[Peetwo]

Week of buckets, bollocks & trough top ups -

From AGAD Chester's speech to the 'Safeskies are empty skies' talkfest - see above - the following was revealed by 6D:

..However, it is not just CASA which is responsible for safety, I recognise that industry too are also setting higher than minimum safety standards to ensure the safety of its aircraft and passengers.

The Government has committed an additional $12 million over five years in this year's Budget to enhance the ATSB's core capabilities.

The ATSB will continue to give priority to transport safety investigations to inform how we can achieve the best safety outcomes for the travelling public... Yes a top up to the ATCB's (Australian top-cover bureau) ATP funded trough. I guess that means AGAD is happy with High Viz Hood's efforts so far...

Anyway in a show of appreciation, HVH again tries his hand at writing for the Oz...  

ATSB working hard on many levels to keep skies safe

• Greg Hood
  
• The Australian
  
• 12:00AM October 6, 2017
  

[url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/aviation/atsb-working-hard-on-many-levels-to-keep-skies-safe/news-story/52f18949f02ea8de73f0ca34f3e43f23#comments][/url]
Since my appointment on July 1, 2016 as chief commissioner of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, I have worked to maintain our status as a global leader in transport safety investigation. It is an absolute privilege to lead an organisation of highly skilled professionals dedicated to improving safety across the aviation, maritime and rail transport modes.

Over the past 12 months, the ATSB has undertaken a significant transformation designed to enable better resource allocation and utilisation across the agency. We have become more considered in how we allocate resources towards investigating accidents and serious incidents that have the greatest potential for safety learnings and enhancement.

Concurrently, we have expanded our capacity to improve transport safety outside of these traditional investigations, through safety issue investigations, greater interaction with operators and regulators, and amplified communications, education and promotion. The function of the ATSB is separate from transport regulators, policymakers and service providers, and our status as an independent safety investigator is vital to the integrity of our findings.

This is balanced carefully with our need to collaborate and network extensively with other agencies that share responsibility for transport safety, including public and private sector organisations and our international counterparts.

Yesterday in Canberra at the Safeskies aviation safety conference, I highlighted our collaboration with the Directorate of Defence Aviation and Air Force Safety. As the aviation safety investigator for the Australian Defence Force, the agency forms a crucial part of Australia’s national safety investigation capability.

I am particularly pleased that recent conversations between our two organisations have reaffirmed the importance of encouraging mutual assistance and the sharing of expertise, training opportunities, and equipment in relation to transport safety investigations.

While the federal budget provided a much-needed boost to the ATSB, allowing us to recommence recruitment following a self-imposed freeze, our need from our partnership with DDAAFS has shifted somewhat from boots-on-the-ground and technical expertise to logistical support in case of deployment to a major incident.

Over the past year, the ATSB has opened more than 150 investigations across aviation, maritime and rail. While not every investigation results in a deployment, those that do are often in remote locations. Our continued relationship with DDAAFS enables us to draw on their considerable resources and expertise in deployment. This is invaluable in facilitating an immediate response to incidents and accidents.

I am also proud to share the technical expertise of the ATSB with DDAAFS, including specialist expertise in materials failure analysis, cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder analysis, head-up display and maintenance tapes analysis, or the development of computer graphics in our state-of-the-art facilities in Canberra.

These capabilities are in demand across the Asia-Pacific. In the past year we have provided technical and developmental support to the National Transportation Safety Committee of Indonesia through the Indonesia Transport Safety Assistance Package and to the Transport Accident Investigation Commission of New Zealand.

We are constantly working to remain at the forefront of new technological developments and have also been engaged in ongoing discourse with DDAAFS and the Civil Aviation Safety Authority around our shared interest in the emerging technology of Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems, or drones.

The ATSB has been conducting research and data analysis into RPAS to assess the safety risk to aircraft. We have also been monitoring the potential benefits to safety investigations and have determined that advances in technology have made using RPAS to gather critical on-site data a viable option. We use RPAS to perform site mapping more quickly, with a high accuracy of measurement. We can now capture imagery that could previously only be obtained with a helicopter.

The ATSB also offers world-class training via secondments and sponsored training.
The strength of the ATSB is its people. Every day, our staff are investigating often tragic accidents to establish and then communicate the important safety messages to the aviation, maritime and rail transport industries to help ensure lives are not lost due to preventable transport safety occurrences.

No comment, I can't get my head out of the bucket -