[Peetwo]

It has become quite obvious in recent times - especially in regards to the ATSB MH370 search efforts in the SIO - that our head ATSB muppet has almost an obsessive penchant for media attention...

Nowhere was this observation more prevalent than with Beaker's lunchtime interview with the SMH...

SMH: The 57-year-old is helping solve what remains the greatest aviation mystery of all time: the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

P9 : "This, all without any technical qualification (NFI in industry parlance). Doesn’t it therefore qualify (technically) as a ‘porky’? – in light of the Senate report of the Pel Air inquiry. I believe, some of the words used in Hansard transcript were: unreliable, disingenuous and untenable. Although industry further accords the “beyond all reason” approach as being directly attributable to “the team leader”. Yet our beloved Bea-cur can sit there; stuffing his now shaved face with spaghetti, intimating (in public) that ‘he’ (probably only he alone) will solve the MH 370 riddle: industry is overwhelmed and simply says “it’s beyond all reason”.

- See more at: http://auntypru.com/simply-marvellous-ho...r2zkR.dpuf

However, although Beaker quite obviously believes his own bull-shit and is drawn to the media limelight like a moth to a lamp, this thread will also attempt to record the exposure that other lesser lights within the bureau - may by happenstance - get from MSM & subjective media...
For example in recent days there has been some limited coverage on the latest update to the ATSB PelAir (cover-up) re-investigation.
First there was Planetalking - ATSB releases new month old images of Pel-Air wreckage
Next there was the AA article - ATSB conducts fresh survey of ditched Pel-Air jet

Specialist divers from the NSW Police Force and Australian Federal Police have conducted a fresh survey of the Pel-Air corporate jet that was ditched off the coast of Norfolk Island in 2009 as part of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau’s (ATSB) new investigation into the crash.


The ATSB said on Friday the underwater survey was conducted over two days on March 28/29 and discovered the wreckage of the corporate jet VH-NGA was still at its last recorded position about 4.5km west of Norfolk Island and submerged about 48 metres of water.

In an update on its website, the ATSB said the tail section of the fuselage containing the flight recorders was partially buried by the movement of sand, while both wings, both engines and the rear section of the fuselage and tail were still attached.

“As part of the re-opened investigation the ATSB is taking all reasonable steps to recover the flight recorders from the accident aircraft and download and analyse the data from them,” the ATSB said.

“The information obtained from this latest underwater survey will be used to assist the ATSB in its planning and assessment of options for the next phase of the project to recover the recorders.”

The Westwind corporate jet was conducting an aeromedical flight from Apia, Samoa to Melbourne when crashed near Norfolk Island after running out of fuel.

The ATSB report into the 2009 incident cited errors by the flightcrew and found the pilot in command of the aircraft Dominic James did not plan the flight in accordance with regulatory and operator requirements.

However, the ATSB investigation was the subject of a scathing assessment by a Senate committee which found, among other things, that the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) withheld a number of documents critical of Pel-Air. A Four Corners investigation also highlighted serious flaws in the way the investigation was conducted.

In December, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development Warren Truss sought a fresh look at the 2009 crash after a Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) review found the ATSB did not follow proper process and had poor oversight during its original investigation into incident.

“The main focus of the re-opened investigation to date has been the review of documentation requested from the Civil Aviation Safety Authority, the operator and other organisations, as well as interviewing a number of personnel from these organisations,” the ATSB said.

“These activities are ongoing.”

 
Finally there was this from Oz Flying:

This 2015 photo shows the Westwind wreckage has not been disturbed on the ocean floor since the accident in 2009. (ATSB)


ATSB returns to Norfolk Island Crash Site
27 Apr 2015

Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) investigators have completed a new survey of the crash site of Pel-Air Westwind VH-NGA.

The aircraft was ditched off Norfolk Island in 2009 after running low on fuel. The original investigation report became the subject of a senate inquiry in 2013, after which Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss urged the ATSB to re-open the investigation.

The latest survey, completed last month with the help of NSW Police and the Australian Federal Police, showed that the wreckage of the aircraft has lain relatively undisturbed since the last survey was done.

"Conditions for the latest survey were difficult, with large ocean swells, poor visibility and a strong underwater current, all likely as a result of the passage of Cyclone Pam to the north of Norfolk Island a couple of weeks previously," the ATSB stated. "Regardless of the less than ideal conditions, the survey exercise was successful and adequate for the ATSB to continue its planning for the next phase based on a good understanding of the state of the wreckage:

• The wreckage remains at its last recorded position, submerged in water to a depth of 48 m, approximately 4.5 km to the west of Norfolk Island
  
• Both wings, both engines, the rear section of fuselage and the tail remain attached and were accounted for during the survey
  
• The two major fuselage segments are no longer connected by flight control cables (as they were in 2009) and the front section of the passenger compartment has shifted slightly as a result of underwater currents, but the two segments remain close together
  
• The wreckage has been resting on a sandy-based ocean floor and as a consequence the tail section of the fuselage containing the flight recorders has been partially buried by the movement of sand. The left and right main landing gear have also been partially buried by sand
  
• Both engines, as well as the left and right wings, remain clear of the sandy ocean floor."
  

The survey was done to help the ATSB decide what its option are with regard to recovering the flight data recorders. So far, the new investigation has been restricted to reviewing documents an conducting interviews with staff from CASA, Pel-Air and other organisations.

 
MTF...P2