[Peetwo]

TB – “I think its curious the way he was treated compared with the RPT guys for essentially the same "Offence?".

Just by the numbers alone – at no time did James receive a met report indicating an operational requirement. The RPT took off with full knowledge and full operational support and both flew past viable options and diverted to a field with an operational requirement.

Going to be interesting to see what ‘the report’ contains by way of meteorological updates, advice and warnings – particularly on the ‘time line’ and amended forecasts.

The report should only now contain the CVR data and a couple of twiddles – how it got to be 500 pages is going to make for interesting reading. Will they call a ‘fuel’ related incident or a ‘weather’ related accident ?– the title page will say it all.

Toot toot.

"..Going to be interesting to see what ‘the report’ contains by way of meteorological updates, advice and warnings – particularly on the ‘time line’ and amended forecasts..." - Yes indeed "K" it will be very interesting...  

Reference 4 Corners transcript:

GEOFF THOMSON: With good weather forecast, Dominic James headed to Norfolk Island with his fuel tanks 83 per cent full.
The first weather update for Norfolk comes from Air Traffic Control in Fiji.

It says there's some cloud over Norfolk island at 6,000 feet.

This is wrong.

MICK QUINN: In review when you look at the actual weather report that was issued, the actual cloud base was not at 6,000 feet. It was at 600 feet.

That indicates to Dominic, it reinforces his mental picture, that the forecast still is as it was, it's even better than what it was when he got the original forecast when he departed.

MARTIN DOLAN: That's not one that I am familiar with at the level of detail in the report so ...

GEOFF THOMPSON: So it might be a mistake.

MARTIN DOLAN: It, it may well be a mistake. I'll have to take a look at that.

GEOFF THOMSON: And he did.

Last Friday the ATSB acknowledged Dominic James received incorrect weather report from Fiji and changed its report.

DOMINIC JAMES: If I'd been told that there was cloud at 600 feet, even given the fact that I suspected the automatic system was overstating the weather at Norfolk, I would've gone to Fiji.

GEOFF THOMSON: But moments later another weather report comes from Fiji which is acknowledged by the flight crew as the latest weather available.

It contradicts what they've just heard and says weather conditions on Norfolk Island are in fact deteriorating.

DOMINIC JAMES: I maintain that that weather report, exactly as it appears in that transcript, is not what we had on the flight deck. That's not what I copied down, it's not what I comprehended.

GEOFF THOMPSON: And how do you explain that?

DOMINIC JAMES: To be honest with you, I can't.

I am also curious as to whether there will be mention of what I believe led to the ATSB making the above elementary but crucial factual error in the original VH-NGA final report...

My theory is that in the course of the dodgy CASA AAI, that was apparently being conducted under the parallel investigation terms of reference (paragraph 4.1 'parallel Investigations) of the then yet to be released 2010 MoU, it was agreed (as per subpara 4.1.4) that in order to conserve resources that the CASA ALIU would take responsibility for interpreting the ATC transcript and the subsequent dissemination by the flight crew of the ATC relayed wx reports for Norfolk island.

This was ultimately what led (my theory) to the ATSB making the fundamental factual error of 600ft versus 6000 feet as conveyed by Nadi. This error and the CASA biased interpretation of what the Flight crew actually assimilated from the ATC wx report transmissions and which was subsequently reported on in the dodgy CAIR 09/3..

 

From PDF page 45 here - Attachment 5(PDF 6032KB)

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...was what ultimately led to the ATSB completely glossing over the significance that the only wx report that placed a legal operational requirement on the PIC, the 0803 AMD TAF, was never relayed by ATC to the flight crew of VH-NGA -

One would hope that the record of all the interactions between the CASA ALIU and the ATSB, in the course of the conduct of the 2010 MoU defined parallel investigation, will at least be an appendix to the re-investigation final report as IMO it could go a long way to explaining how the first final report was so comprehensively ducked up...


MTF...P2