[Peetwo]

High viz Hood and his merry men take over the Comedy Hour -



Today in the Oz Dick and 'that man' yet again 'rock' Hoody's Chookhouse shed...

Why was crash pilot at controls?

12:00amEAN HIGGINS

Doubts about the Australian Transport Safety Bureau’s ability to conduct critical investigations have deepened.

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Doubts about the Australian Transport Safety Bureau’s ability to conduct critical investigations have deepened with the revelation that it will have been 2½ years ­before the agency reports on a ­potentially catastrophic near-collision of two aircraft at Mount Hotham in Victoria.

The near-miss in September 2015 is particularly significant ­because the pilot allegedly at fault, Max Quartermain, was killed, along with four American passengers, when his plane crashed near Melbourne’s Essendon airport in February this year.

Former Civil Aviation Safety Authority chairman Dick Smith told The Australian that if the ATSB had completed its Mount Hotham investigation within a reasonable timeframe, and concluded that Quartermain had ­engaged in poor airmanship, ­endangering lives, he might have been grounded or given retraining. In that case, Mr Smith said, the second incident, in which Quartermain crashed a Beechcraft King Air into a retail outlet nine seconds after take-off from Essendon, might not have happened.

The ATSB, in its initial determination of the Essendon disaster, could find no evidence of catastrophic engine failure.

Despite publicity about the same pilot being in charge in the Mount Hotham and Essendon incidents, the ATSB has again ­delayed the release of its report into the 2015 near-miss.

In April, with 18 months having passed since the Mount Hotham near-miss, the ATSB said it would make its report public in June.

But an ATSB spokesman has now said the investigation will not be completed until February, and even the draft report was “currently undergoing an internal ­review process prior to approval by the ATSB commission”.

“Once this is complete, the draft report will be forwarded to the relevant directly involved parties for comment prior to the completion and public release of the final report,” the spokesman said. “The involvement of directly ­involved parties is an important measure for the ATSB to ensure factual accuracy, and the validity and transparency of its investigation processes. There have been some delays experienced; most ­recently due to new information becoming available.”

The ATSB launched its Mount Hotham investigation after a pilot claimed Quartermain, flying a King Air from Melbourne, had confused other pilots in his radio communications and nearly crashed into his aircraft, also a King Air, as they both were preparing to land.

Quartermain was flying staff from Audi to an event at the alpine resort when, investigators determined, he came within 1.8km horizontally and 90m vertically of the other aircraft. At one point, it was alleged, Quartermain radioed to say he was 10 nautical miles west of Mount Hotham, before correcting himself to say he was 10 nautical miles east.

Mr Smith said he was suspicious about the delay, and whether it reflected concerns about whether action should have been taken against Quartermain after the Mount Hotham incident.

He said the ATSB’s system of sending draft reports to interested parties gave them the chance to frustrate the process, including requesting that adverse findings or implications be censored.

“It’s sent secretly to those who have a vested interest before the general public see it, and it’s wrong,” Mr Smith said.

The ATSB spokesman said the bureau was “independent of regulators, service providers and policymakers and this is reflected in the integrity of our investigation ­reports”.

Hmm...I can feel another Hoody 'correcting the bollocks' moment coming on -    



...said the bureau was “independent of regulators, service providers and policymakers and this is reflected in the integrity of our investigation ­reports”.

 In the meantime the Carmody hour comes to the HVH (ATSB) studios -

MTF...P2