating costs; it is a massive haemorrhage of resources and money – all trackable back to the large, shiny, expensive offices of a handful of ASA management types. Dick is wasting credibility and opportunity barking up the wrong tree; the Senate committee is not. The RRAT is reading the audits, analysing the programs and asking, quite correctly, WTF have you been playing at? A hundred million dollars a year monopoly, going broke, beggars belief; retrenching, not training ATCO, bringing in consultants to do the in house work payed by industry, that and taking long lunches and cozy weekend get a ways needs to be examined; in detail.

There is a story there; plenty of drama, gross waste, highly conflicted interests. For ducks sake, lets just forget about one piddling overstated tall tale and concentrate on where the money has gone and why, despite paying – handsomely – for an improved, more efficient system Australia still has not got one.

There; I feel much better now.

Toot toot.

[Peetwo]

Read more at http://www.australianflying.com.au/lates...ayIMSys.99


ADS-B the real story within -

Take note of the "K" rant, especially the parts in bold...  

Kharon -"..There is a story there; plenty of drama, gross waste, highly conflicted interests. For ducks sake, lets just forget about one piddling overstated tall tale and concentrate on where the money has gone and why, despite paying – handsomely – for an improved, more efficient system Australia still has not got one..."

Now refer to following PS News article where bizarrely it appears that Comardy & CASA are now happy to take ownership and the kudos for the 'you beaut' uniquely Australian ADS-B system: 

CASA's new air traffic system takes off
PS News
 - ‎14 hours ago‎
The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) has announced a new era in Australian aviation safety with the introduction of satellite-based technology for controlling air traffic in the nation's skies.

...Acting Director of Aviation Safety for CASA, Shane Carmody said the satellite technology was necessary to keep Australian aviation at the forefront of safety.


"Satellite technology to improve safety"

He said before ADS-B, surveillance coverage was patchy, with only 18 per cent of the continent covered by radar.

“In Australia, we have been progressively introducing the technology since 2004 as we had an immediate need for air traffic surveillance that could not be easily achieved with traditional radars,” Mr Carmody said.

‘This marks an important and historic day in aviation safety and heralds a new era in technology.”...

"..Heralds a new era in technology.." 
That's strange?? I was under the impression that despite half a dozen Private GA aircraft, Feb 2nd solely signified the start of the IFR aircraft mandate and the technology has already been in place for a number of years??

Please Explain??

Now here is the irony (& possible mouldy Swiss cheese hole) in all this 'safety mantra' bollocks by Comardy that the MSM and the industry Alphabet groups should really be nailing down..  
Despite 99% of industry, the ASA tech-heads and infrastructure technology being 'match-fit',  compliant and ready to take advantage of the ADS-B system on or prior to 2 February, it would appear from the Oz article - Hobart approach stuck in manual - that Harfwit and his minions have dropped the ball and are consequently digging their own hole in the aviation safety Swiss cheese

...Mr Smith said that when he contacted the tower, he was told that “controllers are not rated for the ADS-B, and for them to try to step down a plane every 1000 feet or so would be far too great a workload”...

The part in red..

How can this possibly be so and how widespread is the non-rated ADS-B ATCO issue? - UDB

Tick..tick..tick..tick miniscule DDDD_MNFI Chester

 

MTF...P2

[P7_TOM]

Can’t help it – I know; believe me, I know: I’ve said it all before; probably say it all again before booze and bad living carry me off – but WTD.

This purblind minister has, freely available, at no cost whatsoever the very best of ‘industry’ advice. There are countless ATCO who know; categorically where the problems lay and more importantly – the way to fix ‘em up, quick smart. There are innumerable ‘operational’ experts who can provide ‘correct’ worthwhile efficiencies and safety methodology which will remove most of the risk the minister is taking. There are clever, informed, talented, innovative engineers out there who have forgotten more about aircraft maintenance than the ‘clerical’ staff at CASA will ever know. There exist many, and I do mean a lot, of properly ‘safety’ analysts who could, almost overnight, transform risk into ‘best practice’. Why, why – someone tell me why – this fool persists in listening to the embedded, the discredited, the untrusted purveyors of ‘aviation knowledge’ which line the corridors he walks.

Best stop now; the old BP – you know, interferes with the ale flavour.

[Gobbledock]

ASA falling apart, finally some proof of what we all knew

This is disgraceful. Immediate action needs to be taken and Harfwit and Houston frog marched out the door. Everyone saw this coming except for Minister Chester, and mate you are accountable for this mess. And what about CAsA's complicity in the ASA box ticking exercise. Risk, what risk?

Airservices Australia insiders warn air-traffic job cuts are 'huge risk to public safety'
UPDATED WED FEB 15 06:41:49 EST 2017

Job cuts have left the government body responsible for air-traffic control in Australia in crisis, with senior Airservices officials providing damning accounts that the organisation is now "a huge risk to public safety".

Key points:
- Aieservices staff fear it could take 'blood on their hands' before changes are made
- More than 700 jobs have been cut from the organisation to date as part of cost-cutting
-Senator Nick Xenophon is demanding an immediate cease of the retrenchments
- "It's only a matter of time before we have a major aviation incident," one Airservices' executive has told the ABC.

As a result of a cost-cutting program known as Accelerate, Airservices Australia suffered a net loss of more than 700 staff.

But the organisation has insisted the cuts only affect backroom support staff and not frontline workers such as air traffic controllers and airport firefighters.

Fears about Airservices' capacity to manage problems in the skies had been debated since executives learned of how extensive cuts would impact their operational areas last July.

But these simmering anxieties reached a new flashpoint when a thunderstorm erupted over Melbourne just after Christmas last year.

Inside the towers, air-traffic controllers juggled the increasingly crowded skies.

Back at Airservices' National Operations Centre in Canberra, staff responsible for communicating between air-traffic control, airlines and airports worked overtime as phones rang off the hook, according to workers with first-hand knowledge of the event.

It was one of the first major tests for the organisation since the job cuts began rolling out.

When the evening shift on December 29 was nearly over, an explosive email exchange, which has been obtained by the ABC, flared up between senior managers in the National Operations Centre, who described a system at "breaking point" brought on by the "sheer lunacy" of how the cuts have been implemented.

One senior official pleaded to his colleagues: "We barely pulled through with five trained staff and other favourable conditions [in other cities]."

Then followed a stark warning for what the job cuts still to come would mean for the travelling public.

"Attempting a night like tonight with only two on shift is sheer lunacy. What happens when there are only two staff?

"Do we need to wait for a mid-air collision or can we deal with this proactively?

"How much blood needs to be on Airservices hands before we're given appropriate coverage?"

In the lead up to this event, Airservices insiders had been questioning whether public safety was playing second fiddle to short-term savings; for some managers in the national headquarters, the chaos in Melbourne that night had proven their suspicions.

The ABC has spoken to dozens of current and former Airservices employees throughout its investigation into the troubled government organisation; this is just one of the many damning accounts of how the critical air navigation service provider is "flying blind".

'Only a matter of time' before major incident: whistleblower
Australia's track-record for aviation safety has been very strong by global standards.

But the Accelerate program, which is known colloquially in the organisation as "cutting to the bone", has resulted in an erosion of confidence in its current leadership, according to internal critics.

An executive with oversight over the organisation has told the ABC the risk assessments made in relation to Accelerate have amounted to little more than "a box-ticking exercise".

"There is a culture of cover up and deceit which means problems are ignored and fingers are pointed," the Airservices executive told the ABC on the condition he was not named.
"The organisation has been ignorant to how certain non-frontline capabilities and staff can have catastrophic frontline impacts."

The whistleblower argued that Airservices' chief executive Jason Harfield had forged ahead with the job-shedding program despite internal concerns over aviation safety.

Suggestions Airservices compromising safety 'totally incorrect'
Mr Harfield has declined repeated requests by the ABC for an interview to address these concerns, instead responding with a statement:

"Any suggestion that Airservices is compromising on safety is totally incorrect and refused. There is no risk to the travelling public.
"It is important to note that throughout the Accelerate program there has been extensive union and employee consultation. Airservices takes feedback from our staff very seriously.
"All 'risk assessments or safety assurances' have been conducted in adherence with... pre-determined timelines."
The whistleblower has also raised doubts about whether a Senate Estimates hearing on October 17 was given the full picture of the impact of the job cuts.

"There was a high level of anxiety within the leadership team and the risk and assurance team about this but all of the issues and concerns were ignored by the change managers and executive," the Airservices executive said.

"The organisation's risk system was not and still has not been used to assess or manage risk on an ongoing basis in relation to the changes or Accelerate program."

Mr Harfield, in his statement to the ABC, rejected these allegations as "totally incorrect".

Documents obtained by the ABC under Freedom of Information (FOI) legislation show seven change risk assessments were not finalised until October 21, well after the forced redundancies were already in full-swing and four days after Mr Harfield's testimony to Senate Estimates.

The ABC has been told that senior officials were pressured to sign off on required safety work that had been rushed through in the days immediately following Senate Estimates.

Airservices has rejected any suggestion that the assessments were impacted by Senate Estimates.

Senator pushing for investigation into 'shocking' revelations Senator Nick Xenophon sits on the Senate committee to which Airservices answers.

He is demanding an immediate stop to the organisation's retrenchments until an independent investigation has been conducted.

"When those on the inside say that there's a very real risk to public safety, that we are looking at a catastrophic event unless these matters are dealt with — then that has to be dealt with as a matter of absolute urgency," Senator Xenophon told the ABC.

"These revelations are actually quite shocking because we know that the system's been under pressure, we know that it's been dysfunctional — and now we know for the first time how bad things really are.

"This really is mayday for air-traffic control in this country."
The advocacy group representing Australia's general aviation pilots, the Aircraft Owners and Pilots' Association (AOPA), is backing Senator Xenophon's call for a full and independent investigation.

It argues the flying public need to know how much safety work was done and when.

"Certainly Mr Harfield was not ambiguous in his statements to Senate Estimates that the safety analysis documents were in existence and that the Accelerate program was being undertaken in accordance with those," AOPA's CEO Ben Morgan said.

"So I believe there really does need to be a detailed investigation into those documents to determine the legitimacy of them."

ABC article link;

http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-15...rn/8268360

............................................................

This farce has got to be brought to a stop. ASA, CAsA, ATsB, the whole lot of them have spiralled into an embarrassing mess. Why is MrDak still allowed to oversight this shambolic mess? He has done so for many many years.

Miniscule NFI Chester, it's time for you to 'borrow the set of balls your normally limp wristed boss Malcolm used last week' and put an end to this dangerous game being played in your alphabet soup agencies. How many warnings have you had now?

Dear Senator Xenophon, you know what to do next mate. Go for it!!!

TICK TOCK

[Peetwo]

ASA falling apart, finally some proof of what we all knew

This is disgraceful. Immediate action needs to be taken and Harfwit and Houston frog marched out the door. Everyone saw this coming except for Minister Chester, and mate you are accountable for this mess. And what about CAsA's complicity in the ASA box ticking exercise. Risk, what risk?

Airservices Australia insiders warn air-traffic job cuts are 'huge risk to public safety'

By the National Reporting Team's Benjamin Sveen and national technology reporter Jake Sturmer Updated Wed Feb 15 07:30:10 EST 2017



Photo
Airservices Australia suffered a net loss of more than 700 staff due to recent cost-cutting.

Reuters: Tim Wimborne

Job cuts have left the government body responsible for air-traffic control in Australia in crisis, with senior Airservices officials providing damning accounts that the organisation is now "a huge risk to public safety".

Key points:

• Airservices staff fear it could take 'blood on their hands' before changes are made
  
• More than 700 jobs have been cut from the organisation to date as part of cost-cutting
  
• Senator Nick Xenophon is demanding an immediate cease of the retrenchments
  

"It's only a matter of time before we have a major aviation incident," one Airservices executive has told the ABC.

As a result of a cost-cutting program known as Accelerate, Airservices Australia suffered a net loss of more than 700 staff.

But the organisation has insisted the cuts only affect backroom support staff and not frontline workers such as air-traffic controllers and airport firefighters.

Fears about Airservices' capacity to manage problems in the skies had been debated since executives learned of how extensive cuts would impact their operational areas last July.

But these simmering anxieties reached a new flashpoint when a thunderstorm erupted over Melbourne just after Christmas last year.

http://auntypru.com/wp-content/uploads/2...lizard.mp4

As the sudden deluge hit Tullamarine airport, passenger flights were left in holding patterns for over 70 minutes.

One Jetstar flight arriving from the Gold Coast was hit by dangerous turbulence, forcing it into an escape manoeuvre at full thrust to regain control.

Inside the towers, air-traffic controllers juggled the increasingly crowded skies.
Back at Airservices' National Operations Centre in Canberra, staff responsible for communicating between air-traffic control, airlines and airports worked overtime as phones rang off the hook, according to workers with first-hand knowledge of the event.

It was one of the first major tests for the organisation since the job cuts began rolling out.

Leaked emails reveal fears about public safety

When the evening shift on December 29 was nearly over, an explosive email exchange, which has been obtained by the ABC, flared up between senior managers in the National Operations Centre, who described a system at "breaking point" brought on by the "sheer lunacy" of how the cuts have been implemented.

One senior official pleaded to his colleagues: "We barely pulled through with five trained staff and other favourable conditions [in other cities]."



Then followed a stark warning for what the job cuts still to come would mean for the travelling public.

"Attempting a night like tonight with only two on shift is sheer lunacy. What happens when there are only two staff?

"Do we need to wait for a mid-air collision or can we deal with this proactively?

"How much blood needs to be on Airservices' hands before we're given appropriate coverage?"

Do you know more about this story? Email investigations@abc.net.au

In the lead up to this event, Airservices insiders had been questioning whether public safety was playing second fiddle to short-term savings; for some managers in the national headquarters, the chaos in Melbourne that night had proven their suspicions.

The ABC has spoken to dozens of current and former Airservices employees throughout its investigation into the troubled government organisation; this is just one of the many damning accounts of how the critical air navigation service provider is "flying blind".

'Only a matter of time' before major incident: whistleblower

Australia's track-record for aviation safety has been very strong by global standards.
But the Accelerate program, which is known colloquially in the organisation as "cutting to the bone", has resulted in an erosion of confidence in its current leadership, according to internal critics.

An executive with oversight over the organisation has told the ABC the risk assessments made in relation to Accelerate have amounted to little more than "a box-ticking exercise".

"There is a culture of cover-up and deceit which means problems are ignored and fingers are pointed," the Airservices executive told the ABC on the condition he was not named.

"The organisation has been ignorant to how certain non-frontline capabilities and staff can have catastrophic frontline impacts."

The whistleblower argued that Airservices chief executive Jason Harfield had forged ahead with the job-shedding program despite internal concerns over aviation safety.

Suggestions Airservices compromising safety 'totally incorrect'

Mr Harfield has declined repeated requests by the ABC for an interview to address these concerns, instead responding with a statement:

"Any suggestion that Airservices is compromising on safety is totally incorrect and refused. There is no risk to the travelling public.

"It is important to note that throughout the Accelerate program there has been extensive union and employee consultation. Airservices takes feedback from our staff very seriously.

"All 'risk assessments or safety assurances' have been conducted in adherence with … pre-determined timelines."

The whistleblower has also raised doubts about whether a Senate Estimates hearing on October 17 was given the full picture of the impact of the job cuts.

"There was a high level of anxiety within the leadership team and the risk and assurance team about this, but all of the issues and concerns were ignored by the change managers and executive," the Airservices executive said.

"The organisation's risk system was not and still has not been used to assess or manage risk on an ongoing basis in relation to the changes or Accelerate program."
Mr Harfield, in his statement to the ABC, rejected these allegations as "totally incorrect".

Documents obtained by the ABC under Freedom of Information (FOI) legislation show seven change risk assessments were not finalised until October 21, well after the forced redundancies were already in full-swing and four days after Mr Harfield's testimony to Senate Estimates.

The ABC has been told that senior officials were pressured to sign off on required safety work that had been rushed through in the days immediately following Senate Estimates.

Airservices has rejected any suggestion that the assessments were impacted by Senate Estimates.

Senator pushing for investigation into 'shocking' revelations

Senator Nick Xenophon sits on the Senate committee to which Airservices answers.
He is demanding an immediate stop to the organisation's retrenchments until an independent investigation has been conducted.

"When those on the inside say that there's a very real risk to public safety, that we are looking at a catastrophic event unless these matters are dealt with — then that has to be dealt with as a matter of absolute urgency," Senator Xenophon told the ABC.

"These revelations are actually quite shocking because we know that the system's been under pressure, we know that it's been dysfunctional — and now we know for the first time how bad things really are.

"This really is mayday for air-traffic control in this country."

The advocacy group representing Australia's general aviation pilots, the Aircraft Owners and Pilots' Association (AOPA), is backing Senator Xenophon's call for a full and independent investigation.

It argues the flying public need to know how much safety work was done and when.
"Certainly Mr Harfield was not ambiguous in his statements to Senate Estimates that the safety analysis documents were in existence and that the Accelerate program was being undertaken in accordance with those," AOPA chief executive officer Ben Morgan said.

"So I believe there really does need to be a detailed investigation into those documents to determine the legitimacy of them."

This farce has got to be brought to a stop. ASA, CAsA, ATsB, the whole lot of them have spiralled into an embarrassing mess. Why is MrDak still allowed to oversight this shambolic mess? He has done so for many many years.

Miniscule NFI Chester, it's time for you to 'borrow the set of balls your normally limp wristed boss Malcolm used last week' and put an end to this dangerous game being played in your alphabet soup agencies. How many warnings have you had now?

Dear Senator Xenophon, you know what to do next mate. Go for it!!!

TICK TOCK

Jack Sturmer also on ABC this AM, with Nick Xenophon interview...cheers Gobbles -

[Peetwo]

ASA falling apart, finally some proof of what we all knew

This is disgraceful. Immediate action needs to be taken and Harfwit and Houston frog marched out the door. Everyone saw this coming except for Minister Chester, and mate you are accountable for this mess. And what about CAsA's complicity in the ASA box ticking exercise. Risk, what risk?

Airservices Australia insiders warn air-traffic job cuts are 'huge risk to public safety'

By the National Reporting Team's Benjamin Sveen and national technology reporter Jake Sturmer Updated Wed Feb 15 07:30:10 EST 2017



Photo
Airservices Australia suffered a net loss of more than 700 staff due to recent cost-cutting.

Reuters: Tim Wimborne

Job cuts have left the government body responsible for air-traffic control in Australia in crisis, with senior Airservices officials providing damning accounts that the organisation is now "a huge risk to public safety".

Key points:

• Airservices staff fear it could take 'blood on their hands' before changes are made
  
• More than 700 jobs have been cut from the organisation to date as part of cost-cutting
  
• Senator Nick Xenophon is demanding an immediate cease of the retrenchments
  

"It's only a matter of time before we have a major aviation incident," one Airservices executive has told the ABC.

As a result of a cost-cutting program known as Accelerate, Airservices Australia suffered a net loss of more than 700 staff.

But the organisation has insisted the cuts only affect backroom support staff and not frontline workers such as air-traffic controllers and airport firefighters.

Fears about Airservices' capacity to manage problems in the skies had been debated since executives learned of how extensive cuts would impact their operational areas last July.

But these simmering anxieties reached a new flashpoint when a thunderstorm erupted over Melbourne just after Christmas last year.

http://auntypru.com/wp-content/uploads/2...lizard.mp4

As the sudden deluge hit Tullamarine airport, passenger flights were left in holding patterns for over 70 minutes.

One Jetstar flight arriving from the Gold Coast was hit by dangerous turbulence, forcing it into an escape manoeuvre at full thrust to regain control.

Inside the towers, air-traffic controllers juggled the increasingly crowded skies.
Back at Airservices' National Operations Centre in Canberra, staff responsible for communicating between air-traffic control, airlines and airports worked overtime as phones rang off the hook, according to workers with first-hand knowledge of the event.

It was one of the first major tests for the organisation since the job cuts began rolling out.

Leaked emails reveal fears about public safety

When the evening shift on December 29 was nearly over, an explosive email exchange, which has been obtained by the ABC, flared up between senior managers in the National Operations Centre, who described a system at "breaking point" brought on by the "sheer lunacy" of how the cuts have been implemented.

One senior official pleaded to his colleagues: "We barely pulled through with five trained staff and other favourable conditions [in other cities]."



Then followed a stark warning for what the job cuts still to come would mean for the travelling public.

"Attempting a night like tonight with only two on shift is sheer lunacy. What happens when there are only two staff?

"Do we need to wait for a mid-air collision or can we deal with this proactively?

"How much blood needs to be on Airservices' hands before we're given appropriate coverage?"

Do you know more about this story? Email investigations@abc.net.au

In the lead up to this event, Airservices insiders had been questioning whether public safety was playing second fiddle to short-term savings; for some managers in the national headquarters, the chaos in Melbourne that night had proven their suspicions.

The ABC has spoken to dozens of current and former Airservices employees throughout its investigation into the troubled government organisation; this is just one of the many damning accounts of how the critical air navigation service provider is "flying blind".

'Only a matter of time' before major incident: whistleblower

Australia's track-record for aviation safety has been very strong by global standards.
But the Accelerate program, which is known colloquially in the organisation as "cutting to the bone", has resulted in an erosion of confidence in its current leadership, according to internal critics.

An executive with oversight over the organisation has told the ABC the risk assessments made in relation to Accelerate have amounted to little more than "a box-ticking exercise".

"There is a culture of cover-up and deceit which means problems are ignored and fingers are pointed," the Airservices executive told the ABC on the condition he was not named.

"The organisation has been ignorant to how certain non-frontline capabilities and staff can have catastrophic frontline impacts."

The whistleblower argued that Airservices chief executive Jason Harfield had forged ahead with the job-shedding program despite internal concerns over aviation safety.

Suggestions Airservices compromising safety 'totally incorrect'

Mr Harfield has declined repeated requests by the ABC for an interview to address these concerns, instead responding with a statement:

"Any suggestion that Airservices is compromising on safety is totally incorrect and refused. There is no risk to the travelling public.

"It is important to note that throughout the Accelerate program there has been extensive union and employee consultation. Airservices takes feedback from our staff very seriously.

"All 'risk assessments or safety assurances' have been conducted in adherence with … pre-determined timelines."

The whistleblower has also raised doubts about whether a Senate Estimates hearing on October 17 was given the full picture of the impact of the job cuts.

"There was a high level of anxiety within the leadership team and the risk and assurance team about this, but all of the issues and concerns were ignored by the change managers and executive," the Airservices executive said.

"The organisation's risk system was not and still has not been used to assess or manage risk on an ongoing basis in relation to the changes or Accelerate program."
Mr Harfield, in his statement to the ABC, rejected these allegations as "totally incorrect".

Documents obtained by the ABC under Freedom of Information (FOI) legislation show seven change risk assessments were not finalised until October 21, well after the forced redundancies were already in full-swing and four days after Mr Harfield's testimony to Senate Estimates.

The ABC has been told that senior officials were pressured to sign off on required safety work that had been rushed through in the days immediately following Senate Estimates.

Airservices has rejected any suggestion that the assessments were impacted by Senate Estimates.

Senator pushing for investigation into 'shocking' revelations

Senator Nick Xenophon sits on the Senate committee to which Airservices answers.
He is demanding an immediate stop to the organisation's retrenchments until an independent investigation has been conducted.

"When those on the inside say that there's a very real risk to public safety, that we are looking at a catastrophic event unless these matters are dealt with — then that has to be dealt with as a matter of absolute urgency," Senator Xenophon told the ABC.

"These revelations are actually quite shocking because we know that the system's been under pressure, we know that it's been dysfunctional — and now we know for the first time how bad things really are.

"This really is mayday for air-traffic control in this country."

The advocacy group representing Australia's general aviation pilots, the Aircraft Owners and Pilots' Association (AOPA), is backing Senator Xenophon's call for a full and independent investigation.

It argues the flying public need to know how much safety work was done and when.
"Certainly Mr Harfield was not ambiguous in his statements to Senate Estimates that the safety analysis documents were in existence and that the Accelerate program was being undertaken in accordance with those," AOPA chief executive officer Ben Morgan said.

"So I believe there really does need to be a detailed investigation into those documents to determine the legitimacy of them."

This farce has got to be brought to a stop. ASA, CAsA, ATsB, the whole lot of them have spiralled into an embarrassing mess. Why is MrDak still allowed to oversight this shambolic mess? He has done so for many many years.

Miniscule NFI Chester, it's time for you to 'borrow the set of balls your normally limp wristed boss Malcolm used last week' and put an end to this dangerous game being played in your alphabet soup agencies. How many warnings have you had now?

Dear Senator Xenophon, you know what to do next mate. Go for it!!!

TICK TOCK

Jack Sturmer also on ABC this AM, with Nick Xenophon interview...cheers Gobbles -

Update:ABC AM program 15/02/17

Air traffic control job cuts a 'significant risk' to travelling public: workers
Jake Sturmer reported this story on Wednesday, February 15, 2017 06:05:00

| MP3 download

Workers inside the Federal government agency that manages air traffic control in Australia claim the organisation's move to make hundreds of staff redundant is putting the travelling public at 'significant risk' .

In an email to senior managers obtained by the ABC, one worker warns managers that their concerns have been 'completely ignored' and that the organisation has wilfully disregarded public safety.

Another claims it's just a matter of time until there's a major aviation incident.

Featured:

Senator Nick Xenophon
Ben Morgan, CEO, Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association

MTF...P2

[Peetwo]

ASA falling apart, finally some proof of what we all knew

This is disgraceful. Immediate action needs to be taken and Harfwit and Houston frog marched out the door. Everyone saw this coming except for Minister Chester, and mate you are accountable for this mess. And what about CAsA's complicity in the ASA box ticking exercise. Risk, what risk?

Airservices Australia insiders warn air-traffic job cuts are 'huge risk to public safety'

By the National Reporting Team's Benjamin Sveen and national technology reporter Jake Sturmer Updated Wed Feb 15 07:30:10 EST 2017



Photo
Airservices Australia suffered a net loss of more than 700 staff due to recent cost-cutting.

Reuters: Tim Wimborne

Job cuts have left the government body responsible for air-traffic control in Australia in crisis, with senior Airservices officials providing damning accounts that the organisation is now "a huge risk to public safety".

Key points:

• Airservices staff fear it could take 'blood on their hands' before changes are made
  
• More than 700 jobs have been cut from the organisation to date as part of cost-cutting
  
• Senator Nick Xenophon is demanding an immediate cease of the retrenchments
  

"It's only a matter of time before we have a major aviation incident," one Airservices executive has told the ABC.

As a result of a cost-cutting program known as Accelerate, Airservices Australia suffered a net loss of more than 700 staff.

But the organisation has insisted the cuts only affect backroom support staff and not frontline workers such as air-traffic controllers and airport firefighters.

Fears about Airservices' capacity to manage problems in the skies had been debated since executives learned of how extensive cuts would impact their operational areas last July.

But these simmering anxieties reached a new flashpoint when a thunderstorm erupted over Melbourne just after Christmas last year.

http://auntypru.com/wp-content/uploads/2...lizard.mp4

As the sudden deluge hit Tullamarine airport, passenger flights were left in holding patterns for over 70 minutes.

One Jetstar flight arriving from the Gold Coast was hit by dangerous turbulence, forcing it into an escape manoeuvre at full thrust to regain control.

Inside the towers, air-traffic controllers juggled the increasingly crowded skies.
Back at Airservices' National Operations Centre in Canberra, staff responsible for communicating between air-traffic control, airlines and airports worked overtime as phones rang off the hook, according to workers with first-hand knowledge of the event.

It was one of the first major tests for the organisation since the job cuts began rolling out.

Leaked emails reveal fears about public safety

When the evening shift on December 29 was nearly over, an explosive email exchange, which has been obtained by the ABC, flared up between senior managers in the National Operations Centre, who described a system at "breaking point" brought on by the "sheer lunacy" of how the cuts have been implemented.

One senior official pleaded to his colleagues: "We barely pulled through with five trained staff and other favourable conditions [in other cities]."



Then followed a stark warning for what the job cuts still to come would mean for the travelling public.

"Attempting a night like tonight with only two on shift is sheer lunacy. What happens when there are only two staff?

"Do we need to wait for a mid-air collision or can we deal with this proactively?

"How much blood needs to be on Airservices' hands before we're given appropriate coverage?"

Do you know more about this story? Email investigations@abc.net.au

In the lead up to this event, Airservices insiders had been questioning whether public safety was playing second fiddle to short-term savings; for some managers in the national headquarters, the chaos in Melbourne that night had proven their suspicions.

The ABC has spoken to dozens of current and former Airservices employees throughout its investigation into the troubled government organisation; this is just one of the many damning accounts of how the critical air navigation service provider is "flying blind".

'Only a matter of time' before major incident: whistleblower

Australia's track-record for aviation safety has been very strong by global standards.
But the Accelerate program, which is known colloquially in the organisation as "cutting to the bone", has resulted in an erosion of confidence in its current leadership, according to internal critics.

An executive with oversight over the organisation has told the ABC the risk assessments made in relation to Accelerate have amounted to little more than "a box-ticking exercise".

"There is a culture of cover-up and deceit which means problems are ignored and fingers are pointed," the Airservices executive told the ABC on the condition he was not named.

"The organisation has been ignorant to how certain non-frontline capabilities and staff can have catastrophic frontline impacts."

The whistleblower argued that Airservices chief executive Jason Harfield had forged ahead with the job-shedding program despite internal concerns over aviation safety.

Suggestions Airservices compromising safety 'totally incorrect'

Mr Harfield has declined repeated requests by the ABC for an interview to address these concerns, instead responding with a statement:

"Any suggestion that Airservices is compromising on safety is totally incorrect and refused. There is no risk to the travelling public.

"It is important to note that throughout the Accelerate program there has been extensive union and employee consultation. Airservices takes feedback from our staff very seriously.

"All 'risk assessments or safety assurances' have been conducted in adherence with … pre-determined timelines."

The whistleblower has also raised doubts about whether a Senate Estimates hearing on October 17 was given the full picture of the impact of the job cuts.

"There was a high level of anxiety within the leadership team and the risk and assurance team about this, but all of the issues and concerns were ignored by the change managers and executive," the Airservices executive said.

"The organisation's risk system was not and still has not been used to assess or manage risk on an ongoing basis in relation to the changes or Accelerate program."
Mr Harfield, in his statement to the ABC, rejected these allegations as "totally incorrect".

Documents obtained by the ABC under Freedom of Information (FOI) legislation show seven change risk assessments were not finalised until October 21, well after the forced redundancies were already in full-swing and four days after Mr Harfield's testimony to Senate Estimates.

The ABC has been told that senior officials were pressured to sign off on required safety work that had been rushed through in the days immediately following Senate Estimates.

Airservices has rejected any suggestion that the assessments were impacted by Senate Estimates.

Senator pushing for investigation into 'shocking' revelations

Senator Nick Xenophon sits on the Senate committee to which Airservices answers.
He is demanding an immediate stop to the organisation's retrenchments until an independent investigation has been conducted.

"When those on the inside say that there's a very real risk to public safety, that we are looking at a catastrophic event unless these matters are dealt with — then that has to be dealt with as a matter of absolute urgency," Senator Xenophon told the ABC.

"These revelations are actually quite shocking because we know that the system's been under pressure, we know that it's been dysfunctional — and now we know for the first time how bad things really are.

"This really is mayday for air-traffic control in this country."

The advocacy group representing Australia's general aviation pilots, the Aircraft Owners and Pilots' Association (AOPA), is backing Senator Xenophon's call for a full and independent investigation.

It argues the flying public need to know how much safety work was done and when.
"Certainly Mr Harfield was not ambiguous in his statements to Senate Estimates that the safety analysis documents were in existence and that the Accelerate program was being undertaken in accordance with those," AOPA chief executive officer Ben Morgan said.

"So I believe there really does need to be a detailed investigation into those documents to determine the legitimacy of them."

This farce has got to be brought to a stop. ASA, CAsA, ATsB, the whole lot of them have spiralled into an embarrassing mess. Why is MrDak still allowed to oversight this shambolic mess? He has done so for many many years.

Miniscule NFI Chester, it's time for you to 'borrow the set of balls your normally limp wristed boss Malcolm used last week' and put an end to this dangerous game being played in your alphabet soup agencies. How many warnings have you had now?

Dear Senator Xenophon, you know what to do next mate. Go for it!!!

TICK TOCK

Jack Sturmer also on ABC this AM, with Nick Xenophon interview...cheers Gobbles -

Update:ABC AM program 15/02/17

Air traffic control job cuts a 'significant risk' to travelling public: workers
Jake Sturmer reported this story on Wednesday, February 15, 2017 06:05:00

| MP3 download

Workers inside the Federal government agency that manages air traffic control in Australia claim the organisation's move to make hundreds of staff redundant is putting the travelling public at 'significant risk' .

In an email to senior managers obtained by the ABC, one worker warns managers that their concerns have been 'completely ignored' and that the organisation has wilfully disregarded public safety.

Another claims it's just a matter of time until there's a major aviation incident.

Featured:

Senator Nick Xenophon
Ben Morgan, CEO, Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association

Update: Via Planetalking

Just how good or bad is Australia at managing air traffic control safety?

It seems that air safety in Australia remains entirely a matter of business efficiency and $$$ government fees

 Ben Sandilands

Airservices is supposed be about safety, not about being a business. No?

Today’s troubling story about the safety of air traffic control in Australia on ABC News is definitely not just another union inspired story warning that job losses in this or that public service will end in a disastrous loss of life?

In this case the jobs, at Airservices Australia, are gone. They aren’t coming back. The omlette can’t be unscrambled.

‘Our jobs or your life’ became a worn out cliche riddled art form trotted out by organised labour and media before anyone alive today was born when modernisation began to threaten guard’s van on trains and signals were levered into position by physical force.

If any of the inspirations for the ABC story are actively involved in safely keeping aircraft apart then air travellers have every reason to be worried about their being sufficiently alert or ‘agile’ to perform such tasks.

But this isn’t the case. Most of the jobs that were lost were in administration, and were regarded as parasitic or superfluous to the core task of stopping the flight you may about to board this morning from coming too close to another flight at various stages of their respective intercity trips.

The legitimate concern, however well or poorly based, is whether or not the loss of back office jobs as Airservices Australia calls them, has adversely affected safety.

There was a period earlier this century when the safety investigator, the ATSB, seemed to be struggling to keep up with ‘separation incidents’ in which it identified controller fatigue and even a lack of proper training as factors in jets receiving transponder triggered TCAS potential collision warnings.

Such incidents continue to occur, there was one involving two Qantas aircraft in the vicinity of Brisbane airport recently, and there continue to be incidents which occur outside actively monitored airspace which also raise important questions about the design of airspace boundaries and the practices they involve in this country.

But the official response has for some time been that the actual incidence of proximity events in Australian airspace is no longer statistically different to the situation in busy air traffic corridors covered by similar ATC technology elsewhere in the world.

This is difficult terrain for the media to navigate, which the ABC story carefully and fairly covers.  There are continuing problems in Australian airspace, it is possible that progress has been made, and as Senator Xenophon has identified in the past, some of those screw ups should never, ever have been allowed to occur, and need to be prevented from happening in the future.

The whole issue of air traffic control safety is rendered opaque by government indifference, as in this government, and its Labor predecessors. In Government eyes, Airservices Australia is a fee collecting revenue raising entity supposedly run along private industry lines.

It has never been possible to get a sensible engagement with the safety issues of ATC control from any Coalition or Labor minister since AirServices Australia began to operate as a commercial entity measured solely by its contribution to the Federal Budget. It is doubtful that any minister this century possessed even the most basic of understanding of how air traffic control works, and where changes in technology will take it (perhaps) beyond the crap that appears in press releases directed by Mandarins.

The inherent problem with the supremacy of management over old fashioned and highly inconvenient safety cultures is that management will screw down and stress the human resources of bodies like AirServices Australia until ‘something’ breaks.

That ‘something’ could end up in a stinking pile of body bags and shattered airliner parts, and wipe out a few high profile CEOs, a sporting team or two, and a few dozens of working class punters, and maybe even cause a few by-elections.

There is a serious lack of Executive oversight of safety outcomes in Australian aviation, and for that matter, road haulage, and one day, as people like Senator Xenophon have often pointed out, it will bite all of us very badly.

MTF...P2

[Gobbledock]

From Bens article;

"There is a serious lack of Executive oversight of safety outcomes in Australian aviation, and for that matter, road haulage, and one day, as people like Senator Xenophon have often pointed out, it will bite all of us very badly".

Take ASA out of the control of MrDak. Sell the monopoly off so that;
a) safety can be returned
b) quality assurance and compliance can again reign supreme
c) the business unit can return a measure of financial excellence into the system
d) the Politicians and bureaucrats can no longer ignore, manipulate, cripple and destroy probably the most important piece of infrastructure a nation can have in its possession.

Interference by PMC, a lack of understanding or interest by a chromosome deficient Miniscule and an even more moronic Joyce and Turdball at the top of the ladder has created an accident just begging to happen. You arseclowns have been warned before; this WILL all end up in tears.

Please Senator Xenophon, may the fire in your belly now erupt into a bushfire of epic proportions.

TICK TICK