[Peetwo]

Not long after yesterday's PT post above Ben made another top post - More evasiveness by ATSB over two jet Mildura fog crisis - which included this excellent & very relevant statement:

"..Why are we a second rate state masquerading as a first rate country when it come to air safety administration, and when will an Australian government do more than produce reports that it usually ignores while pretending everything is good?.."

The following is my Sunday morning contribution to the ensuing commentary to Ben's excellent post...  

Confirmed Sceptic - “…and to add to that, I bet that the final report makes zero mention of mandatory alternate fuel like the ICAO standard, or CAT lll approach aids, both of which cost money. And yes, the BOM is really good except when they’re not, and you foolishly relied on the forecast…”


Ben’s quote may be “it in a nutshell” but the ‘elephants in the room’ are almost perfectly listed by Confirmed sceptic.

1) Mandatory Alternate fuel.
2) CAT III ILS (call that infrastructure or lack of)*; &
3) the BOM

(*May not be required so much, as new age technology (aircraft equipped)and flight crews are trained for MIN Viz (RVR)take-offs & landings)

Consider this youtube video from the PelAir Senate Inquiry:

or here: http://auntypru.com/forum/-The-search-fo...32#pid1032

Now the 2000 ATSB SR & BOM response can be read here: https://www.atsb.gov.au/publications/rec...00040.aspx
Effectively the SR was ‘closed – accepted’ in 2000, yet it was not properly & proactively addressed by either the BOM or CASA to this day, over 15 years later.

Now people will say that the SR was only to do with remote islands like NFI, but if you read the ATSB Mildura fog investigation page – https://www.atsb.gov.au/publications/inv...3-100.aspx – and listen/watch the ASA Greg Hood explain here..

…you will see that the 2000 SR, the PelAir debacle & now the attempted obfuscation of ATSB outstanding investigation AO-2013-100 are very much related.

On top of that just think for a minute if there had of been a UNICOM operator on the ground in Mildura that day?

MTF...P2