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On ABC Foreign Correspondent tonight:

Indonesia AirAsia plane flew for 12 months with mechanical fault before deadly crash

Foreign Correspondent

By Indonesia Correspondent Samantha Hawley and Suzanne Smith
Updated about 4 hours agoTue 3 May 2016, 7:22am

Photo: Wreckage of AirAsia flight QZ8501 which crashed into the Java Sea in 2014. (AFP: Yudha Manx)

Related Story: Poor pilot emergency training, negligence behind AirAsia plane crash: analysts
Related Story: Investigation details numerous faults of downed AirAsia plane


An Indonesia AirAsia plane that crashed into the Java Sea in 2014 killing all on board had carried thousands of Australian passengers while flying with a mechanical fault for the 12 months before the tragedy.

Key points:

• Foreign Correspondent reveals details of flight's path in 12 months before crash
  
• Calls for Indonesian arms of airline to be suspended from flying to Australia
  
• Some airlines that fly to Australia don't meet international standards, aviation expert says
  
  

Aviation experts were asked by Foreign Correspondent to track the plane 12 months before the crash while it had the mechanical fault. The details of the aircraft's flight path over that period have been uncovered with disturbing questions raised about the role of Indonesia's aviation regulator, including allegations of corruption.

There are now calls for the Indonesian arms of AirAsia to be suspended from flying to Australia until they pass an international safety audit.

All 162 passengers and crew died when the Airbus 320 stalled at high altitude during a flight from Indonesia's second largest city Surabaya to Singapore on December 28, 2014.

The final report into the crash, released in December last year, found the aircraft had a fault with its rudder limiter which went unfixed for 12 months before the crash.

Foreign Correspondent has revealed thousands of Australians had flown on the same aircraft while it had the fault.

Perth-based aviation expert Geoffrey Thomas said airlines like Qantas would never a fly a plane with that sort of defect.

"I believe there's evidence around that some airlines that fly to Australia don't meet international standards and they should be banned," he said.

"It's simply not good enough that you've got aeroplanes flying around with potentially catastrophic faults with them."

The crash investigation report says the rudder limiter defect did not in itself cause the crash, but instead the flight crew's reaction to a warning alarm about the fault was to blame.

Further, Indonesia AirAsia was not even approved to fly the route to Singapore on that day.

CASA increased spot checks on Indonesian planes

Directly after the crash, the Australian Transport Workers Union called for all Indonesian AirAsia flights to be suspended.

Photo: Peter Gibson said CASA believed the Indonesian safety system met required operational standards. (ABC News)

The union raised the concerns again in a letter to Federal Transport Minister Darren Chester last week.

The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) increased spot checks of Indonesian planes in Australia directly after the 2014 AirAsia crash.

CASA's spokesman Peter Gibson said it would not be appropriate to give a running commentary on individual airlines.

"But rest assured if any airline has issues remaining that need to be watched carefully then we continue to watch," he said.

CASA confirmed the so called "ramp checks" on Indonesian planes are continuing.

'Uncoordinated' pilot bribed inspector to receive licence

There are also allegations that staff of the Indonesian equivalent of CASA, known as the DGCA (Director General of Civil Aviation), have engaged in corrupt activities.

Among the claims is that one Indonesian pilot who failed a flight simulator test in Australia because he was deemed to be too "uncoordinated" to fly went on to receive his flying licence in Indonesia after a bribe was paid to an inspector.

That allegation was raised with both the Indonesian and Australian Transport Ministries at the time.

Mike, a whistleblower pilot and senior captain with 28,000 hours flying experience, also raised concerns about pilots' qualifications during the program.

"We had an Indonesian co-pilot who we failed outright, he'd been with us a number of years, but we failed him outright and he came back and he joined one of the local airlines," Mike told Foreign Correspondent.

All Indonesian operated airlines are banned from flying into the United States, while Europe has also black listed most carriers with some exceptions.

CASA clears Indonesian airlines to fly to Australia

Indonesia's national carrier Garuda can fly to Europe but not the US.

In contrast Australia's aviation watchdog, CASA clears Garuda, Indonesian AirAsia and Indonesia AirAsia X to fly to Australia.

"We have made our own assessments of the airline, of the Indonesian safety system and we believe that they are meeting the required international operational standards," Mr Gibson said.

"If other parts of the world don't do that then of course that's a matter for them."

The DGCA and AirAsia declined to be interviewed by Foreign Correspondent.
AirAsia says it has improved pilot training and maintenance standards since the crash.

A special extended episode of Foreign Correspondent airs at 8:40pm tonight on ABC TV, directly after the budget coverage.

The comments from Pinocchio Gobson and the parallels & dichotomies with the coverage by Planetalking on the ATSB final report into a Cobham AVRO 146-RJ100 engine fire incident on departure out of Perth, are fascinating:

CASA & 'just culture'  - Fantasy or fact? 

...Now back to what is IMO the central issue to Ben's article that is now causing debate & contention in the ensuing commentary. 

First the background. Ben Sandilands has witnessed for many decades the administration of the Oz aviation safety system being manipulated, obfuscated, abused, historically tarnished, neglected etc..etc; by a rampant, seemingly untouchable bureaucracy that governments of either colour totally abscond from proper oversight or governance.

So naturally, like much of industry (refer ASRR report), Ben's trust quotient & 'bollocks' alert will be rapidly pinging when it comes to the regulator making comments like..

"...We also have system based on just culture to ensure open reports such as are made to the ATSB and mistakes rectified..."  

Until proven otherwise "just culture" & CASA in the same sentence will be met with much scepticism from an industry (including some aviation journos) that have been bullied, belittled, badgered and embuggerised by the "Iron Ring" big "R" regulator and supporting department for the best part of three decades...

Seaview...Lockhart...PelAir cover-up...Mildura Fog duck-up...VARA ATR bird strike abberration...the list & the bollocks continue - miniscule Chester please take note of what IMO is the most important part of Ben's article:

The new Minister Darren Chester is meeting the grass roots aviation industry in Tamworth this Friday, one hopes before the government goes into caretaker mode on the calling of a general election.

It is an important meeting. It is also important for the Minister to note that his predecessors were treated with arrogant contempt by his department in relation to aviation matters and public safety, and that taking visible control of his portfolio and remembering he is a representative of the people, not unaccountable bureaucrats or corporate entities, is a prerequisite for being held in respect.

 

&..

Gobson - "We have made our own assessments of the airline, of the Indonesian safety system and we believe that they are meeting the required international operational standards...If other parts of the world don't do that then of course that's a matter for them."

 
The sheer bloody arrogance & the hazy, lack of factual evidence are typical of the spin'n'bulldust that seems to float with ease from this trough feeding parasite's mouth.
 
That the CASA assessment was in anyway as comprehensive as the FAA, who are tasked by ICAO to audit all signatory States under the ICAO Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme (USOAP), is simply laughable and smacks yet again of regulatory capture in the interest of the tourism industry, plus Indonesian & Canberra relations.
 
Hollow words from the Hollow (wooden) Men: "Aviation Safety is our No1. priority" - yeah right, BOLLOCKS!

MTF...P2