[Peetwo]

GlenB's chocfrog reply to CASA Troll Luce -   

Via the UP:

Luce

ABC did an investigative piece

Howdy Glen.I have followed your story from post 1 and learnt a lot from some informed contributors along your quest. I find your responses detailed, accurate and passionate. Some are emotional but understandable given the rough path your walking. I’ve seen you mention a fella in several posts, most recently of an ABC investigative piece. Being an ABC watcher curiosity led me google for this and I must say, this led down a rabbit hole of media information including newspapers and youtube, ATSB, QLD police, legal people and of course CASA.

After reading all sides I ask why you use this example to support your quest? The accident report has a seriously high number of issues with the operation. Shockingly many of the findings were repeats of what the fella lost his pilots licence for and even copped a criminal conviction for previously. The report says both his aircraft were overloaded, conducted aerobatics with people (in a 172!!!!), flew dangerously low, skimming maintenance hours and really hadn’t thought through some fundamental airmanship of where to go if the old donk quits. That photo in the report of where this happen is alarming. The pilot had almost no where to go. I even see the operator provided a submission on the accident report prior to its release so the fella had his say.

So why the difference in storys between the ABC piece and the accident report? Then there is the bit on missing passenger cameras and recording cards taken off the crash site and never found. Strange. Is this why QLD police charging the pilot over the crash. Would the fella be up on charges to if still with us. Lots of questions. I even found discussion here on PPRuNe post C172 down on Middle Island.

After reading all, I ask what you think if an GA operator with these issues approached APTA for inclusion.

I wish you best in your quest for justice.

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Sunfish

Don’t answer Glen, instead allow me:

Luce, your question is irrelevant, insulting and misleading.

You might as well ask: “As a Catholic Diocese, what would you reply if a local brothel asked to be included in your congregation?”.

You are implying that APTA is/ was established as a deceitful umbrella organization to give cover to a variety of disreputable operators.

This is consistent with the apparent view of your employer that all pilots are “uncaught criminals”.

Nice try.

And GlenB's gold star, informed but passionate reply...

glenb

Luce and Sunfish

Good morning Sunfish, and I very much appreciate the spirited support, but took absolutely no offense at the question, and in fact, I think it’s a very legitimate question. It is something that my management team considered from very early on.

I'm heading off to "Fat Daddy’s Breakfast Club" shortly. A tradition of 15 years now where a group of elite athletes in their mid-50s gather every fortnight to have breakfast and take the piss out of each other. An important process to maintain ones mental health, and look in awe at the one member who has for his own reasons decided to buck the trend and remain under 100kg, yet still insist on maintaining his membership. His membership is tenuous, and he shows almost no resolve to “let himself ago” but we tolerate him.

The answer to your question is quite easy to be honest. Its all about “intent”. Is this a well-intentioned operator with something to bring to the group?

The Operator would be operating under my AOC to my procedures with me as the authorisation holder, and my CASA approved Key Personnel taking on full responsibility, in law for that operation. Not one of the management team would tolerate a “dodgy” operator, as potentially it was us that may have to stand before a coroners inquiry in the event of a tragedy and we needed to be able to justify every decision made.

I need to clarify that in the case of Bruce Rhoades, it was a charter business whereas we chose to operate in the flight training environment only, and had no short to medium term plan to incorporate charter, although I appreciate the point of your question.

Importantly however, the starting point was "intent". What type of operator are we dealing with. Is it someone with "good intent". Someone trying to do the right thing in the flight training industry, and somebody who “shares the vision”

In the case of Bruce Rhoades, my feeling is that he was well intentioned. It’s a highly complicated legislative environment we operate in, and often operators were somewhat stuck in the past. The good intent was there, although I cant speak to the quality of his product.

Once we ascertained that the Operator was of “good intent”, most likely we would proceed with the application. At this stage I would refer you all the way back to Post 46, and the attachment being the “induction checklist that was designed with CASA personnel, approved by CASA personnel, and utilised by CASA personnel as part of the CASA required approval process.

The process was rigid, and in my opinion the quality of the operation would improve substantially, and the operation was closely monitored and supervised.

From my experience, most people are well intentioned, and given the correct robust systems and procedures and extremely high levels of supervision, they will see the benefits of a well run operation.

In short, it is fair to say that had he have run a flying school, I’m confident that we could have transformed that operation to a demonstrably safer and highly compliant operation.

Regarding the attachment to the Bruce Rhoades matter, that’s a bit more personal and rather close to home. I spoke to Mr Rhoades before his passing. He was a man, in my opinion, who was a victim of a “reverse engineered process”, where CASA determines their desired outcome, and manufactures the process to achieve that desired outcome, exactly as they did with me.

Mr Rhoades was somebody dealing with the same three characters as I was. Graeme Crawford, Craig Martin and Jonathan Aleck, so there was a “bond” there if you like.

Mr Rhoades like me, was particularly critical of the conduct of Craig Martin in particular, and in fact made some YouTube videos that you may have seen of Craig Martin.

Sadly, Mr Rhoades died with his reputation in tatters, and I have no doubt that at his funeral, there would have been attendees who in the back of their mind had their own questions about his character, with the knowledge of the CASA attack on him.

In my own case, I am someone who had their business shut down overnight, with an impact on my own reputation. Something that I am fighting to restore while I am still alive. My greatest fear is that something happens to me, before I get to fully clear my name in front of my family, colleagues, past APTA members, employees etc.

I hope that goes someway to explaining in it, and I’m sorry I don’t have more time to address the question, but please feel free to come back to me if you have a follow up question, and with a breakfast in my belly, I will respond.

Cheers. Glen.

For reference from the AP archives and past 'noble Art' thread pages:

The not so noble Art of embuggerance

Bruce Rhoades response to Crawford's bullying letter 

And via the AP SBG blog and Youtube channel: https://auntypru.com/and-thus-i-clothe-m...-villainy/

“And thus I clothe my naked villainy”– AP Forum version.

Late start this morning – much to consider and read; mostly to do with Bruce Roades and his run in with at the CASA gristmill. The story begins with tragedy, a failed engine leading to an air accident, ending with a fatality. A raw day for all concerned; services swung into action and did their usual sterling work (thank you – once again); ATSB arrived ‘on-site’ and began the task of ‘investigation’. This is what we have become used to after an accident; the ATSB attempts to define what happened, why and place, when required, some form of advisory or recommendation designed to prevent a reoccurrence. The CASA often buy in, they are quite entitled to run an investigation; there are matters which they need to be across, matters of law and operational well being. So the scene is set.

Bruce Rhoades - RIP mate! 

MTF...P2