Pel-Air: A coverup: a litany of lies? - Version II
Chronology; colour coded to help with making your mind up.
Green - Go head.
Amber - proceed with caution.
Red - Stop and think about it. - Handing over::::-
Chronology; colour coded to help with making your mind up.
Green - Go head.
Amber - proceed with caution.
Red - Stop and think about it. - Handing over::::-
Quote: Wrote:Quote: Wrote:Pel-Air ATSB/CASA Investigation (AO-2009-072) Chronology from 18/11/2009
– 30/11/2017:
18 November 2009: Ditching 3 NM south-west of Norfolk Island Aerodrome.
18 November 2009: ATSB notified of accident and ATSB subsequently notify CASA. The
ATSB decide to carry out an investigation and CASA decide to run a parallel
investigation, initiated 19 November.
19 November 2009: Pel-Air voluntarily suspend Westwind operation.
20 November 2009: Quote from page 97 of PelAir MKII Final report - "The ATSB asked CAAF for ATS records for the flight and the weather information that was provided to the flight crew of VH-NGA. CAAF forwarded the request to the ATS provider and then obtained the records in December 2009 to pass on to the ATSB. This included copies of the 0630 METAR, 0800 SPECI and 0830 SPECI."
23 November 2009: Richard White MALIU correspondence to ATSB Director Aviation Safety Investigations, Ian Sangston notifying CASA will be conducting a regulatory investigation into the actions of the flightcrew. Note that there is no reference to 'parallel investigations' under either the 2004 or 2010 MOU (ref link - #122 & #28).
23 November 2009: Richard White receives from Airservices Australia the complete list of Norfolk Island Terminal Aerodrome Forecasts (TAFs) applicable to the occurrence flight timeframe. This included the Nadi non-relayed 0803 AMD TAF, which appears to be underlined (ref link - #122 & #85 )
25 November 2009: Greg Hood file note email (cc'd Jonathon Aleck, Terry Farquharson, John McCormick.). File note No.4 reference to flight recorder recovery would appear to show, at that point in time, that recovery was inevitable (ref link - #125 )
26 November 2009: CASA initiate a ‘Special Audit’ conducted between the 26/11/2009-
15/12/2009 at the Pel-Air Bases in Sydney, Adelaide and Nowra.
30 November 2009: Richard White email to John Barr (cc Roger Chambers) confirming Airservices passed on weather & received flight plan details from PIC Dominic James by phone in Apia. (ref link - #122 )
7 December 2009: Audit team meet with Pel-Air management to discuss a number of
deficiencies within the Westwind Operation. This was backed up by correspondence from
CASA on 9/12/2009.
7 December 2009: FAA/ICAO brief on 'next steps' after poor results/findings in the ICAO USOAP 2008 Australian audit. (ref links - #53 & WikiLeaks cable PDF: http://auntypru.com/wp-content/uploads/2...ileaks.pdf
8 December 2009: E-mail from ATSB to CASA raising the possibility of contributing to a
joint fund sharing arrangement to recover the black box and CASA advised they didn’t
have the necessary funds.
16 December 2009: CASA accept the Pel-Air ‘Management Action Plan’ which consisted
of three phases.
16 December 2009: Dominic James was 'informally' interviewed by CASA legal and investigative officers. (ref link - #112 )
18 December 2009: Pel-Air successfully completed Phase 1 items and were able to
recommence domestic operations.
23-24 December 2009: CASA overseeing FOI of Pel-Air Eric Demarco issues 14 RCA and
a number of AO. The RCAs needed to be acquitted by 28/01/2010.
24th December 2009: Dominic James notice of suspension of CPL, ATPL, CIR pursuant
to CAR 265(1)(a). Also given notice to undertake examinations under CAR 5.38.
24 December 2009: Pel-Air successfully completed Phase 2 items and were able to
recommence international operations.
8 January 2010: CASA issue 7 more RCAs and several more AO, all of which Roger
Chambers the Audit Coordinator signed on behalf of several SAR team members.
8 January 2010: Audit Report completed.
1 February 2010: Quote from TSBC report ".. the team leader and the general manager (GM) decided to provide CASA with a briefing on the perceived safety issue. The briefing was held by video conference on 03 February 2010. On 12 February, the primary contact at CASA followed up with a phone call to the IIC asking the ATSB to send a letter describing the safety issue.(ref link -
3 February 2010: Video conference meeting between the ATSB and CASA to discuss
critical safety issue.
12 February 2010: Mr R White ALIU Manager contacts Mr Michael Watson the ATSB
‘investigator in charge’ to request a supporting letter that described the critical safety
issue.
15 February 2010: ATSB create a PDF of the Preliminary Report to forward to ICAO ADREP database office. However it would appear that this PDF copy was not forwarded to ICAO until 10 November 2015. (ref link - #149 & ICAO1 ) Ps The original VH-NGA Final Report was never forwarded to ICAO.
26 February 2010: Mr Sangston Director of Aviation Safety Investigations writes to Mr
White addressing the critical safety issue with the requested supporting documentation.
19 March 2010: CASA LSD draw up and distribute ‘AT10-23 NORFOLK ISLAND SAFETY
ISSUE LEGAL DRAFT 19 MARCH.doc’.
20 March 2010: CASA internal e-mail that highlighted a 50:50 split within the CASA
inspectorate on when to divert to an alternate.
23 March 2010: ‘AT10-23 NORFOLK ISLAND SAFETY ISSUE LEGAL DRAFT 19
MARCH.doc’ approved for Mr White to send by CASA Corporate Relations and Strategy
(i.e. Grima and co).
23 March 2010: Dominic James licenses cancellation matter (CAR 265(1) (a)) was
originally set down for mention in the AAT.
26 March 2010: Mr White and CASA initial response to critical safety issue.
31 March 2010: ATSB e-mail Mr White ALIU Manager requesting information under S32
on Pel-Air’s Air Ambulance classification of Operations and Noumea French regulator
restrictions on Pel-Air Operations. Note: There is no record/copy of this e-mail.
14 April 2010: Mr White’s replies to ATSB e-mail 31 March 2010. Reference Senate
Inquiry page under ‘Additional information’ item 3.
22 April 2010: Follow-up meeting between ATSB and CASA (John Grima and co) on the
CSI matter was held in CASA’s Woden, ACT offices. Reference AQON 22/10/12 ATSB
(Hansard, pg 66).
26 May 2010: At a 'regular' meeting between John McCormick (former CASA DAS) and Martin Dolan (former ATSB Chief Commissioner), McCormick advised Dolan that in light of the ongoing PelAir parallel investigation, that CASA would be conducting an internal review of it's audit and surveillance processes.(ref link - #97)
27 May 2010: The Hon Anthony Albanese MP and former Minister for Infrastructure, Transport & Regional Development officially opens the REX Australian Airline Pilot Academy. (ref link - #97)
11 June 2010: Correspondence from CASA ALC (assigned legal counsel) Joe Rule to DJ Legal Counsel in reply to questions asked on the DJ FCL suspension in the lead up to a proposed AAT hearing. This 'answering' correspondence would appear to indicate that CASA LSD were also misled in relation to the 0803 AMD TAF. (ref link - #109 & http://auntypru.com/wp-content/uploads/2....6.101.pdf )
15 June 2010: ATSB receive e-mail from Pel-Air detailing actions done in response to
CASA Special Audit.
21 July 2010: CAIR 09/3 completed.
28 July 2010: Quote from TSBC peer review report - "On 28 July 2010, CASA briefed the ATSB on the findings of its regulatory investigation into the ditching, which it had done in parallel with the ATSB investigation.Footnote 12 "The team leader obtained a copy of the CASA investigation report in March 2011."
11 January 2011: CASA email chain, initiated by Roger Chambers, on Dominic James CEP (Coordinated Enforcement Process) . Highlights one of the many times the CEP was varied and the senior management ranks that had a vested interest in the PelAir ditching matter. (ref link - #98 )
March 2011: (see 28 July 2010 ref above)
5 August 2011: With little to no fanfare CASA DAS John McCormick issues a regulatory policy directive ( ref link - #74 & Download das-pn015-2010.pdf) titled "ATSB Cooperation Policy". Appears to be a threat to any CASA Officers not to talk out of school to the ATSB.
11 November 2011: Former Pel-Air Chief Pilot and recently appointed CASA FOI
(February 2011) Mr. Wickham participates (observer) in a CASA approval process for a
Pel-Air Check Pilot. Note: Wickham originally applied for a position with CASA as a Flight
Training Examiner in August 2010.
13 January 2010: ATSB issue preliminary report AO-2009-072.
26 March 2012: Mr Sangston approves Final Report draft release to the directly involved
parties (DIP) for comment on its factual accuracy. Comments were requested from DIP
by 23 April 2012.
27 March 2012: CASA Delegate Greg Hood signs a 'notice of variation' & 'notice of revocation' correspondence to Dominic James . This notice was supported by, a Hood signed, Roger Chambers authored 'Standard Form Recommendation'. (ref link - http://auntypru.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/FOI4.pdf )
30 March 2012: Roger Chambers correspondence to CASA (cast of thousands) officers involved in DJ CEP, notifying for administrative purposes the Hood signed 27 March 2012 notice. (ref link - #98 & #100 )
30 June 2012: Roger Chambers correspondence to DJ notifying him that omission of the agreed conditions on his FCL is illegal and those conditions will now have to be published on his FCL. This notice gave DJ seven days to respond. (ref link - #103 )
4 July 2012: The ATSB requested a copy of the CASA special audit report under a
section 32 notice. A copy of the report was received on 9 July 2012.
16 July 2012: Draft 2 issued to DIP.
18 July 2012: Roger Chambers recommendation to add conditions to DJ FCL. Included a Roger Chambers authored SFR that was not signed by CASA Delegate. (ref link - #103 & http://auntypru.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Dominic-James-documents-released-19-Oct-17-Volume-1.pdf )
July-Aug 2012: REX Airlines declares political donations of 250K to the ALP; 95.7K to the Nationals; & 40K to the Liberals (ref link - http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-24/ae...le/7959394 & #94)
8 August 2012: Flight Nurse Karen Casey submits an FOI request with CASA FOI Legal
Services Division asking for a copy of the CASA Special Audit Report.
16 August 2012: ATSB Commission approve s25 release of Final Report AO-2009-072
and officially reclassify the ‘safety issue’ to minor.
30 August 2012: ATSB Final Report AO-2009-072 released.
31 August 2012: Final Report amended and re-issued.
3 September 2012: 4 Corners ‘Crash Landing’ program goes to air 8:30pm.
12 September 2012: E-mail chain (Carmody and Dolan) discussing Senator Xenophon’s
proposal for a possible Senate Inquiry into the ATSB Final report AO-2009-072 (the
tendentious bloggers e-mail).
13 September 2012: Senate referred the Aviation Accident Investigations (Pel-Air) to
the Senate Standing Committees on Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport for inquiry
and report.
26 September 2012: CASA FOI and Finance officer (LSD) Jennifer Smith-Roberts
releases a redacted version of the CASA SAR to Karen Casey.
26 September 2012: RRAT committee request ATSB for documents to assist the
committee with its inquiry.
3 October 2012: Reply from ATSB (Dolan) to committee correspondence requesting
documentation.
10 October 2012: Ten documents, including the infamous Chambers Report, were received (presumably sent anonymously) by the RRAT Committee Secretariat in relation to the Senate AAI Inquiry. However these documents were not formally tabled till the day before the extraordinary 15 February 2013 public hearing. (ref link - #24 )
19 October 2012: ATSB send RRAT Committee correspondence and attachment in
response to submissions from Aherne, Quinn and Currall, which had been approved by
the committee to be publicly available.
22 October 2012: First Public Hearing for Senate ‘Aviation Accident Investigations’
Inquiry.
10 November 2015: PDF copy of 2010 AO-2009-072 Preliminary report ( Aus_Isreal_VH-NGA_18Nov2009_prelim.pdf) is bizarrely modified and added (2126 days after it was created) to the ICAO iSTAR/ADREP database by the ATSB REPCON Manager Elaine Hargreaves. (ref links - 15 February 2010 entry & #56 + https://blogs.crikey.com.au/planetalking.../17/52003/)
30 November 2017: Quote from CASA FOI Officer David Gobbitt correspondence email to Dominic James - "I have not been able to locate a signed copy of the SFR...However, as stated by Adam Anastasi in his email to you dated 27 October 2017, even if the delegate had not signed the SFR, the fact of the delegate sending the decision letter to you on 24 December 2009 would clearly have signified that the delegate accepted the recommendations in the SFR..." (ref - #126 & #331.)