[Gobbledock]

Curse you P2!! I read that transcript and I literally blew chunks. Vomit everywhere!
The idiot 4D must be brain damaged from all that hair product!

In relation to Tiger, to trot out the 'safety is paramount' Horsehit along with the 'administrative error' pissweak smoothing over is deplorable. Tiger, an extension of Virgin, got busted pulling a shonky deal by the Indon's. Full stop. That little twat Borghetti has presided over some shonky activities including managing an airline continuing to bleed, multiple SERIOUS ground incidents and of course Mildura, bent ATR's and this little list here;

https://www.aeroinside.com/incidents/air...-australia

Then we also had 4D's dribble when it comes to politican rorts. He ducked, weaved, quietly prayed and ended up misusing the word 'transparency' far too many times. Politicans are as transparent as a black hole in space. Darren, you were pathetic mate. Please please come up with a new bullshit spiel because listening to yours was as enlightening as watching Bronwyn Bishop loufering her stretch marks!

Forget setting up an ICAC, some 'independent' board or whatever other fictitious process the grubs come up with. It's time to go back to the methodology o the French Revolution!!!

Viva le Miniscule

[Peetwo]

TICK, TOCK DDDD_MNFI - miniscule forgets his lines...



To begin I just like to say to ABC radio's Jon Faine the choccy frog voucher is in the mail..

Well done JF for not falling for the usual spin, bulldust & Motherhood weasel words that freely emanate from Barnbaby's photogenic filter. Your interview (IMO) overwhelmingly put beyond all doubt that 4D is a walking, talking, liability and has absolutely NFI what he is talking about...          

Mornings - 16 January with Jon Faine on ABC Radio Melbourne

Transcript—ABC Radio Melbourne Mornings
Interview
DCI011/2017
16 January 2017
Subjects: Reshuffle, entitlements, Tiger Air

Jon Faine: Darren Chester is one of the key Victorian ministers in the Turnbull Government. He is the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport. He has got his hands full with a raft of issues this morning. Mr Chester, good morning to you.

Darren Chester: Good morning, Jon, and Happy New Year and welcome back to the program.

Jon Faine: When is the Prime Minister's reshuffle to be announced?

Darren Chester: Well, my expectation is this week the Prime Minister will make an announcement, and obviously he has one position vacant at the moment, and Arthur Sinodinos has been announced as the Acting Health Minister. Obviously, it is not my job to speculate on who will be in the team and who will take on the role as Health Minister for a longer period. That is up to the Prime Minister to choose his team.

Jon Faine: Do you think it was a bit tough for Sussan Ley that she had to resign?

Darren Chester: Well, this is a tough business, Jon. Sussan got herself into a position where through either misjudgement or through public pressure, she was seen to have not shown good judgment, and the Prime Minister was in a position where he accepted her resignation. Now…

Jon Faine: Do you think it was unfair?

Darren Chester: No, it is not a question of whether I think it is fair or not, Jon. It is a tough business and this issue of accountability around our workplace expenses or entitlements as they are often called…

Jon Faine: Used to be called, not anymore.

Darren Chester: Well—and this is where it is a difficult issue for us, Jon. We need to make sure that we can provide the clarity and the transparency and the certainty the public wants, and right now there is a deficit of trust between elected representatives at state and federal level and the Australian people, and we need to work damn hard as members of Parliament at state level and federal level to restore that trust, because it is an important role we have to play on behalf of the community, and at times we get it wrong, we pay a very heavy price, and Sussan Ley has paid a very heavy price. (P2 - How to say absolutely nothing in as many words as is humanly possible)

Jon Faine: Did you go to the Boxing Day test as a guest of Cricket Australia?

Darren Chester: No, I didn't, Jon.

Jon Faine: Did you go to the tennis?

Darren Chester: No, I haven't gone to the tennis, but I will be going to the tennis actually later on this week. I'm in Melbourne all this week doing a whole range of meetings, and I'm working in my office in Melbourne today as we speak, and I think on Wednesday after I speak at an infrastructure forum on behalf of Tennis Australia, I'll be staying around to go to the tennis that evening, and then on Thursday …

Jon Faine: As a guest?

Darren Chester:…and again on Thursday morning I'll have more meetings here in Melbourne. And I think this is a really good point you're raising, Jon. This is where…

Jon Faine: Well, is it work or pleasure is what the public want to know.

Darren Chester: Exactly, and this is the same question we could ask about when the ABC travels to Canberra en masse for the Showcase where the ABC on-air presenters meet with Members of Parliament and we have a wine together and we discuss issues. It is a huge event, and it is a mixture, I guess, of whether that is work or pleasure, but I would say…

Jon Faine: Well it is work for me. I don't know what it is for you.

Darren Chester: I know. But this is my point, Jon. I'm not trying to defend anything which is indefensible, but there is a lot of work that goes on at community, sporting, social, or cultural functions which is related to the Member of Parliament's job or the Minister's job, just as it is related to the journalist's job.

Jon Faine: Well, on that basis, every single thing, every breath you take is work-related in that sense. I mean, if Julie Bishop wants to go to the polo, fine. She can go to the polo. She can network until she is blue in the face. Just—she can pay for it herself. If you want to go to the cricket and swan around and chat to people, fine. Just buy your own ticket.

Darren Chester: Well, and that is where I think—this is where the clarity needs to come, out of this independent process that the Prime Minister has put in place. And I think the Prime Minister has acted to fix a problem which has plagued politics for as long as I can remember, and probably as long as you can remember. That we need to provide a clearer system of rules, because right now, under the current system, Members of Parliament cannot break any rules whatsoever within the current system and still lose their jobs because of a public backlash or what we like to call the ‘pub test’. Now, if we get the rules right around the workplace expenses and we provide that greater clarity and transparency, there won't be any need for a pub test because you will know for sure whether you have broken the rules or not. I think we can clean it up, and I think this conversation you and I are having is part of it, but the Prime Minister's decision I think is a good one. It is one that will be a step in the right direction. (P2 - WTD?-UDB!)

Jon Faine: When is the last time a politician actually paid to go to one of these events? Instead of publishing all the things that you get reimbursed for, publish a list of all the things you pay out of your own pocket for. That would be just as revealing, wouldn't it? Because it seems and from the outsider's point of view, it seems that politicians never want to pay out of their own pocket for anything.

Darren Chester: Well, I think that is a bit unfair, Jon. I sponsor a whole range of community and sporting organisations in my own electorate out of my own pocket, and I don't think it is fair to say that politicians don't pay for anything. But this is… (P2 - Uhh pleez, my heart bleeds for 4D... )

Jon Faine: Well, if you want to come to Melbourne to inspect an investment property, or if Sussan Ley wants to fly from Albury to the Gold Coast to inspect an investment property, you pay for it. Like anybody else does. In fact, it would even be tax-deductable.

Darren Chester:I'm not arguing with that.

Jon Faine: So we are going to have a new integrity body. There is a call, though, for a new national anti-corruption body, like the ICAC in New South Wales and the IBAC here in Victoria. Are you a supporter of a national anti-corruption body?

Darren Chester: Well, I support what the Prime Minister has announced, Jon, in terms of having an independent process. (P2 - Yeah we know how those independent processes or agencies work out.. ) Now, the clarity and transparency we have just been talking about, some of it is already in place in that there is a list there, a public list of a member's register of interests where you can check out everything I own already. You check out what debt I have got to the bank that I choose to get my loans from; you can check what hospitality I have received.

So there is a level of transparency which is there already, which is why we are having this discussion, that journalists have checked with those registers and found things they didn't agree with and decided to run stories on it, and quite rightly it has got to a point now where the Prime Minister has put in this process of having an independent umpire, if you like, attached to the Parliament of Australia to make sure that members get it right in the future. Now I'm not trying to sugar coat this, Jon, I'm not trying to walk away from the fact that we have a problem, and the greatest problem we have is the deficit of trust between the Australian people and their elected representatives, and we need to earn that trust back, and I think we can do it.

I mean, I was in Buchan on Saturday at the Mountain Cattlemen's Association of Victoria gathering, and many people came up and wanted to talk to me about projects in their community, things they want me to do on their behalf, and I'll follow them up and try and get those things for them.

Now, that sort of engagement with your local community is what Members of Parliament need to be doing on a daily basis, and I'm confident we are doing it, but when we get it wrong it is very public, it is very ugly, and it has been a rough start to the year, as you described, but I think we can do better throughout the year. (P2 - Read.."I think we can go back to gorging from the trough unimpeded later in the year..")  

Jon Faine: And separately from the integrity on politicians' work expenses, do you think Australia would benefit from a national anti-corruption body like the IBAC and the ICAC?

Darren Chester: Well I don't, Jon. I think the process the Prime Minister has announced is the right process, and I think we need to give it a chance to work and then go from there. (P2 - Well you wouldn't, would you Dazza... ) 

Jon Faine: But an anti-corruption body would do a lot more than look into politicians; it would look into all the things that corruption involves, but at a national level. We don't have one, at all.

Darren Chester: Yeah, but you are suggesting to me something which is quite different to the discussion we are having about workplace entitlements and expenses around getting that right…

Jon Faine: Oh that is right, it is much broader. Luv it!

Darren Chester: You are talking about something very different in terms of—there is no suggestion in the discussion over the last couple of weeks about expenses claimed of any level of corruption, it's more about was it appropriate or did it meet the public's expectations. All those expenses were properly declared, and people became aware of them publicly because they are on a public list already. So I think transparency is the key to giving people confidence that Members of Parliament are acting appropriately, and I think that's why the Prime Minister has announced this independent process. (P2 - Again more white noise with many words signifying nothing)

Jon Faine: There are still some Australians stuck in Bali since the Indonesians withdrew accreditation for Tiger Air. As the Minister responsible for—amongst other things—Transport, Darren Chester, do you know the detail of why the Indonesians have targeted Tiger Air?

Darren Chester: Well it is not a question of the Indonesians targeting Tiger Air, and I don't want to get into a he said, she said debate about a sensitive negotiation between a commercial entity and a foreign country, but as I understand it there is an administrative matter between the Indonesian Government and Tiger, and unfortunately…

Jon Faine: But what is it?

Darren Chester: Well unfortunately passengers have been caught in the middle about whether they have the rights to fly beyond March this year, and…

Jon Faine: But what's at the nub, the core of this? It is very hard to understand.
(P2 - Keep at him Jon you'll eventually get the "I have no ducking idea about what I am talking about"...answer you are trying to extract)

Darren Chester: Well the nub or the core is access to Indonesia under air service type agreements, and I haven't been asked—I must stress that (P2 - FDS.. ) —I haven't been asked to intervene personally, and nor would I expect to be. But our embassy is certainly working with the passengers who were affected, and unfortunately for the passengers they have been like the meat in the sandwich, they have been caught in the middle of this, and we are working with Tiger as well in terms of our diplomats in Jakarta providing assistance to passengers and representations on behalf of Tiger to help them bring people home, which is occurring as you indicated.

Jon Faine: But if indeed the Indonesians say, and as best as I understand it, it is to do with the training of the pilots for the actual types of planes they've been asked to fly. If the Indonesians aren't satisfied and say it is deficient, well is it also deficient in Australia? Why are those issues not being investigated for the safety in Australia of Tiger Air, not just the safety of Tiger Air in Indonesia?


(P2 - Ok BYOB because here comes the bollocks Motherhood statements ) 

Darren Chester: Well the safety of Australian airlines across the borders are responsibility, quite rightly, of CASA and myself as Minister, and we have an outstanding safety record. We take the training of our pilots, the safety of our aircraft as the number one priority, and continue to do so. So I don't want to get into a discussion about what Indonesia expects of Tiger Air and what Australia expects, but I can assure you and assure the Australian travelling public that CASA and the Government takes air safety as an absolute priority, and we have an outstanding safety record as a result.

Jon Faine: We have been talking for ten minutes the Prime Minister didn't try to ring you to offer you a new portfolio during the last minutes?

Darren Chester: No, Jon, I'm very happy in the responsibility I have, infrastructure and transport. I have got a huge year ahead of me here in Victoria, as you and I have talked about many times. There are a lot of infrastructure requirements in Victoria…

Jon Faine: Yes, there sure is.

Darren Chester:…and I'm working with my state colleagues to try and make sure Victoria gets a very healthy share of the Commonwealth Budget into the future.

Jon Faine: Sure. Well if you do become minister of something else, I look forward to speaking to you about that. You are hot tipped to be the new Minister for Sport, so we'll keep an eye on things and see what happens over the next 48 hours.
(P2 - Pleez, pretty pleez Malcolm... )
Darren Chester: I wouldn't go betting on that, Jon. I think I'll be staying in the same job. If I'm so lucky to continue in that role, I'll be very, very, very appreciative.

Jon Faine: I'm grateful to you for your time this morning, and happy New Year and all the best for 2017. Darren Chester, Minister for Infrastructure and Transport and one of the Victorian Ministers in the Turnbull Federal Coalition Government.

MTF...P2

Ps Dear Jon if you want a handy reference on how individual international air-service agreements/treaties work please refer to Senator David Fawcett and/or go to the Mount NCN thread from about HERE..

Curse you P2!! I read that transcript and I literally blew chunks. Vomit everywhere!
The idiot 4D must be brain damaged from all that hair product!

In relation to Tiger, to trot out the 'safety is paramount' Horsehit along with the 'administrative error' pissweak smoothing over is deplorable. Tiger, an extension of Virgin, got busted pulling a shonky deal by the Indon's. Full stop. That little twat Borghetti has presided over some shonky activities including managing an airline continuing to bleed, multiple SERIOUS ground incidents and of course Mildura, bent ATR's and this little list here;

https://www.aeroinside.com/incidents/air...-Australia

Airline Incidents for airline Virgin Australia
Home >Incidents and Accidents > Virgin Australia


Virgin Australia B738 at Darwin on Dec 6th 2016, temporary runway excursion on landing (Published on 07.12.2016)
A Virgin Australia Boeing 737-800, registration VH-VUI performing flight VA-1465 from Melbourne,VI to Darwin,NT (Australia), landed on Darwin's runway 29 at 23:00L (13:30Z) but temporarily went off... read more


Virgin Australia B738 near Adelaide on May 9th 2015, control inputs cause injuries to flight attendant (Published on 08.10.2016)
A Virgin Australia Boeing 737-800, registration VH-YID performing flight VA-436 from Sydney,NS to Adelaide,SA (Australia) with 83 passengers and 6 crew, was in a high speed descent (320 KIAS) through... read more




Virgin Australia B738 near Auckland on Jul 21st 2016, problems with cabin pressurization (Published on 21.07.2016)
A Virgin Australia Boeing 737-800, registration VH-YIT performing flight VA-91 from Auckland (New Zealand) to Apia (Samoa), was climbing out of Auckland when the crew stopped the climb at FL250 and... read more


Virgin Australia AT72 near Sydney on Feb 20th 2014, control disagreement causing excessive G-forces injures cabin crew and pitch controls disconnect (Published on 15.06.2016)
A Virgin Australia Regional Avions de Transport Regional ATR-72-212A, registration VH-FVR performing flight XR-657/VA-657 from Canberra,AC to Sydney,NS (Australia), was on approach to Sydney... read more


Virgin Australia B738 at Mildura on Jun 18th 2013, landed below weather minima and substantially below final fuel reserve (Published on 31.05.2016)
On May 31st 2016 the ATSB released their final report into both serious incidents of VH-YIR (this coverage) and VH-VYK, see Incident: Qantas B738 at Mildura on Jun 18th 2013, landed below weather... read more


Virgin Australia B738 near Sydney on May 19th 2016, smell of smoke in cabin (Published on 19.05.2016)
A Virgin Australia Boeing 737-800, registration VH-YFL performing flight VA-1351 from Sydney,NS to Darwin,NT (Australia), was enroute at FL360 about 140nm westnorthwest of Sydney when the crew... read more


Virgin Australia B738 at Apia on Apr 23rd 2016, pod strike on landing (Published on 04.05.2016)
A Virgin Australia Boeing 737-800, registration VH-YIW performing flight VA-91 from Auckland (New Zealand) to Apia (Samoa), landed on Apia's runway 08 at 21:07L (08:07Z), the crew noticed a rather... read more


Virgin Australia B738 near Brisbane on Feb 23rd 2016, unusual odour in cabin (Published on 23.02.2016)
A Virgin Australia Boeing 737-800, registration VH-YVC performing flight VA-1280 from Hamilton Island,QL to Sydney,NS (Australia) with about 160 people on board, was enroute at FL390 about 280nm... read more


Virgin Australia B738 at Christchurch on Jul 15th 2015, unexpected reduced runway length for takeoff, wrong reference speeds (Published on 28.01.2016)
A Virgin Australia Boeing 737-800, registration VH-YIU performing flight VA-127 from Christchurch (New Zealand) to Brisbane,QL (Australia), was planned to depart at 06:50L however due to a crew... read more


Virgin Australia B738 at Dunedin and Christchurch on Dec 13th 2015, flaps failure (Published on 13.12.2015)
A Virgin Australia Boeing 737-800, registration VH-YIU performing flight VA-120 from Brisbane,QL (Australia) to Dunedin (New Zealand), was on approach to Dunedin (longest runway 1900 meters/6230... read more




Virgin Australia A320 near Perth on Sep 12th 2015, automated flight system issue (Published on 22.09.2015)
A Virgin Australia Airbus A320-200, registration VH-FNP performing flight VA-9053 from Perth,WA to Boolgeeda,WA (Australia), was climbing out of Perth being cleared to climb to FL350 when the crew... read more


Virgin Australia B738 at Sydney on Jun 4th 2013, went through localizer and caused loss of separation (Published on 10.08.2015)
A Virgin Australia Boeing 737-800, registration VH-YIR performing flight DJ-871 from Melbourne,VI to Sydney,NS (Australia), was on approach to Sydney's runway 16R on radar vectors, the crew had... read more


Virgin Australia B773 at Melbourne on Aug 15th 2013, waypoint 2.8nm out at 50 feet above runway (Published on 15.07.2015)
A Virgin Australia Boeing 777-300, registration VH-VPF performing flight VA-24 from Los Angeles,CA (USA) to Melbourne,VI (Australia), was on the LIZZY 7V STtandard Arrival Route (STAR) into Melbourne... read more


Virgin Australia B738 near Adelaide on Nov 7th 2014, speed decay during climb remained unnoticed (Published on 10.06.2015)
A Virgin Australia Boeing 737-800, registration VH-VUR performing flight VA-1385 from Adelaide,SA to Brisbane,QL (Australia), was climbing out of Adelaide. The crew used LNAV and VNAV until climbing... read more


Virgin Australia B738 at Christchurch on May 12th 2015, control issues during landing (Published on 13.05.2015)
A Virgin Australia Boeing 737-800, registration VH-VOP performing flight VA-134 (dep May 11th) from Sydney,NS (Australia) to Christchurch (New Zealand), landed on Christchurch's runway 29 in rain at... read more


Virgin Australia A332 at Perth on Jun 9th 2014, fumes in cabin (Published on 27.01.2015)
A Virgin Australia Airbus A330-200, registration VH-XFB performing flight VA-558 from Perth,WA to Sydney,NS (Australia) with an unknown number of passengers and 15 crew, was accelerating for takeoff... read more


Virgin Australia A332 at Perth on Nov 26th 2014, lightning strike at the gate (Published on 02.12.2014)
A Virgin Australia Airbus A330-200, registration VH-XFJ performing flight VA-561 from Sydney,NS to Perth,WA (Australia), had safely completed the flight landing at Perth at 15:49L (07:49Z) and had... read more


Virgin Australia B773 over Pacific on Nov 3rd 2014, blocked sinks (Published on 04.11.2014)
A Virgin Australia Boeing 777-300, registration VH-VPH performing flight VA-2 from Los Angeles,CA (USA) to Sydney,NS (Australia), was enroute at FL300 over the Pacific Ocean about 1300nm southwest of... read more


Virgin Australia A332 near Perth on Jun 9th 2014, two cabin crew incapacitated by fumes (Published on 18.06.2014)
A Virgin Australia Airbus A330-200, registration VH-XFD performing flight VA-558 from Perth,WA to Sydney,NS (Australia), was climbing out of Perth when fumes were detected the in the cabin.... read more


Virgin Australia AT72 at Moranbah on Mar 5th 2014, landed on runway occupied by aerodrome safety vehicle (Published on 17.06.2014)
A Virgin Australia Regional Avions de Transport Regional ATR-72-500, registration VH-FVI performing flight XR-1665 from Brisbane,QL to Moranbah,QL (Australia), landed on Moranbah's runway 16 although... read more




Virgin Australia AT72 at Albury on Feb 25th 2014, suspected bird strike (Published on 10.06.2014)
A Virgin Australia Avions de Transport Regional ATR-72-212A, registration VH-FVR performing flight XR-1174/VA-1174 from Sydney,NS to Albury,NS (Australia), had completed a safe landing at Albury. The... read more


Virgin Australia B738 near Launceston on Jan 4th 2013, speed decayed below minimum manoeuvering speed during climb (Published on 26.05.2014)
A Virgin Australia Boeing 737-800, registration VH-VUZ performing flight DJ-1361 from Launceston,TA to Melbourne,VI (Australia), was climbing out of Launceston, due to the short sector the crew was... read more


Virgin Australia B738 near Denpasar on Apr 25th 2014, squawked unlawful interference (Published on 25.04.2014)
A Virgin Australia Boeing 737-800, registration VH-YIF performing flight VA-41 from Brisbane,QL (Australia) to Denpasar (Indonesia) with 137 passengers and 6 crew, was enroute at FL380 about 260nm... read more


Virgin Australia B738 near Bali on Sep 14th 2012, wake turbulence from A380 (Published on 23.04.2013)
A Virgin Australia Boeing 737-800, registration VH-YIO performing flight DJ-4198 from Denpasar Bali (Indonesia) to Brisbane,QL (Australia) with 132 passengers and 6 crew, was enroute about 140nm... read more


Virgin Australia B738 at Melbourne on Feb 26th 2013, odour in cabin (Published on 28.02.2013)
A Virgin Australia Boeing 737-800, registration VH-VUZ performing flight DJ-823 from Melbourne,VI to Sydney,NS (Australia) with 129 passengers, was climbing out of Melbourne's runway 34 when the crew... read more


Virgin Australia B738 at Coolangatta on Jan 28th 2013, temporary loss of control due to aquaplaning on landing (Published on 01.02.2013)
A Virgin Australia Boeing 737-800, registration VH-YFF performing flight DJ-1693 from Canberra,AC to Coolangatta Gold Coast,QL (Australia), was on final approach to Gold Coast Airport's runway 32 at... read more


Virgin Australia B738 at Melbourne on Dec 19th 2012, unsafe gear after departure (Published on 23.12.2012)
A Virgin Australia Boeing 737-800, registration VH-VOQ performing flgiht DJ-1368 from Melbourne,VI to Launceston,TA (Australia), was climbing out of Melbourne's runway 34 when the crew requested to... read more


Virgin Australia B738 near Coolangatta on Apr 15th 2012, fuel imbalance (Published on 27.11.2012)
The Australian Transportation Safety Board (ATSB) released their final report without conclusion or safety message.The ATSB reported that the aircraft was climbing out of Coolangatta when... read more


Virgin Australia B737 near Melbourne and Sydney on Apr 17th 2012, fumes sicken two flight attendants (Published on 29.10.2012)
A Virgin Australia Boeing 737-700, registration VH-VBL performing flight DJ-815 from Melbourne,VI to Sydney,NS (Australia) with 129 passengers and 7 crew, was departing Melbourne when the captain... read more


Virgin Australia B738 near Brisbane on Sep 28th 2012, disappeared from radar (Published on 05.10.2012)
A Virgin Australia Boeing 737-800, registration VH-VUM performing flight DJ-913 from Sydney,NS to Brisbane,QL (Australia), was enroute at FL390 about 120nm south of Brisbane near Evans Head,NS... read more


Virgin Australia B773 at Los Angeles on Aug 26th 2012, flat right main tyre (Published on 26.08.2012)
A Virgin Australia Boeing 777-300, registration VH-VOZ performing flight VA-7 from Brisbane,QL (Australia) to Los Angeles,CA (USA), was descending towards Los Angeles when the crew declared emergency... read more


Virgin Australia B738 near Sydney on Jan 25th 2012, turbulence injures 3 flight attendants (Published on 24.05.2012)
The Australian Transportation Safety Board released their bulletin reporting the captain had briefed the cabin crew about forecast heavy rain and low cloud conditions in Sydney prior to departure... read more

Then we also had 4D's dribble when it comes to politican rorts. He ducked, weaved, quietly prayed and ended up misusing the word 'transparency' far too many times. Politicans are as transparent as a black hole in space. Darren, you were pathetic mate. Please please come up with a new bullshit spiel because listening to yours was as enlightening as watching Bronwyn Bishop loufering her stretch marks!

Forget setting up an ICAC, some 'independent' board or whatever other fictitious process the grubs come up with. It's time to go back to the methodology o the French Revolution!!!

Viva le Miniscule

Excellent catch Gobbles...

[Kharon]

Seems the Minister has a delivery on the way.

[Gobbledock]

CAsA grounds 4 Qantas Dash 8's

A refueller and Ops Supervisor just advised me that CAsA has grounded at least 4 QF Dash 8's effective immediately, at various airports around Australia. Maintenance overruns are the alleged cause.

Probably a bit early too tell what the root cause is but you would never have had something like this occur before Joyce inherited the gutted airline from Scrotum face. What a farce.

And whats the deal with CAsA? I'm surprised they lifted a finger against the beloved Rat? Must be serious as normally the protected brand reserve just a cursory wet lettuce leaf slap as punishment!

Where is Minister NFI Chester now? Getting briefed by his spin doctors and Pinocchio Gobson and preparing a pithy light hearted media statement?

TOCK TOCK Minister. We've been warning you.

[Peetwo]

CAsA grounds 4 Qantas Dash 8's

A refueller and Ops Supervisor just advised me that CAsA has grounded at least 4 QF Dash 8's effective immediately, at various airports around Australia. Maintenance overruns are the alleged cause.

Probably a bit early too tell what the root cause is but you would never have had something like this occur before Joyce inherited the gutted airline from Scrotum face. What a farce.

And whats the deal with CAsA? I'm surprised they lifted a finger against the beloved Rat? Must be serious as normally the protected brand reserve just a cursory wet lettuce leaf slap as punishment!

Where is Minister NFI Chester now? Getting briefed by his spin doctors and Pinocchio Gobson and preparing a pithy light hearted media statement?

TOCK TOCK Minister. We've been warning you.

Here you go Gobbles by Jamie Freed via Reuters... :

REFILE-Australia's Qantas grounds 10 aircraft on overdue inspections

(Corrects dateline to Sydney)

SYDNEY Jan 17 Qantas Airways, Australia's biggest airline, said it had grounded 10 turboprop aircraft and cancelled some flights after failing to complete inspections in a timely manner.

"This is an administrative issue that relates to technical compliance and not a safety issue with the aircraft," a Qantas spokesman said on Tuesday, without giving any further details.

A person with knowledge of the situation said the delay was due to confusion over the need to inspect bolts that Qantas had replaced on some of its 31 Q400s following a directive from the aircraft maker Bombardier Inc to do so.

The airline reported the issue to Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority once it realised the new bolts had to be checked after a deadline for inspections had lapsed, said the person, who was not authorised to speak publicly about the matter.

The 76-seat Qantas Q400s fly regional routes on Australia's east coast under its QantasLink brand.

"We are rebooking affected customers on alternative flights and apologise for the inconvenience," the Qantas spokesman said.

"Disruption is expected to be minimal aircraft have already started returning to service." (Reporting by Jamie Freed; Editing by Himani Sarkar)

MTF...P2

[Gobbledock]

10 planes. Even worse!!

I always love the soft wording of their statements; 'administrative error' and 'timely manner'! Considering that CAsA are never to shy to put a small operator out of business for a pilot breaking wind in the flight deck or for an Engineer forgetting to sharpen his pencil, I wonder what they will do to the Rat?? Yep, I thought that too. Nothing!

Pinocchio Gobson the bearded bugle, Wingnut, Elaine Joyce and dopey Darren will be having a confab as we speak, trotting out the wet lettuce leaf along with a light hearted media statement and then off to the Hellfire Club with QF management for a beer, dog collar and a spanking! Then all go home as there is nothing to see.

'Bolts, what bolts'?

TICK TOCK

[Peetwo]

Them's that have it...

10 planes. Even worse!!

I always love the soft wording of their statements; 'administrative error' and 'timely manner'! Considering that CAsA are never to shy to put a small operator out of business for a pilot breaking wind in the flight deck or for an Engineer forgetting to sharpen his pencil, I wonder what they will do to the Rat?? Yep, I thought that too. Nothing!

Pinocchio Gobson the bearded bugle, Wingnut, Elaine Joyce and dopey Darren  will be having a confab as we speak, trotting out the wet lettuce leaf along with a light hearted media statement and then off to the Hellfire Club with QF management for a beer, dog collar and a spanking! Then all go home as there is nothing to see.

'Bolts, what bolts'?

TICK TOCK

...them's that don't...  

Short, sweet and predictable.

The DAS has courteously, in a short, timely letter responded to the GP3 request for an informal ‘chat’.  For those who wrote the almost letter perfect ‘predictive’ responses, the response was sweet; Choc Frogs all around. There were two which were so close to the actual wording that anything less than a Tim Tam award would be a travesty; well done.

The acting DAS has taken refuge behind the AAT rulings and flat denial; quite rightly mentioning that those decisions have been handed down and CASA is well satisfied with those decisions. The point being completely ‘missed’ is that the complaints which need examination are related directly to the actions of CASA field officers and management decisions made before the AAT hearings; as in the quality of ‘facts and circumstances’ produced as evidence; and, importantly, actions taken subsequent to the hearings. These are the matters which must be tested, not the AAT decisions made on the CASA statements. No matter, the DAS has suggested that the CASA Board is the next stop for the GP3 bus. So be it.

The CASA escape route, defence strategy and party line has been clearly and neatly set out by the DAS for us; those wee holes will be narrowed and the Board contacted.  It is a little early yet to determine a pattern; but, the competition entries to draft the Board response will now be assessed against a tighter rule set. There is after all a gold star and a key to the Tim Tam box at stake.

That’s it, for today at least.

Toot toot.

Unconscionable behaviour, backed up by their senior manager.

What a bunch of slimy grubs they are.

They may be completely incompetent with anything to do with Safety, aviation or regulation but nobody can say they're not expert at slithering around ethics, probity, truth or the law.

Scum the lot of them.

Sir Thorny;

They may be completely incompetent with anything to do with Safety, aviation or regulation but nobody can say they're not expert at slithering around ethics, probity, truth or the law.

I couldn't agree more. If they spent just a fraction of the time that they spent chasing, bullying, and stitching up good honest people and put that into proper safety oversight, robust systems, quality assurance and proper regulations we would have a fantastic aviation industry in Australia, not the busted shell and steaming pile of shit that we have.

From the Ferryman's latest (above) off the 3 Guinea Pigs thread, in comparison to the Qantas 'bolt' hiccup with it's Q400 fleet, we get a perfect example of the CASA entrenched dichotomy/duplicity/double standards that obviously still exist despite the 'trust' quotient findings of the Forsyth (ASRR) review.

So Comardy's statement in his last missive for 2016...

"..Since starting in October I have been looking at governance and accountability within CASA and I expect to be making some adjustments in the New Year. I have also been reviewing our performance management and training regimes and will do some fine tuning in those areas as well.."

...were obviously either typical bureaucratic obfuscating weasel words  ; or he has realised that the job of taking on the historical record of 'Iron Ring' embuggerances for the better part of 3 decades, is simply too fraught with potential (liability) issues that could prove to be too fiscally and politically 'messy'...

MTF...P2

Ps Word of warning Wingnut - I get the impression that "K" is not of the mind to 'forgive & forget' with this one. So I would suggest that if your contemplating comfortably moving up the gravy train into M&M's possie you will not want to be in the Acting DAS position a minute longer than is necessary, because pretty soon the Ferryman will come knocking...  

[Peetwo]

4D the new Malaysian MH370 Muppet??  


Reference AA&MH370 thread yesterday:

Further update 18/01/17: Turnbull, Chester spin etc..  

Via the Oz:

MH370 search: Why the search has been called off


From left to right: Peter Foley, Project Director for the Operational Search for MH370, Greg Hood, Chief Commissioner of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau and Federal Infrastructure and Transport Minister Darren Chester. Picture: AAP

Transcript—Press Conference, Melbourne

Interview
DCI015/2017
18 January 2017
Subjects: Underwater search for MH370 suspended, cabinet reshuffle

Darren Chester: I would like to begin by firstly acknowledging this is a frustrating day and a day of great sadness for the families and friends of all those on board MH370—the 239 passengers and crew who disappeared almost three years ago. I want to acknowledge also today the Australian Transport Safety Bureau officials here with me, Greg Hood and Peter Foley, the Lead Investigator, who have pulled together an extraordinary effort in terms of coordinating Australia's commitment to the underwater search in quite extraordinary circumstances. I would like to remind everyone that the search for MH370 has in many ways been at the very cutting edge of science and technology, and certainly tested the limits of human endeavour in this very inhospitable part of the world.

The search has occurred almost 2,500 kilometres off the coast of Western Australia in some of the most inhospitable waters in the world. There are times the rescue, or the search vessels had been working in conditions with sea states of between 15 and 20 metre waves. The underwater search was being carried out in the section of the ocean where the depths reached up to six kilometres, so by any stretch of the imagination it has been an extraordinarily difficult search.

So I would like to commend the ATSB and everyone involved in the search effort, our partners from around the world and also those who have been at sea over these past two and a half years.

Can I also acknowledge that in July of last year, the People's Republic of China, Malaysian Government, and the Australian Government met and discussed the future of the search for MH370. At that time it was decided that once we completed the 120,000 square kilometre highest probability search area, once that was completed, in the absence of any credible new evidence leading to a specific location of the aircraft, the search would be suspended at that time. Tragically, it is a sad fact we have reached that time.

The Fugro Equator, the search vessel which has been working on the final passes in the southern Indian Ocean has completed its search effort and is now returning to Western Australia. So it is with some level of sadness, certainly with a great deal of frustration and disappointment that I stand here and acknowledge that the search, the underwater search area effort has been suspended.

But I would like to again express on behalf of the Government our support and empathy for the families and friends of all those on board, express our thanks to the ATSB and the entire search team, but also acknowledge the incredible work and the partnership that has been developed between my own department and the governments of Malaysia and the People's Republic of China as we have worked together in this search which has been of historic proportions. It has been the largest search in aviation history. It hasn't been successful at this stage, but that doesn't mean that there hasn't been every effort made by the search teams and by everyone involved.

So with those few words, can I welcome Greg Hood to make some comments on behalf of the ATSB.

Greg Hood: Thanks, Minister. As the ATSB's Chief Commissioner, I wish to reiterate my heartfelt condolences to the families and loved ones of the 239 people on board Malaysia Airlines flight 370. Having met with several family members personally, I have witnessed firsthand their profound and sustained grief. With yesterday's departure from the search area the vessel Fugro Equator, this unprecedented underwater search is now complete, having covered over 120,000 square kilometres of the southern Indian Ocean, almost 2,500 kilometres south-west of Perth, over an area twice the size of Tasmania in depths, as the Minister mentioned, of water between 3,500 metres and 6,000 metres deep.

This has been the largest and most challenging underwater search operation in history, and we have a high degree of confidence now that the aircraft is not in the area in which we have searched. I would like to express my gratitude to all those involved in the search to date, including the crew of the Fugro Equator, who are now heading home, and the crews and client representatives of all vessels involved in the search—Fugro Discovery, Zhu Kezhen, Haixun 01, Dong Hai Jiu 101, Fugro Supporter, Havila Harmony and GO Phoenix.

The Fugro crews in particular have been searching non-stop for more than two and a half years in what are some of the most extreme ocean conditions anywhere in the world. They have endured both summer tropical cyclones and heavy winter seas with wave heights at times of more than 20 metres. They have also had to contend with medical emergencies and technical difficulties with sophisticated equipment whilst five days steaming from the nearest land. They have done all this while maintaining extraordinary professionalism and dedication to finding the aircraft. The crews on the search vessels have spent significant time, including two Christmas-New Year periods away from their own families.

I would also like to personally express my gratitude to all of those people involved in the most difficult of tasks—defining the underwater search area with very limited data, including the team of experts from the search strategy working group—that's Inmarsat, Thales, Boeing, Defence Science and Technology group, and our investigation colleagues from the Air Accident Investigation Branch of the United Kingdom and the National Transportation Safety Board of the United States. Together with the experts from CSIRO, Geoscience Australia, and universities from around Australia, they have come together in an attempt to apply the best possible science to find the aircraft and bring closure to the families of the 239 souls on board.

As the Minister stated, although the underwater search is suspended, some residual search-related activity is continuing, including debris drift analysis and further detailed analysis of satellite imagery. This activity is anticipated to conclude by the end of February 2017. The ATSB will continue to support any further requests by Malaysia, including the examination of any further debris that may come ashore in months to come. It would also be remiss of me not to pay tribute to my own team at the ATSB.

They have lived and breathed nothing but professionalism, dedication, compassion, and optimism that we would locate the aircraft and those on board. The suspension of the search after more than two and a half years will be felt very deeply by all of us.
With the Minister's concurrence, we will take questions for either the Minister, myself or Peter Foley, the program director.

Question: May I ask you about the information that was released last month regarding another search area, a 25,000 square kilometre section with a high degree of probability that MH370 would be there, north of where the current search area is?

Darren Chester: Just for complete clarity, the 120,000 square kilometre highest probability search area was defined on the limited data that was available and has been reference checked, if you like. I will get Greg to comment more fully on that.

With the drift analysis from the debris that has been found, and our equipment at the time, through the tripartite agreement through Malaysia and China and Australia was to complete the 120,000 square kilometre search area and to suspend the search in the absence of any credible new evidence leading to a specific location of MH370.

Now the information put forward last month is in the order of another potential search area; if you were going to search somewhere else, that was regarded as the place you would start next if you were to extend the search and provide more resources to an area of 25,000 square kilometres.

No one is coming to me as the Minister and saying we know where MH370 is. The new information, if you like, or the position put forward by the experts has been that if you were going to extend the search into a new area, this is where you would target next.

Question: If more credible information comes forward, will the search resume?

Darren Chester: I don't rule out a future underwater search by any stretch. It is a question of if you have credible new information which leads to a specific location. It would be a matter for the Malaysian Government primarily, but certainly given the close relationship we have had with Malaysia during this process, I would expect some further conversations would occur between Australia, Malaysia and China at the time. So we don't rule out a future underwater search. What I'm simply saying is today, the commitment to the 120,000 square kilometre search area has been completed. Fugro Equator is returning to port and the search will be suspended in terms of the underwater effort. As the ATSB Chief has just pointed out, there is other work going on, on land in relation to more detailed analysis of drift patterns, and further if more debris comes to light in the weeks and months ahead, again, it will be a question of working with Malaysia, working with our experts on any further analysis.

Question: How much would the cost of another search, launching another search be? Does the cost factor into any decision?

Darren Chester: That's a fair question. The cost hasn't been the deciding factor in the decision by the tripartite group to suspend the search. There is no question this has been a very costly exercise—in the order of $200 million Australian dollars has been spent on the underwater search effort, of which $60 million has been provided by the Australian Government. Malaysia has contributed more than anyone else in that regard. So it is a costly exercise, but it hasn't been the factor which has led to the decision to suspend the search. We are in a position where we don't want to be providing false hope to the families and friends. We need to have credible new evidence leading to a specific location before we would be reasonably considering future search efforts.

Question: Minister, does the fact we didn't find the plane mean that the experts who drew the search area got it wrong?

Darren Chester: No. No, we need to understand the very limited amount of actual data our experts were dealing with. The fact that we haven't located the aircraft in the 120,000 square kilometre highest probability search area would indicate that the aircraft is not in that area, quite obviously. We have got very high confidence with the technology that has been used and very high confidence the aircraft is not located in that search area, but they had very limited data to work with and they have done an extraordinary job.

As I said in my opening comments, it has been at the edge of science and technological endeavour in terms of pursuing this search effort. It has also been an extraordinary and sometimes heroic human effort as well. I have nothing but praise for the researchers, the experts from the ATSB, the international team that was pulled together to help them in their work but also, equally, the people who have been at sea undertaking the search.

Question: I want to hear about the reaction of some of those people who have been out at sea—who have undertaken that search—to the fact it's suspended?

Darren Chester: Well I can't speak for all of the families obviously I can only speak for the members of families I have spoken to in the last 24 hours. They were very understanding of the decision that had been reached by the three governments. They were aware that we were approaching the completion of the priority search area. They were very thankful to the ATSB and the experts and the searchers for the work they have done. They were appreciative of the Australian Government's effort and understood the decision. So I can only speak for the people I have had conversations with. It is an emotional time for them. It is impossible for any of us to imagine what it would be like to still be searching for your loved ones almost three years after they went missing, and so I don't pretend to understand how they feel, but certainly the conversations I had with them were very positive and understanding and respectful of what is an extraordinarily difficult circumstance for everyone involved.

Question: Minister, Tony Abbott has already tweeted his disappointment about this decision especially he says if experts think there are better places to look. What do you make of those sentiments?

Darren Chester: Well, former Prime Minister Abbott was directly involved in the initial search and so he has a deep and personal interest in the issue as well. I understand that he has been affected by that too. I mean, this has been difficult for everyone involved. Obviously the families have felt that the most, but the experts who have been working on this project, this has consumed their life for the best part of three years. This is a disappointing and a frustrating day for them as well, and I understand that former Prime Minister Abbott has some concerns as well. He is entitled to express those opinions, but it is not a decision that was reached lightly by the three governments in July last year, and we remain open to further analysis of whatever data becomes available into the future.

Question: What about those people who have taken part in the search? Those people who have been on the ships at sea, put in all those hours? I'm wondering about some of their reactions to the end of this?

Darren Chester: Well I will have the opportunity next Monday to welcome the Fugro Equator back to shore. I will be travelling to Perth to meet with the crew on behalf of the Australian Government to express my thanks and gratitude on behalf, not just our government and our people, but the aviation world more generally. I did have the opportunity, I think it was earlier last year, to meet with one of the crews in Fremantle, and again at that time expressed my thanks for the work they are doing. I think they will be disappointed as well. I think they will be disappointed they haven't been successful at this stage. This is a matter of professional pride. They have been out there doing everything they possibly can, experiencing some pretty horrendous conditions at times, and they were determined to find the aircraft and at this stage we haven't found the aircraft.

That doesn't rule out the fact that in the future, through better analysis of data, if new technology becomes available or through improved equipment or something of that nature, that we may have a breakthrough in the future. We need to recognise that during this search effort we have actually found two shipwrecks of more than 100 years old. So we have solved a couple of mysteries from the late 1890s and early 1900s, but unfortunately we haven't solved the mystery of MH370 at this stage, but it doesn't mean that people are not still passionately trying to pull together the best information they can.

Question: Do you think it will ever be found?

Darren Chester: Well, it is an extraordinary aviation mystery as it stands today. I am hopeful that we will have a breakthrough in the future. We need to prepare ourselves for the sad and tragic reality that in this foreseeable future we may not find MH370, but that doesn't rule out future endeavours or future breakthroughs in terms of data or technology that helps us solve this extraordinary puzzle.

Question: Is that what you mean when you say credible evidence?

Darren Chester: Well that is the critical question. When we talk about credible evidence, what does that mean? Well I don't want to be dismissive of your question in that regard, it means we will know it when we see it. When we get some information or data or a breakthrough that leads us to a specific location, we will know it when we see it, the experts will know it when they see it. And then it will be a question, I presume, of talking with Malaysia, working with our tripartite partners on what happens next. So it is not a closed book by any stretch. The work from the ATSB, as Greg Hood's indicated, will continue in the coming months. It is reasonable to expect that there may be more debris uncovered in the weeks and months and possibly even years ahead which may lead to further information to solving this puzzle.

On top of the Press conference yesterday DDDD_MNFI Chester made (at least) four other separate MSM appearances/interviews where the main topic featured the MH370 end of search story. To his credit not once did 4D deviate from his well prepared M&M script:

Transcript—Radio National Breakfast
Subjects: Underwater search for MH370 suspended.
18 January
interview

---

[/url][url=http://minister.infrastructure.gov.au/chester/interviews/2017/dci016_2017.aspx]Transcript—3AW

Subjects: Underwater search for MH370 suspended, cabinet reshuffle

---

Transcript—Sunrise

Subjects: Underwater search for MH370 suspended, expenses, Cabinet reshuffle.

---

Work will continue on MH370 disappearance despite search halt: Transport Minister
Kim Landers reported this story on Wednesday, January 18, 2017 08:03:00         
 
| MP3 download
KIM LANDERS: The Transport Minister is Darren Chester and he joins me from Melbourne.

Minister, good morning.

DARREN CHESTER: And good morning Kim.

KIM LANDERS: What do you say to the families who are bitterly disappointed at this decision, and are calling it "irresponsible"?

DARREN CHESTER: Well, I had the opportunity yesterday to speak to some of the family representatives here in Australia and I understand their disappointment and frustration because I share that disappointment with them.

I obviously can't possibly understand their grief. They've been waiting after answers now for almost three years and it's the unanswered questions for them which is the most difficult part for them to deal with.

But I've got to say the conversations I had with them yesterday, they were very understanding of the fact that the Australian Government has done a great deal in terms of leading the underwater search effort in partnership with the Malaysian and the Malaysian government and People's Republic of China.

They understood the decision and they knew that it was coming in terms of we'd had that meeting in July last year where the three governments had resolved that at the completion of 125,000 square kilometres, the search would be suspended at that time.

KIM LANDERS: Now Tony Abbott was prime minister when MH-370 disappeared, he's tweeted and i quote "Disappointed that the search for MH-370 has been called off especially if some experts think there are better places to look".

DARREN CHESTER: Well, I don't think this is an issue you can cover in 140 characters on Twitter and the former prime minister is welcome to his opinion.

I've relied on the experts from the ATSB (Australian Transport Safety Bureau) and from around the world in terms of guiding my involvement in the decision making process.

KIM LANDERS: Some of those experts just last month, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau with the help of the CSIRO said that the search area was unlikely to contain the missing plane but they also said that with the drift modelling and updated flight path modelling, the experts had concluded that an area north has the highest probability of containing the wreckage so why not adjust the search area?

DARREN CHESTER: Well, we need to be clear, Kim, on the information that's been provided to us. The experts from the ATSB and international experts who have done an extraordinary job over these last couple of years in terms of guiding the search effort with a small amount of data, these are the same experts who have not indicated that if you were to extend the search, if you had more resources available, this is the next most likely place to start searching.

No one is coming to me saying we know MH-370 is in that 25,000 square kilometres …

KIM LANDERS: But that's been the problem all along, hasn't it?

DARREN CHESTER: Absolutely.

KIM LANDERS: That no one knows where it is so if the experts, if you're taking expert advice and the experts are now saying we think this is the best situation, why not follow that advice?

DARREN CHESTER: Well, I'd suggest Kim, this is one of those situations where there is not going to be a perfect answer and in fact it probably, I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't.

If I continue the search effort and came to you today and said I've reached agreement with Malaysia and China to find another $20 (million), $30 (million), $40 (million) or $50 million dollars you'd be saying to me well, why are you spending taxpayer's money in this way but by coming to you and saying that we agreed in July last year that in the absence of any credible new evidence leading to the specific location of the aircraft, we intend to suspend the search, you're now asking well why won't you extend it to a new area.

I don't think there is a perfect answer.

KIM LANDERS: So what makes up credible new information? What's the threshold for that, what are you after?

DARREN CHESTER: I think that is the critical question, Kim and I don't want to sound dismissive at all when I say this to you, we will know that when we see it. When the experts will come to us with a evidence which leads us to a more specific location than they've been able to provide at this stage then that will be a question for the Malaysian, Chinese and Australian governments to then decide whether we go back out with the underwater search effort.

So what's happening now is while the underwater search effort is suspended, there is still work going on with the ATSB in terms of the debris drift modelling so the debris that has been found, some analysis of that.

There is still analysis of the satellite imagery available from that time and we're not in a position to tell you whether there'll be a technological breakthrough in the future where we've been able to search in a different way.

You've got to understand that during this search effort, we're talking about an area of the ocean which is two and a half thousand kilometres off the coast of West Australia, we're searching depths of water in excess of four and five kilometres deep.

Sometimes in sea states of waves of 15 to 20 metres. The fact that during that time they've been able to locate shipwrecks from last 1890s and early 1900s indicates that technology breakthroughs obviously from this generation have been able to solve mystery from many generations ago.

I hope we don't have to wait that long obviously to solve this extraordinary aviation mystery...

So by the time the immaculately groomed & coiffured miniscule stepped up for the Presser (above) he had his lines down pat and was swatting awkward questions away with endless looping non-answers that would surely have pleased the M&M' PR spin-doctors and reassured the Najib and his shonky cronies...

Reference for extra 4D brownie points:

KIM LANDERS: So who decides whether the search will ever be resumed? Is it Malaysia because the plane was registered there?

DARREN CHESTER: Well, it has been primarily Malaysia's call in that regard but we've a triparted agreement where the three countries have worked together very well in terms of making those decisions.

Now Australia's responsibility has been around the underwater search efforts. So the ATSB, based in Canberra, has taken the lead role in terms of the underwater search effort.

The Malaysian government itself is doing an investigation into the events leading up to …

KIM LANDERS: So it's up to Malaysia to decide whether it's ever going to resume again?

DARREN CHESTER: Well, primarily because it is an aircraft of the flag state, from Malaysia, it is primarily the Malaysian responsibility but we have been directly involved at a obviously, a ministerial level and a departmental level in conversations right throughout these past three years and it has been a good example, an excellent example of our nations working together...

However after all 4D's good work yesterday there would have to be concerns by the powers to be with the MH370 headline and article featuring in the Oz today... :  

Anger over ‘shameful’ photo
12:00amEAN HIGGINS, RHIAN DEUTROM. AMANDA HODGE
Families of Australians lost on MH370 expressed outrage at the airline for posting a photo of two happy pilots

Families of Australians lost on Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 expressed outrage at the airline yesterday for posting a photograph of two happy pilots in a cockpit on the same day hopes of finding their loved ones’ resting place were crushed by an announce­ment the search had been called off.

The post put up on Tuesday shows the grinning pilots, one wearing sunglasses, with aviator watches and cups of tea or coffee, and reads: “Good morning from the cockpit! We wish you a great flight wherever you are today.”

Relatives of the six Australians lost when MH370 went missing on March 8, 2014, with 239 people on board, said the post was emblem­atic of what they claimed was the callous indifference Malaysia Airlines, and its owner, the Malaysian government, had shown toward­s them and their quest to unravel the mystery.

Many called on the federal government yesterday to pressure Malaysia to agree to continue the hunt, amid further suggestions that Australian officials want to explore a new area of ocean but have been blocked by lack of political will. In a comment on the Malaysia Airlines post, Peter Weeks, who lost his brother Paul on MH370, wrote:

“So shameful … Perhaps the slogan should be ‘We wish you a great flight, but can’t guarantee you’ll actually see your family ever again’.”

Paul Weeks’s widow, Danica, now a single mum to their sons Lincoln, 6, and Jack, 3, on the Sunshine Coast, wrote: “The pilots wear Rolexs, they refuse­ to fund a further search for my husband, Best friend and fathe­r of two young boys ... but hey you decide. It’s a crazy world when all morals and values go out the door!”

Queenslander Amanda Lawton, who lost her parents Bob and Cathy, told The Australian the Malaysia Airlines post “almost feels like they’re mocking the whole situation”. “It makes you question the company’s level of remorse,” Ms Lawton said.

• More: MH370 search called off
  

In a press release issued­ yesterday before the Facebook post row erupted, Malaysia Airlines said: “The search has been a thorough and comprehensive effort … we share in the sorrow­ that the search has not produced the outcome that everyone had hoped for. Our thoughts and prayers are with all those who are affected by this tragedy.”

Queensland trauma psycholo­gist Paul Stevenson, who has spent the past two years assisting the families of passengers on the missing plane, said of the airline’s communications: “It’s mixing these reality messages with a promotional ad at the same time — I think that’s in bad taste.”

“I can see that Malaysia Airlines would want to embark upon both strategies, but to have that featured on the site in the morning, the timing is just all wrong”.

In response to inquiries from The Australian, Malaysia Airlines said: “The post was part of an existing Facebook content strategy intended to share the storie­s behind Malaysia Airlines. Unfortunately, the post went live several hours before the MH370 tripartite communique (announcing the end of the search).

“At the time of posting, Malaysia Airlines was unaware a statement regarding the MH370 search would be made that day.”

In the joint communique on Tuesday, Transport Minister Darren Chester and his Chinese and Malaysian counterparts announc­ed that the underwater search for MH370 in a 120,000sq km target zone in the southern Indian Ocean had ended, and would not be resumed without “credible information” identifying the precise location of the aircraft.

Ms Weeks said she had been promised a telephone conversation with Mr Chester, and would tell him: “I want him to put pressure on the Malaysians to continue the search.

“It is ultimately the responsib­ility of the Malaysian government,” she said, observing that under international law Malaysia was in charge of the investigation because MH370 was registered in that country.

The Boeing 777 went missing on a scheduled route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, deviating back over Malaysia soon into the flight before turning south with its radar transponder turned off and no radio contact, leading most professiona­l pilots and air crash investigators to conclude it was a case of pilot hijack.

In a press conference in Melbourne yesterday, Mr Chester rejected­ calls for the search to continue into a new 25,000 sq km area to the north, identified last month by a panel of international experts convened by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, saying that did not constitute a specific location of the aircraft.

In that press conference and several radio interviews, Mr Chester said any call to renew the search would “be a matter for the Malaysian government primarily.”

Grace Nathan, a British-educate­d Malaysian lawyer who is the key spokeswoman for the international group representing the families, Voice 370, told The Australian yesterdaythat ATSB officials had told them privately in face-to-face meetings in Malaysia in July, and Australia in September, that they wanted to continue the search.

“The ATSB is keen and I believ­e have indicated they were willing to continue to oversee the search should Malaysia, China and Australia want to continue,” Ms Grace said.

She said she found Mr Chester’s comments “disingenuous”.

“The Australian minister, by saying he wants to know the precise­ location of the aircraft, has effectively said he doesn’t want to look for the aircraft until it is found,” Ms Nathan said.

An ATSB spokesman said the decision to discontinue the search was “unanimous by the three countries”.

Families of Malaysian victims have said the Malaysian government has engaged in a pattern of trying to shut down the MH370 story domestically.

Malaysian state media has reportedly­ been ordered not to report­ on the issue.

Last year a billboard on Kuala Lumpur’s national highway dedicated to the passengers and crew of MH370 was quietly removed and a memorial at Kuala Lumpur International Airport also dis­appeared.

Much like Kharon's OBS of 4D above, Grace Nathan nails down the truth behind Chester's spin & bollocks yesterday... 

..She said she found Mr Chester’s comments “disingenuous”...

“The Australian minister, by saying he wants to know the precise­ location of the aircraft, has effectively said he doesn’t want to look for the aircraft until it is found,” Ms Nathan said...

 Solid Gold  


MTF...P2  

[Peetwo]

MH370 Muppet show comes to Henderson WA -

4D said last week:

Darren Chester: ..Well I will have the opportunity next Monday to welcome the Fugro Equator back to shore. I will be travelling to Perth to meet with the crew on behalf of the Australian Government to express my thanks and gratitude on behalf, not just our government and our people, but the aviation world more generally...

And true to his word, off the AA&MH370 thread:

Captain's Log 23.01.17: 4D, Hoody & Liow in Perth.

Courtesy the AAP via the Oz:

MH370 searchers wanted to go on

3:30pm

Australian Transport Safety Bureau staff would have liked to keep searching, saying the plane was “highly likely” in defined area.

 

Update 24/01/17: Liow retracts reward

Had suspected that Liow's Deputy Dog was talking out of school, now apparently that has been confirmed by Liow himself...

"The Government has not made any decision ... it was the Deputy Minister's personal view, not the Government's, we are not having any of the such decision," he said. - Reference ABC: MH370 reward offer withdrawn by Malaysian Government as search ends.

Also a bit more on Hoody's statement that the ATSB is highly confident that the aircraft is in the new 25,000 square kilometre priority zone but (stiff shit) we're are not going to look for it...  

Via the Oz today:

Malaysia scotches MH370 reward

12:00amVICTORIA LAURIE

The Malaysian government has backtracked on its offer of a reward to private search teams looking for MH370.

Yesterday Malaysia’s Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai ­contradicted his deputy’s promise of a reward for private searchers. Mr Liow was in Perth to thank the crew of the search vessel Fugro Equator, which returned overnight from its final few days in the search area 2600km off Western Australia’s coast.

On a visit to Henderson industrial maritime base with Australia’s Transport Minister Darren Chester, Mr Liow said Malaysia would not consider offering a reward to credible private companies searching for the aeroplane.

Last week, Malaysia’s Deputy Transport Minister Abdul Aziz Kaprawi was reported as saying that the government was open to offering “millions” of Malaysian ringgit as a reward (one million ringgit is nearly $300,000 ­dollars).

“There will be cash rewards in the millions (of ringgit) for those who are able to find substantial information or evidence like the fuselage,” he said.

But Mr Liow told reporters: “It was the deputy minister’s personal view, not the government’s, we are not having any such decision.”

..ATSB chief commissioner Greg Hood said: “It’s highly likely the area now defined by the experts contains the aircraft but that’s not absolutely for certain.”

Asked why the ATSB wouldn’t expand the search area further north, he said “That’s a question for the governments.”

Mr Hood later said ATSB would have liked to continue searching to bring closure to the families.

“Everybody wants to do the right thing — everybody’s got hopes,” Mr Hood said. “Having met a number of family members personally, they continue to have protracted and prolonged grief. I’m profoundly sorry for these people.”

Mr Hood was asked whether it was time to revisit theories that one of MH370’s pilots had deliberately sabotaged the plane, piloting it to the end.

He said analysis of the wing flap suggested a rapid rate of ­descent “which is suggestive of the aircraft not being in control at the end of the flight.”

Mr Liow said his government needed “more empirical evidence before we move to the next search area”, adding: “We are thinking that there’ll be more debris washing up in a short time to come.”

 
UDB...

Hoody, Liow, Chester, Najib & Malcolm.....

 
To add to the MSM reported spin & BS from the miniscule Muppets, here is the slightly disjointed transcript provided by 4D's office today, which paints a further grim picture of absolute disassociation, weasel words and obfuscation from the Malaysians (& their Muppet 4D) on MH370:

Transcript—Press Conference

Subjects: The search for MH370

Darren Chester: Well first of all can I thank Minister Liow and Mr Zhi for being here today as we go on board the Fugro Equator and basically thank the crew for the work they've done on behalf of the international aviation community. This has been an extraordinary search effort and it's been in some of the most inhospitable oceans in the world. There have been occasions during the underwater search where sea states in excess of 20 metres have been experienced by the crew. As I've said before, the search for MH370 has been at the very cutting edge of technology and scientific expertise, but it also has been quite a heroic human endeavour.

To have the chance today to talk to the crew members, to thank them on behalf of the Australian Government was very important.

As we indicated in July last year when the tripartite meeting was held in Malaysia between the People's Republic of China and the Malaysian Government and myself representing the Australian Government, as we indicated in July last year the completion of the 120,000 square kilometre highest priority search area, the search for MH370 would be suspended pending any credible new evidence leading to a specific location of the aircraft. I acknowledge today the work of the Malaysian Government and the People's Republic of China, but also the work of Fugro, we have the project director Paul Kennedy with me today, acknowledge the work of our own Australian Transport Safety Bureau, and Greg Hood with me here today as well. They have worked tirelessly over the past three years in the search for MH370.

Having not found the aircraft does not indicate failure; it indicates that the aircraft is not in that 120,000 square kilometre search area. Work will continue in relation to further analysis of data. If there's any more debris comes forward, we will work with our Malaysian counterparts in assessing debris of interest and work is also going on in terms of further analysis of satellite imagery.

So we simply want to thank the crew of Fugro Equator, thank Fugro more generally for the work they've done over the past three years, and I look forward to some comments from Minister Liow.

Liow Tiong Lai: Thank you Minister Darren Chester. We are here to receive the Fugro Equator's crew, and also to appreciate the commitment and sacrifices that make these search missions possible. On behalf of the Government of Malaysia, I would like to once again say a big thank you to the crew members and also to Australian Government and China Government for giving the support in the search for MH370. It is one of the largest and biggest search missions launched ever in the aviation history of the world, and we are very sad that we still couldn't locate the aircraft, and we need to suspend the search for the time being to look for more credible evidence before we can launch any more further search effort.

As you can see there, the crew, we were there just now to talk to them. They told us the difficulty they faced in the deep sea waters. Sometimes in four days they face high wind, strong wind of 140 kilometre per hour, continuously for days and they operate in that kind of bad weather, and they have to be there and to face all these challenges. So I must thank them for their commitment, for their professionalism and for their dedication to search for MH370. We will say that although we didn't locate the plane, but the kind of commitment shown by the three countries, the officials, the search teams as well as the crew members, it is indeed a very, very difficult task and we have overcome this 120,000 square kilometre search.

I would also like to say that it is also with sadness that we have to announce the suspension and our thoughts and prayer will be always be the family members and loved ones of those on board MH370. We will analyse the data, whatever we have now, and from there we look for more credible clue, credible evidence for us to study the situations in the future. So on behalf of the Government of Malaysia, once again I would like to thank Australian Government, China Government as well as the crew members. Thank you.

Zhi Guanglu: Just to say a few words, and we come here to welcome the crew that come back home and we express our grateful to the crew member on board for their hard work, because we know that this task is very difficult for us, that we tried to find the MH370, but right now we have [inaudible] but we can get together to help each other with the governments of Australia and Malaysia to try to do our best, and finally I wanted to say to the Government of Australia and Malaysia, that have given a lot of help to try and find the people on board MH370. Thank you.

Darren Chester: Any questions?

Question: Did you meet with the families? Have you met with the families of the victims at all, and if so, what was said?

Darren Chester: I've had conversations over the past 12 months with representative of the Australian families. As recently as last week I spoke to family members and the conversation was, as you would expect, a very difficult one in the sense that they have been waiting now for almost three years for answers about their loved ones. It is impossible for any of us to fully comprehend their grief and their suffering, and over three years they had many unanswered questions that we haven't been able provide them at this stage.

But at the same time, the conversations I've had with family members, they have been deeply appreciative of the search effort. The underwater search effort now has been going through this 120,000 square kilometre high priority area, they're appreciative of the work that's been done, but understandably they're disappointed and saddened by the fact that they haven't been able to find MH370. Just as I must acknowledge the professional staff involved, the ATSB, the crew on board the Fugro Equatorhere today. I mean, they're disappointed. They're disappointed they haven't been able to locate MH370. That's a disappointment I share with them.

Question: Minister, is it time to suggest, as I think Mr Kennedy suggested in July, that MH370 was in fact piloted at the end of the flight and flown beyond the target search area, as many professional pilots and investigators believe?

Darren Chester: Well it's probably best if I refer questions regarding the last movements of MH370 to the ATSB, and Greg is here and can answer that question more fully. But we must acknowledge throughout this entire search effort there has been a limited amount of data available to the ATSB and international experts. I'm not here to second-guess the experts. I know in the absence of finding the aircraft there'll be a lot of theories put forward, and that's entirely understandable, but we're talking …
Question: [Interrupts] Do you reject it as a possibility, Minister?

Darren Chester: It would be best if I finish the question. We're talking about a search which has occurred 2,600 kilometres off the coast of Western Australia, in an area of the ocean which is in excess of four kilometres deep, up to six kilometres deep. It has been a staggeringly difficult search, and I want to congratulate the search effort in that regard. But in terms of the last available information provided through the handshake, the satellite handshake, it indicated that MH370 was in a rapid state of descent, and reinforced the ATSB decision in terms of formulating the highest priority search area. So it might be perhaps better if I allowed Greg to answer that question more specifically. But we have been relying on the most current information that's available to us, and we made decisions based on that.

Greg Hood: Thanks Minister. Certainly, our last report indicates that the analysis of the wing flap is that it was retracted, non-deployed, and the burst frequency offset indicates a rapid rate of descent, which is suggestive of the aircraft not being in control at the end of the flight. However, everybody has a theory [indistinct].

Question: So is it rejected as a possibility [indistinct]?

Greg Hood: Based on the evidence it's highly likely that the aircraft wasn't under control at the end of the flight. And I might add that obviously experts from around the world have contributed to the definition of the search area, so we're using the best possible science that's available to define that search area.

Question: So that kind of behaviour is eliminated in your view as a possibility?

Greg Hood: I don't think anything can be eliminated, unless of course we find the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder. But based on the evidence available by the experts, it's highly suggestive of the fact that the aircraft wasn't being controlled at the end of flight.

Question: Mr Hood, last month the ATSB said that there was a possibility the plane could be further north than the search area that's being combed. Is it disappointing that the search hasn't been expanded further north?

Greg Hood: So once again, the panel of experts got together in early November, and basically, having eliminated the 120,000 square kilometres- it's like when you lose your car keys—if you're looking for the most likely spot where you put your car keys, if they're not there, that's been eliminated and then you move to the next likely spot. So it's highly likely that the area now defined by the experts contains the aircraft, but that's not [indistinct].

Question: So why wouldn't you expand the search area further north?

Greg Hood: That's a question for the governments.

Question: Can I ask the Malaysian minister a question? Could you just give us some more information about your [indistinct] reward of millions of ringgits for any private venture that finds MH370. Could you just clarify …

(Wind interference in microphone becomes strong at this stage of doorstop. Audio is affected)

Liow Tiong Lai: That is as long as [indistinct]. We will [indistinct] that we have [indistinct] essentially. We will continue with the work on the data. The [indistinct] suspended search [indistinct] but that is only a [indistinct].

Question: So that's the Deputy Minister's personal [indistinct], not the government?

Liow Tiong Lai: That is not the government [indistinct].

Question: Just to clarify, there is no- the Malaysian Government is not offering [indistinct] …

Liow Tiong Lai: Yes, we are not having [indistinct] such a decision.

Question: Can you confirm that families have now been asked to hand over any personal items which have been recovered so they can be used as part of the investigation?

Liow Tiong Lai: Yes, I think we [indistinct] to track whatever personal belongings, and we have sent it to the criminal investigation team to further analyse the personal belongings.

Question: And so why hasn't that been done before now?

Liow Tiong Lai: We have been doing it all this time. Yeah, all the time, and recently we just received a call from the Australian ATSB, and we will actually collect whatever personal belonging and analyse it.

Question: But they were given them and now you're asking for them back. Is there a reason for that, you think it may help with the investigation?

Liow Tiong Lai: Well whatever personal belongings will be sent to the criminal investigation team, and the special team. There are two investigation teams here.

There's one, the [indistinct] team MH370 investigation team is a technical investigation team, and an [indistinct]. The other one will be the criminal investigation team, headed by Malaysian Government. So these are separate investigations.

Question: So while the search has been suspended, this is further hope for families that you will take it up again, dependent on the outcome of these two separate investigations?

Liow Tiong Lai: Yes, the analysis of the data will continue, investigation will continue. We are not- we just suspended and people can see what [indistinct]. But analysis of the data will continue. So I will say that we do not want to raise too high a hope to the family members, but the commitment to continue to analyse data will be there.

Question: Minister, Mr Hood just said there's a good chance that the area to the north may well be where the planes lies. Having done 120,000 square kilometres, why wouldn't you just do that final 25,000 square kilometres that they've suggested that you comb?

Liow Tiong Lai: Well I will say just now, the expert team has shown to us that is the most probable area after the suspension of 120,000 square kilometre search. And we need more. The decision is that we need more empirical evidence before we move to the next search area.

Question: I just have a question for Minister Chester. Minister, do you think that China has made a big enough contribution to the search, and has paid enough to the search? Some aviation experts have criticised China, given that they've only contributed $20 million, which is well below what Australia and Malaysia has contributed.

Darren Chester: I offer no criticism whatsoever. It's been a tripartite approach to solving what has been an incredibly difficult mystery. Obviously there's been in the order of $200 million spent on the underwater search effort; the Malaysian Government has contributed the majority of the resources in that regard. The People's Republic of China has assisted with the provision of search vessels, a very important contribution, and the Australian Government has also contributed in the order of $60 million. I think it's been an extraordinary example of the international community working together on a particularly difficult issue. I offer no criticism to our partners whatsoever.

Question: Minister, I understand that you and Minister Liow had a meeting yesterday about MH370. Can you tell us a little bit about what you discussed and what was agreed?

Darren Chester: Well it was an informal meeting, just to catch up on the latest information in relation to the search, as we've discussed here today and in the wake of the communique we released last week. So it was really an extension on our ongoing work in partnership with the Malaysian Government. Obviously the Australian Government's had a key role on the underwater search effort, and it's an opportunity for the ATSB to brief Minister Liow on the work they've been doing. It was our first chance to catch up face-to-face since July last year, so it was important to take that opportunity while he was in Perth to have those discussions. But the most important thing has been our opportunity to come here today, to walk on board Fugro Equator, to meet with the crew and to sincerely thank them for the work they've done.

Question: There was some talk a group representing the families of the victims was going to present letters to you two yesterday. Did in fact that happen?

Darren Chester: I'll get Minister Liow to answer in just a moment. I understand though that there's been discussions with our departmental staff, and there will be an opportunity for those representatives of the family to meet directly with Minister Liow later on today here in Perth.

Liow Tiong Lai: I'll be receiving the letters today, I'll be meeting them, and we hope that we can have of course a good discussion. Malaysia and Australia conducted a bilateral meeting yesterday to discuss a way forward after the suspension of the search. First, I must thank the tripartite commitment of Australia, China, Malaysia, to continue to commit these modern search [indistinct]. And we will continue to analyse whatever data that we have, and we- Malaysia will set up a response team, that whatever debris that collected will be collected Malaysia Government, and analyse it, and maybe we'll send to Australia, to the ATSB for further analysis. That is on the future work to continue to look at it that way.

So far we have collected about 25 pieces of debris; three confirmed [indistinct], five most of the [indistinct], and the rest is still under evaluations. So we will continue to work on the debris, work with all the countries concerned, all the coastal countries along South Africa, Mozambique, Mauritius, Madagascar and the rest of the countries. So we are committed to continue with our search for the debris, and from there on we hope we can get more credible evidence in the search for MH370.

Question: How big is your team, Minister, in Malaysia, given that this search is now effectively going to go back to your country and be focused from there and coordinated from there. How big is this operation in your country?

Liow Tiong Lai: Well yes, we have a high level [indistinct] chaired by my Director General of Department of Civil Aviation. It is a big department coordinated among all other agencies in the Ministry, in the Government. We also work very closely with Australia and China, will continue. The relationship that we have with ATSB, with China CAAC will continue, and we are confident that this team [inaudible] in our work.

Question: Do you have a number, Sir, for the number of dedicated staff on this matter?

 Liow Tiong Lai: Oh yes, we have the whole department, the Department of Civil Aviation is also supported by the Minister of Transport and Ministries of Foreign Affairs. It is all there to assist in this important search.

Unidentified speaker: Can we make this the last one, please?

Question: Minister, in regard to the debris drift modelling, do you think that there's going to be so much more work to go with that that there may be a breakthrough, or do we need to see more debris washing up before there may be a breakthrough?

Liow Tiong Lai: Yeah, we are thinking that there'll be more debris washing up in a short time to come, and at the moment we are basing on this new [indistinct] of debris, the drifting pattern to locate the aircraft. So we are hopeful that we can get more data from this debris.

Notice how the MSM really wanted to go at Liow, could it be they saw an opportunity outside of the media censored world of Malaysia. Still Liow showed that as a Najib Muppet he is as equally good (as 4D) in talking in non-answering circles and repeating the scripted message (i.e. all care no responsibility... )


MTF...P2

Ps Not sure what it is but there is something about that presser that 'PINGS' -

[Gobbledock]

Of vomit filled buckets and candidates for the Styx River RPT ferry service

There is so much nauseating material in your latest post P2 that I am overwhelmed with fury. My top 3 contenders for the 'F#ck you all, I'm a government employed worm award' are;

1. Hoody; Now that the S.S FugYou has departed the big seas and headed for home, worm number 1 turns around and not only says he believes the aircraft is in the area they conveniently and purposefully wouldn't search, he says;
"Asked why the ATSB wouldn’t expand the search area further north, he said “That’s a question for the governments.”
Earth to Toga boy - you are the Government. Doesn't the dopey Chester say he takes advice from his departments? Who is he listening to then, the ATsB head office night janitor?

2. The Malaysian Prime Minister, Mr Ima Dirtbag; Of course this egotistical parasite has put the kibosh on any reward. That money belongs in his pocket! Must protect the countries already shit reputation at all costs and protect the national carrier! Shonk.

3. Our Minister for Bryl Cream, Dollyboy Chester; you spineless pile of manure. Trotting off to Perth (more wasted taxpayer money), to greet the returning crew. How wonderfully nice of you. Maybe some of them will tell you what a waste of time it was for them out in the middle of the ocean, seasick and vomiting and having to spend weeks tossing off over old New Idea magazines while they fruitlessly searched the WRONG EFFING AREA!

This whole shambolic mess has to be the biggest slap in the face to intelligent human beings. And the aforementioned charlatans have earned front row seats on the Styx River Queen. Toot Toot coming for you soon boys Toot Toot.

P_666

[Peetwo]

Australia Day - Aviation WOFTAM awards -  

Of vomit filled buckets and candidates for the Styx River RPT ferry service

There is so much nauseating material in your latest post P2 that I am overwhelmed with fury. My top 3 contenders for the 'F#ck you all, I'm a government employed worm award' are;

1. Hoody; Now that the S.S FugYou has departed the big seas and headed for home, worm number 1 turns around and not only says he believes the aircraft is in the area they conveniently and purposefully wouldn't search, he says;

"Asked why the ATSB wouldn’t expand the search area further north, he said “That’s a question for the governments.”

Earth to Toga boy - you are the Government. Doesn't the dopey Chester say he takes advice from his departments? Who is he listening to then, the ATsB head office night janitor?

2. The Malaysian Prime Minister, Mr Ima Dirtbag; Of course this egotistical parasite has put the kibosh on any reward. That money belongs in his pocket! Must protect the countries already shit reputation at all costs and protect the national carrier! Shonk.

3. Our Minister for Bryl Cream, Dollyboy Chester; you spineless pile of manure. Trotting off to Perth (more wasted taxpayer money), to greet the returning crew. How wonderfully nice of you. Maybe some of them will tell you what a waste of time it was for them out in the middle of the ocean, seasick and vomiting and having to spend weeks tossing off over old New Idea magazines while they fruitlessly searched the WRONG EFFING AREA!

This whole shambolic mess has to be the biggest slap in the face to intelligent human beings. And the aforementioned charlatans have earned front row seats on the Styx River Queen. Toot Toot coming for you soon boys Toot Toot.

P_666

GD once again colourfully & succinctly hits the nail fair, square on the head...

However it should also be pointed out that for our miniscule 4D the "A"-word aberrations do not end with the 'shambolic mess' of MH370...

Which brings me to the point of my post, I would like to put forward 4D as a nominee consideration for the inaugural Australia Day Aviation WOFTAM awards...

Okay so besides the miniscule's non-performance on the MH370 front, we also have a story currently running hot on the CASA boards that should be included as one of the more serious non-achievements of our immaculately groomed and coiffured miniscule.

Here is a summary so far off a recent PAIN email chain...  

I am afraid it is not all brouhaha & patriotic fervor from Aunty Pru on this Australia Day...

Yesterday it was reported on, in various media outlets, a disturbing aviation criminal case that has led to the the arrest of a QLD Pilot/Operator:

...The complaint triggered investigation Oscar-Demotic which was completed on Tuesday when police arrested a 31-year-old charter operator. 

The operator based at Mount Isa Airport has been charged with 342 offences from 14 sections of Queensland and Commonwealth legislation. 

These charges include tampering with airplanes, unlicensed flying, and dangerous operation of a vehicle.

Detective Inspector Hodgman said these offences had nothing to do with commercial airlines. 

Police would not identify the man who is scheduled to appear in the Mount Isa Magistrates Court at 2pm, Wednesday, or even to confirm the name of the accused is Josh Hoch, published elsewhere. 

Police are opposing bail due to the “serious nature of offences”. 

“As soon as we found out about the offence we put methodologies in place to make sure the safety of the public was not compromised,” Detective Inspector Hodgman said. 

The story The operation against a 31-year-old charter operator  | V

Then overnight the Townsville Bulletin obviously contacted Dick Smith and subsequently ran another article with this headline - Entrepreneur Dick Smith blasts CASA after it holds back on any commitment to internal review which can be read in this AP post:
Comardy Capers:  Fort Fumble in hypocritical, duplicitous disarray

THE Civil Aviation Safety Authority has been plunged into chaos, labelled as “dysfunctional” in the wake of claims it knew about concerns over Mount Isa pilot Josh Hoch as early as 2013.

Lawyer Michael Spear told a court at Mr Hoch’s bail appearance that CASA had known about conduct related to the 342 charges police had laid.

“(The flights) have happened since 2013, CASA has known about these flights since 2013,” he said.

“Now if CASA had any concern about a pilot it can invoke provisions of section 30DC of the Civil Aviation Act instantly grounding a pilot if there is a serious and imminent risk to air safety.

“Now CASA has not done so, despite knowing of the allegations for months, these started back in October (2016) and certainly those charges from back in 2013.

“CASA conducted an audit for Mr Hoch and his company and reissued his AOC (Air Operators Certificate) earlier last year.

“If CASA hasn’t grounded him, they don’t consider him to be a serious risk to the public and I would submit that CASA would be far more cognisant of safety in aviation than the police service.”

Which somewhat inevitably prompted Kharon to write this:

Now may we have an open inquiry?– Please.

We called a no confidence on CASA back in 2012. We have suffered through a Senate inquiry and the Forsyth inquiry and had any hopes of CASA reform dashed, obfuscated and cynically manipulated. Result: Mt Isa.  Clearly visible in the difference between the police case work and the CASA no work in the Mt Isa case.  The Qld police may rightfully claim all the credit and kudos. Had CASA been the prime mover, then they would be the first to crow and beat their chests, the incumbent minister leading the chorus. Ineffectual does not cover the gap, neither does ‘unfortunate’; neither does claiming to help, after the fact.

The reasons for the ongoing lack of confidence, faith and trust are as simple and clear now as when they first emerged.  The case of the Guinea Pigs was, though no longer, a perfect opportunity for CASA to recover at least some of their credibility and reputation.  There can be no serious reform or sensible action taken in a case like the Mt Isa debacle which would not produce a cynical response from industry. The Qld police investigation would be viewed ‘straight’ and carry the credibility of a ‘true’ impartial (just the facts) investigation. Had CASA done it – very few would believe it, any of it – in fact, many would say and support the notion that it was just another ‘fit up’.

Why? Well it has in the past been a rigged game, so often, played so many times that it is perfectly natural to assume CASA were ‘under orders’ to nail, at any price an operator or a person.

Why? Well, the GP3 case presents evidence, untested to be sure, but nonetheless supporting claims of ‘embuggerance’. Until this type of complaint is examined – properly – and corrective action taken – publicly, then there is no hope of probity in any CASA investigation, let alone the presentation of ‘facts and circumstances’, the ‘hay-stacking’ and the willingness to swear, under oath to calumny. Simply put – very few would believe a single word CASA said; that’s why.

How could ‘we’, the industry rely on CASA to investigate the Mt Isa case in a fair and impartial manner while their track record is less than adequate, their probity questionable and their motives beneath contempt. Until CASA is prepared to take a very long, very hard look at their past actions and address those issues, openly, honestly and publicly, there can be no trust. Must we now rely solely on the police services to investigate. It has reached a point where industry needs to rely, very heavily, on the RAT Senators to mount a general inquiry, with public submissions into the actions and behaviour of what is laughingly referred to as ‘the’ Civil Aviation Safety Authority’.    

The list is long Senators, the CASA defences are strong – and they have been dodging ‘official’ bullets for a long, long while now. When a thing like the Forsyth report is passed off as ‘an opinion’ it is time for some serious accounting. I believe the results of that accounting will shock even the well informed RAT committee; as it has many ‘independent’ public figures.  

That the management of ‘matters aeronautical’ can be left in the hands of a deeply flawed operation, like the CASA will, soon or late, become a matter of national interest. The ramifications of prevarication will tarnish any government which had many an opportunity to act in the public interest, but failed to do so.

Selah.

    

Blind Freddy could join the dots to the miniscule on that one...

Now I am sure there are many more examples of the miniscule's non-performance and obfuscation of his responsibilities to the "A"-word, so feel free to contribute; or if you prefer put forward your own nominee for the inaugural Australia Day Aviation Awards ...


MTF...P2

[Gobbledock]

The Gobbledock seconds the motion for the Minister for Manscaping to be awarded this prestigious, highly appropriate award.....

The time has come for CAsA's dismantling.

Pinocchio Gobson, the bearded bureaucratic bullshitting Bolshevik has been awfully quiet?  But it is absolutely frightening and palpable that this shonky pilot has operated under questionable circumstances for so long. As a charter operator, albeit a small one, the pilot in question has undergone audits, license approvals and AOC approvals. Forget for a moment the interfering with an aircraft and sabotage crimes, that's bad enough, it's the back-of-house issues that have not been picked up by CAsA that are woeful. CAsA, what CAsA?

If there is anything amusing to be had from this it is that politicians have been happily sitting in this psychopaths aircraft. I'm sure the angry man in the hat Bob Katter won't be too happy.

This is a dismal high level abject failure. What else aren't CAsA identifying? The CAsA spin doctors will be working overtime, NFI Chester will come up with some soft media statement/interview, and Doctor Voodoo and Flyingfiend will be desperately scouring the legal books to find some kind of get out of jail free card for the bureaucracy.

Dick summed things up nicely - the place is dysfunctional at best. Not that ICAO or the PM's office could give a toss. Anyway, the clock keeps on ticking away louder and faster than ever before......

Tick tick tick tick tick, Tock.

[P7_TOM]

Don’t know about anyone else (yet) but I’m having a hell of a time getting my head around the implications and connotations of this latest CASA fiasco. Ye Gods, the whole, assembled legal might of CASA is busy persecuting some poor student, while ‘old mate’ up in Qld is racking up 300 odd alleged offences. CASA are busy trying, desperately, without success, to patch up the seriously flawed part 61; while ‘old mate’ is merrily flying senior elected officials about the place. CASA is busy burying the Senate and ASRR reports in lip service and ministerial placebo’s while ‘old mate’ is allegedly reeking havoc on his competition.  Then, FDS, we get Jonathon bloody Aleck, twice, on video telling us how wonderful everything is, how CASA is user friendly, a compassionate, but stern father figure. To quote one the board members at Tamworth – it’s very complicated and difficult, that which CASA does – be patient. Well, bugger that for a game of soldiers lady – put it where the sun don’t shine.

The list of what CASA are not addressing keeps growing, the credibility gap ever widening and the minister-in-hiding has little idea and cares less. Much more important to blast the crap out of ignorant advisors and take pictures of Barmy-baby taking a leak on industry - (for posterity).

If there are not some serious questions from the Senators, real soon about what the devil the minister, the Board, the senior management and the government mandarins doing about this totally failed organisation – we can all safely assume that regulation of aviation is now, firmly in the hands of the State police.

What a dogs breakfast; FFS somebody tackle these fools before it is too late.

Red card minister and count yourself lucky with that. Idiot.

[Peetwo]

Australia Day - Aviation WOFTAM awards - Part II  

[quote pid='6252' dateline='1485250345']
However it should also be pointed out that for our miniscule 4D the "A"-word aberrations do not end with the 'shambolic mess' of MH370...

Which brings me to the point of my post, I would like to put forward 4D as a nominee consideration for the inaugural Australia Day Aviation WOFTAM awards...

THE Civil Aviation Safety Authority has been plunged into chaos, labelled as “dysfunctional” in the wake of claims it knew about concerns over Mount Isa pilot Josh Hoch as early as 2013.

Lawyer Michael Spear told a court at Mr Hoch’s bail appearance that CASA had known about conduct related to the 342 charges police had laid.

“(The flights) have happened since 2013, CASA has known about these flights since 2013,” he said.

“Now if CASA had any concern about a pilot it can invoke provisions of section 30DC of the Civil Aviation Act instantly grounding a pilot if there is a serious and imminent risk to air safety.

“Now CASA has not done so, despite knowing of the allegations for months, these started back in October (2016) and certainly those charges from back in 2013.

“CASA conducted an audit for Mr Hoch and his company and reissued his AOC (Air Operators Certificate) earlier last year.

“If CASA hasn’t grounded him, they don’t consider him to be a serious risk to the public and I would submit that CASA would be far more cognisant of safety in aviation than the police service.”

Which somewhat inevitably prompted Kharon to write this:

Now may we have an open inquiry?– Please.

We called a no confidence on CASA back in 2012. We have suffered through a Senate inquiry and the Forsyth inquiry and had any hopes of CASA reform dashed, obfuscated and cynically manipulated. Result: Mt Isa.  Clearly visible in the difference between the police case work and the CASA no work in the Mt Isa case.  The Qld police may rightfully claim all the credit and kudos. Had CASA been the prime mover, then they would be the first to crow and beat their chests, the incumbent minister leading the chorus. Ineffectual does not cover the gap, neither does ‘unfortunate’; neither does claiming to help, after the fact.

The reasons for the ongoing lack of confidence, faith and trust are as simple and clear now as when they first emerged.  The case of the Guinea Pigs was, though no longer, a perfect opportunity for CASA to recover at least some of their credibility and reputation.  There can be no serious reform or sensible action taken in a case like the Mt Isa debacle which would not produce a cynical response from industry. The Qld police investigation would be viewed ‘straight’ and carry the credibility of a ‘true’ impartial (just the facts) investigation. Had CASA done it – very few would believe it, any of it – in fact, many would say and support the notion that it was just another ‘fit up’.

Why? Well it has in the past been a rigged game, so often, played so many times that it is perfectly natural to assume CASA were ‘under orders’ to nail, at any price an operator or a person.

Why? Well, the GP3 case presents evidence, untested to be sure, but nonetheless supporting claims of ‘embuggerance’. Until this type of complaint is examined – properly – and corrective action taken – publicly, then there is no hope of probity in any CASA investigation, let alone the presentation of ‘facts and circumstances’, the ‘hay-stacking’ and the willingness to swear, under oath to calumny. Simply put – very few would believe a single word CASA said; that’s why.

How could ‘we’, the industry rely on CASA to investigate the Mt Isa case in a fair and impartial manner while their track record is less than adequate, their probity questionable and their motives beneath contempt. Until CASA is prepared to take a very long, very hard look at their past actions and address those issues, openly, honestly and publicly, there can be no trust. Must we now rely solely on the police services to investigate. It has reached a point where industry needs to rely, very heavily, on the RAT Senators to mount a general inquiry, with public submissions into the actions and behaviour of what is laughingly referred to as ‘the’ Civil Aviation Safety Authority’.    

The list is long Senators, the CASA defences are strong – and they have been dodging ‘official’ bullets for a long, long while now. When a thing like the Forsyth report is passed off as ‘an opinion’ it is time for some serious accounting. I believe the results of that accounting will shock even the well informed RAT committee; as it has many ‘independent’ public figures.  

That the management of ‘matters aeronautical’ can be left in the hands of a deeply flawed operation, like the CASA will, soon or late, become a matter of national interest. The ramifications of prevarication will tarnish any government which had many an opportunity to act in the public interest, but failed to do so.

Selah.

    

[/quote]

A couple of additions to the commendation file to support my now seconded (thanks Gobbles ) nomination of DDDD_MNFI for the 2017 Aviation WOFTAM award...

First in a follow up to the disturbing revelations still coming out of the rogue pilot/dysfunctional regulator story.

From a PT article - see HERE - yesterday:  

..CASA is on its record an organisation totally indifferent to the blood on its hands from recent blatant failures to carry out it duties. It doesn’t recognise its guilt or its incompetence, and it has made fools of the aviation ministers responsible for its activities for at least as far back as the Seaview disaster of 1994...

...The actions of CASA in relation to a pilot who may have been unlicensed for the purposes of his operations for a prolonged period of activity during which police allege he could have killed the occupants of planes which he had sabotaged require very close scrutiny by the Minister for Infrastructure, Darren Chester.

Not scrutiny passed off to his discredited civil servants who have apparently talked nonsense to him since he took up the portfolio last year.  Real scrutiny, by the Minister, of the performance of what many see as a rogue organisation that has a culture of tolerating known unsafe operations....

And don't we have plenty of evidence in the AP archives to back up the PT OP and OBS.

Note that the scathing PT article also drew attention to the ATSB continuing dodgy involvement in the attempted CASA PelAir cover-up scandal:

..It subsequently attempted to suppress that audit with the co-operation of the ATSB, the accident investigator, but was found out by a highly critical all party Senate committee hearing into what remains an unfinished saga. The ATSB was forced to withdraw its first accident report into the Pel-Air crash, which was a shamefully inadequate investigation, and its new inquiry, which was supposed to report more than a year ago, is understood to have run into a number of ‘difficulties’...

Next - 4D features again in the Oz today as the minister responsible for overseeing yet another self-inflicted and escalating CASA clusterduck on CAO 48.1...
Reference - Fort Fumble under siege on CAO 48.1:

JW - ..Taxpayers shouldn’t pay for CASA’s lack of self-confidence on fatigue laws...

..On January 9, CASA tendered for specialists to undertake the review. Does the unexpected expense to taxpayers that comes with reviewing this largely uncontroversial set of safety rules warrant that rule set being examined by the highest bidder? When it comes to pilots’ duty times, being “within the maximum” doesn’t always mean “safe”, and never has. But in the context of pilot fatigue mitigation measures, even getting close to the limits of existing prescriptive duty time rules can result in tragedy. This is why the new fatigue rules in CAO 48.1 must be implemented: so we can move to the modern and science-based principles that fall under the umbrella of FRMS.

Perhaps I am being too cynical and CASA is simply trying to get the regulatory mix right. That is an admirable goal. But in the face of limited resources, the swath of reviews being undertaken by CASA on topics as far ranging as medical certification processes to drones, would suggest that perhaps CASA ought to listen less, and assertively direct more...

---

&..
..Transport Minister Darren Chester has confirmed that lobbying by regional airlines, among other stakeholders, has led CASA to delay and review the proposed rules for pilot fatigue management...

...Mr Chester, a Nationals MP from Gippsland in regional Victoria, confirmed that the government had received numerous representations against all or part of the proposed rules.

“Several stakeholder groups, including regional airlines, general aviation and pilot unions, have lobbied against all or part of new rules. CASA has agreed to delay and review the rules to ensure they are appropriate and effective across all sectors of the commercial aviation industry,” a spokesman for the minister said...

Well the 4D commendation shit-list continues to grow but will this be enough to sway IOS voters in the upcoming inaugural Aviation WOFTAM poll? I guess we'll have to wait & see...


MTF...P2

[Gobbledock]

Barn'boy Joyce's "fellater of photography film" and chief todger photographer NFI DDDDarren is an abboration on politics. The man is a dunce. Joyce is a dunce. Goldman Sachs Turnbull is a dunce. These arseclowns are following a well worn path, one in which consecutive Ministers and friends have been repetitiously hoodwinked by the alphabet soup bureaucracies over the decades.

It has ended in tears before - Seaview, Lockhart, Pel Air, but not on the scale that it will when the cheese finally lines up not just in Joyce's underpants but in the air. You muppets have been receiving IOS warnings (or should that be SOS warnings) for years now.

Apparent the world doomsday clock was moved to 2.5 minutes to midnight the other day, c/o the orange Oompa Loompa Trump. CAsA's doomsday clock just moved up to 30 seconds to midnight c/o Mickey Mouse ears Carmody. Tick Tock.

IOS/SOS - can someone hear us calling?

[Peetwo]

DDDD_MNFI's aviation induced PED, keeps on ticking -    (PED - political explosive device)

Reference new thread - The Mt Isa Snakes and ladders championship.

A Grim Faery tale.
 
CASA – “The spokeswoman said CASA needed to have evidence to act on, rather than unsubstantiated claims of actions.”
 
Since when? Don’t know about you, but, it seems to me that CASA is now challenging the Qld police ‘evidence’, in a bid to exonerate themselves by describing the police evidence as ‘unsubstantiated’.  Just a little hypocritical I would say; coming from a crowd who are famous for ‘massaging’ fact and parlaying any and all clerical error into fraud and breaking wind into a ‘public at risk’ scenario – when it suits. This is going to end up farcical – CASA defending the accused in order to prove – beyond reasonable doubt – that as far as CASA was concerned, there is no case that would require CASA investigation. Watch, wait and see as the CASA defence of CASA assists the defence argument – hell they’ll probably pay the accused legal fees. “Unduckingbelievable” not in my jungle it’s not.
 
CASA - “It is important to remember that, like any other regulatory authority, CASA is only able to act on evidence that tends to show there has been a breach of the regulations, not on unsubstantiated claims of such conduct,” she said.
 
Bollocks – complete and utter BOLLOCKS. With two clicks of my mouse I can put on screen a file which is some 48 pages long – close spaced – they are my notes on cases where CASA have done exactly and precisely that. Many of those cases are based on the ‘unsubstantiated’ manipulated into a frame work which ‘supports’ the claims of ‘wrong doing’, individually they are something nothing – but all together; they unsettle the tribunal, coroner or judge. The masters of the rigged game – crying “Foul”. It beggars belief.
 
CASA - “It would be premature for CASA to comment further on this at this time.
 
“You have the right to remain silent”.  The only sounds in Sleepy Hollow will be the clatter of garbage bin lids being locked down tight and the pitter-patter of CASA feet as they change shifts, taking turns to sit on the lids. This accompanied by the whirring of shedders - flat out.
 
CASA - “We will not comment on the criminal allegations against Mr Hoch.”
 
A classic – no one can, that is a known fact; but the unscrupulous CASA will even stoop to using the blindingly obvious to make themselves sound honourable, just and fair. The spin cycle is starting its wind up to full RPM, cobbed throttles and all hands on deck.
 
CASA – “These are matters before the court and any questions should be directed to the prosecutorial authority.”
 
Oh, ain’t we as pure as the driven snow, holier than thou and so ducking humble.  You know, I could, probably, find a modicum of forgiveness in my heart and mind for Hoch - should he be proven guilty – and; mind you we don’t know that he is guilty; and, he is entitled to defend himself against the charges. So that is a waiting game. But there is no such consideration available for the CASA, the Hoch case presents an unique window of opportunity to allow the minister and the RRAT to view exactly how this ‘safety watchdog’ acts; after dark, when even the best of working dogs turn into sheep killers.
 
If Chester had a brain in his head or some decent advice – he would have known that this was coming. The only folk surprised were him and the brainless, uninformed media. The smell has been on the wind for weeks. It is a testament to the complete absence of interest, a dependency on ‘mandarins’ and a complete lack of thinking apparatus that has landed Chester up to his neck in a deep pile of shit. “Prove it” howls the mob. “Well, says I, “who has Chester asked to investigate the event?” 
 
Aye, but: GD, I don’t want Carmody to resign, not now. The slick, glib, slippery bugger is a master of the ‘get out goal free card’ and the ‘off hook’ wriggle move.  No doubt the minister will be ‘delighted’ to continue working on 'CASA' flawless advice.

Toot toot.

And then another media report that could be potentially the most politically disconcerting for our immaculately groomed NFI miniscule 4D...  

Reference via  Kathryn's Report - Call for urgent report on pilot Josh Hoch :

Kennedy MP Bob Katter spent $257,000 on chartered flights with alleged fraudster pilot Josh Hoch, the Mount Isa Magistrates Court was told.

Hundreds of thousands in taxpayer dollars may have been paid to alleged fraudster Josh Hoch, with a court hearing Kennedy MP spent $257,000 on chartered flights with the pilot.

Prosecutor Sergeant Vaughan Cooper yesterday detailed Mr. Katter’s expenses with Mr. Hoch, at his bail application for more than 300 offenses.

“The offenses the defendant faces are serious, not only those five offences (tampering with aircraft), but also the offenses of fraud,” Sgt Cooper said.

“Your honor will note the defendant using, without accreditation, aircraft to fly the honourable Bob Katter without the correct accreditation.

“Allowing him to pilot and receive payment for these charters and that will be alleged your honour is some $257,000 and I do round that down.

“The case against the defendant regarding those matters is strong.”

According to documents from the Department of Finance, Mr Katter claimed more than $53,000 on chartered flights in the first half of 2016 alone.

The Kennedy MP is given a large travel allowance, particularly for charter flights, to traverse a massive electorate that is bigger than some countries.

Mr. Katter would not comment when contacted by the Bulletin over the charges against Koch.

“As this matter is now before the courts it would be inappropriate to comment,” he said.

Senator Ian Macdonald said he would take up industry regulation concerns with Infrastructure and Transport Minister Darren Chester.

“I will certainly be following this up with the Transport Minister … I’m quite confident he has already been briefed but this is clearly a matter for the police and CASA investigators to report to him with any recommendations of any new regulatory action,” he said.

“I’m very curious in this instance how this has not come to their attention previously … CASA should have been leading the charge rather than police.”

Herbert MP Cathy O’Toole said it was necessary to look further into the current level of oversight after the arrest of Hoch.

“Questions need to be asked, and answers provided, about what officials did and did not know,” she said.

“How can this happen surely needs to be the question. The real issue is that we have absolutely no certainty that incidents of this nature are not falling through the gap.”

Source:  http://www.ntnews.com.au

Oh Dear 4D  - Even Blind Freddy can see the potential for political embarrassment with this one is huge.

But it is all good minuscule like all your predecessors, you just keep putting your head in the sand while Comardy and the other NFI trough-feeders at CASA continue to obfuscate and quietly destroy the crumb trail that leads to your office. All in the name of good aviation safety practices of course - FFS.

MTF...P2

[Peetwo]

DDDD_MNFI's aviation induced PED, keeps on ticking -    (PED - political explosive device)

Reference new thread - The Mt Isa Snakes and ladders championship.

A Grim Faery tale.
 
CASA – “The spokeswoman said CASA needed to have evidence to act on, rather than unsubstantiated claims of actions.”
 
Since when? Don’t know about you, but, it seems to me that CASA is now challenging the Qld police ‘evidence’, in a bid to exonerate themselves by describing the police evidence as ‘unsubstantiated’.  Just a little hypocritical I would say; coming from a crowd who are famous for ‘massaging’ fact and parlaying any and all clerical error into fraud and breaking wind into a ‘public at risk’ scenario – when it suits. This is going to end up farcical – CASA defending the accused in order to prove – beyond reasonable doubt – that as far as CASA was concerned, there is no case that would require CASA investigation. Watch, wait and see as the CASA defence of CASA assists the defence argument – hell they’ll probably pay the accused legal fees. “Unduckingbelievable” not in my jungle it’s not.
 
CASA - “It is important to remember that, like any other regulatory authority, CASA is only able to act on evidence that tends to show there has been a breach of the regulations, not on unsubstantiated claims of such conduct,” she said.
 
Bollocks – complete and utter BOLLOCKS. With two clicks of my mouse I can put on screen a file which is some 48 pages long – close spaced – they are my notes on cases where CASA have done exactly and precisely that. Many of those cases are based on the ‘unsubstantiated’ manipulated into a frame work which ‘supports’ the claims of ‘wrong doing’, individually they are something nothing – but all together; they unsettle the tribunal, coroner or judge. The masters of the rigged game – crying “Foul”. It beggars belief.
 
CASA - “It would be premature for CASA to comment further on this at this time.
 
“You have the right to remain silent”.  The only sounds in Sleepy Hollow will be the clatter of garbage bin lids being locked down tight and the pitter-patter of CASA feet as they change shifts, taking turns to sit on the lids. This accompanied by the whirring of shedders - flat out.
 
CASA - “We will not comment on the criminal allegations against Mr Hoch.”
 
A classic – no one can, that is a known fact; but the unscrupulous CASA will even stoop to using the blindingly obvious to make themselves sound honourable, just and fair. The spin cycle is starting its wind up to full RPM, cobbed throttles and all hands on deck.
 
CASA – “These are matters before the court and any questions should be directed to the prosecutorial authority.”
 
Oh, ain’t we as pure as the driven snow, holier than thou and so ducking humble.  You know, I could, probably, find a modicum of forgiveness in my heart and mind for Hoch - should he be proven guilty – and; mind you we don’t know that he is guilty; and, he is entitled to defend himself against the charges. So that is a waiting game. But there is no such consideration available for the CASA, the Hoch case presents an unique window of opportunity to allow the minister and the RRAT to view exactly how this ‘safety watchdog’ acts; after dark, when even the best of working dogs turn into sheep killers.
 
If Chester had a brain in his head or some decent advice – he would have known that this was coming. The only folk surprised were him and the brainless, uninformed media. The smell has been on the wind for weeks. It is a testament to the complete absence of interest, a dependency on ‘mandarins’ and a complete lack of thinking apparatus that has landed Chester up to his neck in a deep pile of shit. “Prove it” howls the mob. “Well, says I, “who has Chester asked to investigate the event?” 
 
Aye, but: GD, I don’t want Carmody to resign, not now. The slick, glib, slippery bugger is a master of the ‘get out goal free card’ and the ‘off hook’ wriggle move.  No doubt the minister will be ‘delighted’ to continue working on 'CASA' flawless advice.

Toot toot.

And then another media report that could be potentially the most politically disconcerting for our immaculately groomed NFI miniscule 4D...  

Reference via  Kathryn's Report - Call for urgent report on pilot Josh Hoch :

Kennedy MP Bob Katter spent $257,000 on chartered flights with alleged fraudster pilot Josh Hoch, the Mount Isa Magistrates Court was told.

Hundreds of thousands in taxpayer dollars may have been paid to alleged fraudster Josh Hoch, with a court hearing Kennedy MP spent $257,000 on chartered flights with the pilot.

Prosecutor Sergeant Vaughan Cooper yesterday detailed Mr. Katter’s expenses with Mr. Hoch, at his bail application for more than 300 offenses.

“The offenses the defendant faces are serious, not only those five offences (tampering with aircraft), but also the offenses of fraud,” Sgt Cooper said.

“Your honor will note the defendant using, without accreditation, aircraft to fly the honourable Bob Katter without the correct accreditation.

“Allowing him to pilot and receive payment for these charters and that will be alleged your honour is some $257,000 and I do round that down.

“The case against the defendant regarding those matters is strong.”

According to documents from the Department of Finance, Mr Katter claimed more than $53,000 on chartered flights in the first half of 2016 alone.

The Kennedy MP is given a large travel allowance, particularly for charter flights, to traverse a massive electorate that is bigger than some countries.

Mr. Katter would not comment when contacted by the Bulletin over the charges against Koch.

“As this matter is now before the courts it would be inappropriate to comment,” he said.

Senator Ian Macdonald said he would take up industry regulation concerns with Infrastructure and Transport Minister Darren Chester.

“I will certainly be following this up with the Transport Minister … I’m quite confident he has already been briefed but this is clearly a matter for the police and CASA investigators to report to him with any recommendations of any new regulatory action,” he said.

“I’m very curious in this instance how this has not come to their attention previously … CASA should have been leading the charge rather than police.”

Herbert MP Cathy O’Toole said it was necessary to look further into the current level of oversight after the arrest of Hoch.

“Questions need to be asked, and answers provided, about what officials did and did not know,” she said.

“How can this happen surely needs to be the question. The real issue is that we have absolutely no certainty that incidents of this nature are not falling through the gap.”

Source:  http://www.ntnews.com.au

Oh Dear 4D  - Even Blind Freddy can see the potential for political embarrassment with this one is huge.

But it is all good minuscule like all your predecessors, you just keep putting your head in the sand while Comardy and the other NFI trough-feeders at CASA continue to obfuscate and quietly destroy the crumb trail that leads to your office. All in the name of good aviation safety practices of course - FFS.

MTF...P2

Ps Bye the bye - interesting article in Simply Marvellous Horse-pooh online on 4D's work commute travel rort...err expenses... :

Two MPs run up $200,000 tab on private flights to work in Canberra



Two National Party MPs have racked up a combined bill of $200,000 chartering private flights to and from their electorates to attend sessions of Parliament in Canberra since the change of government.

Spending on jet hire to Canberra for sitting weeks is filed by the Finance Department under the little-known expense category of "special minister of state-approved" flights.

Transport Minister Darren Chester. Photo: Jamila Toderas

NSW National Mark Coulton, who represents the sprawling north-western NSW electorate of Parkes and Darren Chester, whose Victorian seat of Gippsland is 10 times smaller, are the two MPs approved to charter flights for sitting weeks.

Department of Finance records show the pair have spent $198,000 between them since the Coalition took power in 2013.
 
Mark Coulton in Parliament House. Photo: Andrew Meares

Mr Coulton has charged $137,000 on charter flights between Warialda and Canberra in that time while Mr Chester, the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, has spent $61,000 on the parliamentary commute from Gippsland, east of Melbourne.

In total, since he entered parliament in 2008, Mr Chester has spent $407,000 on charter flights but that includes air travel within Gippsland and more recently flights for ministerial visits.

Mr Coulton and a spokeswoman for Mr Chester said sitting week charter flights had been approved since Labor's Gary Gray was special minister of state in 2010 under Julia Gillard.

Mr Gray confirmed this, saying regional MPs faced "logistical difficulties" like fog at both ends of the trip in the case of Gippsland.

"My overwhelming view was that the government should ensure that MPs, who have seven-day-a-week jobs, are able to do those jobs to the best of their abilities," he said.

As federal politicians prepare to fly to Canberra for the resumption of Parliament next week, Mr Coulton said he would be chartering a flight from his home base of Warialda.

Mr Coulton who maintains three electorate offices – Dubbo, Moree and Broken Hill – said the logistics of getting commercial flights back to the electorate can be too difficult, particularly when he might be leaving from Warialda but returning to Dubbo, for example.

"I have half of NSW in my electorate and the other 47 MPs share the other half, so it does have its problems," he said.

Mr Coulton said he flies on commercial airlines where possible.

According to Webjet, an 8.40am Qantas flight from Tamworth, a little over two hours' drive from Warialda, would have him in Canberra by 11.50am after a transfer in Sydney.

The cost of that flight is $591 on a flexi ticket compared to the $3545 cost of a charter flight from Warialda.

Mr Chester's flights to and from Lakes Entrance cost between $2100 and $3150, according to the latest expense records.

He regularly posts pictures on social media of the view of Gippsland from the air.

A spokesman for Special Minister of State Scott Ryan said: "The minister does not comment on individual parliamentarians' work expenses."

Following the expenses scandal and the resignation of former health minister Sussan Ley, all claims for charter flights will now be scrutinised by an independent compliance agency announced by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull this month.

Greens leader Richard Di Natale has backed the agency but used the latest furore over the use of flights to call for the establishment of a federal anti-corruption body.

[Gobbledock]

"A spokesman for Special Minister of State Scott Ryan said: "The minister does not comment on individual parliamentarians' work expenses."

What, no comment? Whatever happened to 'open, honest, transparent and accountable government'? Oh of course, only when it suits them. Earth to political scum - we pay your wages, we pay for your charter flights, we pay for everything, so stop treating us with contempt and start being honest. It's this pissweak game of cat and mouse that is making us IOS absolutely sick to the eye teeth of your bullshit and will result in your collective arses being voted out. Haven't you learned anything from the Trump experience?

It's funny how Chester has gone to ground over his expenses. It's also interesting how the loud mouthed Katter who enjoys angrily attacking everything in his path has also gone secret squirrel and opted for the 'no comment'. Keep it up oh mighty honourable ones and see how short your careers will be.

Here's another media statement;

"A spokesman for Special Manager of IOS affairs said: "The Gobbledock happily comments on individual parliamentarian rorts, fiddles and trough diving exercises. The Gobbledock says you all suck"

Tick tock

[thorn bird]

CASA – “The spokeswoman said CASA needed to have evidence to act on, rather than unsubstantiated claims of actions.”

Since when? Don’t know about you, but, it seems to me that CASA is now challenging the Qld police ‘evidence’, in a bid to exonerate themselves by describing the police evidence as ‘unsubstantiated’.  Just a little hypocritical I would say; coming from a crowd who are famous for ‘massaging’ fact and parlaying any and all clerical error into fraud and breaking wind into a ‘public at risk’ scenario – when it suits. This is going to end up farcical – CASA defending the accused in order to prove – beyond reasonable doubt – that as far as CASA was concerned, there is no case that would require CASA investigation. Watch, wait and see as the CASA defence of CASA assists the defence argument – hell they’ll probably pay the accused legal fees. “Unduckingbelievable” not in my jungle it’s not.

Good grief these people are unbelievable!!!

Unsubstantiated evidence for gods sake, how about the "manufactured video used to pillory and ultimately destroy John Quadrio.

What about Dom James of Pel Air fame, they tried everything they could to manipulate the rules to find something, anything they could pin on him, unfortunately they couldn't find a rule against poor judgement, which was about all Dom was guilty of, couldn't prosecute because no laws had been broken, but they pilloried Dom anyway via the back door method, "Administratively'.

"Administratively" means opinion based law is applied. The opinion supplied by the DAS, the sentence supplied and applied by a minion, in this case the most vindictive sociopath in CAsA, non other than the infamous Wodger Wabbit. The theory being that if you keep moving the goal posts applying penalty upon penalty, eventually the victim will run out of patience or money and just go away.

Even after all that, if the victim by some miracle manages to complete the ever expanding requirements and it starts making CAsA look a tad foolish, no problem, give him back his licence, just require a completely onerous, impossibly expensive task to complete before he can exercise any of its rights....sorry privileges, then send the minions out into the industry to threaten sanctions against anyone if they offer employment to the victim.

K old mate, anyone know if this Hoch person was one of the protected species?

I remember tales of a gentleman who rode around BK on a tug, who seemed to be untouchable. Word was he was a CAsA Snitch.

Used to maintain his own aircraft and rumoured to have sabotaged a few competitors aircraft. I remember CAsA saying they couldn't do anything without proof. Yet Sat mornings I could drive past his hanger and see him, overalls on and half an engine spread out on the floor with no one else in sight. Guess the FOI's like thinking of themselves as coppers but have no idea what coppers actually have to do.

[Kharon]

Ante post considerations.

All true enough then Thorny and just as true today. Aye, wee Wodger did some damage, mind you he was not alone in the merriment. He had some very willing helpmates who are still there, contacts and consultancies secure, with the added fillip of very little to do having decimated all the industry opposition at Bankstown and getting their ‘tame’ pets into positions where no challenge will ever be issued against the mindless stupidity imposed. CASA heaven. Little traffic and total control of the small amount of flying done, fully supported by ‘Yes’ men.

When the Senate committee investigated the Pel-Air ‘thing’ and came to the same conclusions as industry, I though it would trigger at least some sort of meaningful response or visible reform; brother, did I ever get that wrong. It actually created two responses, both undesirable, firstly the prosecution rates stepped up and secondly the amount of smoke blown up the ministers skirts increased. Two acts designed to warn industry and convince the minister that all was well; it also had the added bonus of dropping the ATSB right ‘in-it’.

This took us to the good Rev. Forsyth and his crew. Hampered by the ToR and being careful not to ‘blow the gaff’ the Rev did what he could. Well, I thought, this time the evidence is overwhelming and, combined with the Senate recommendations – something will be done. Nope, wrong again. McConvict left Dodge which was a small trick; but that was trumped by endless delay followed by the flash git ‘Whatsisname’. Installed with one purpose in mind, to woo industry away from the war drums and back into the fold.  A calculated, cynical PR exercise which cost a small fortune and failed, dismally. The pantomime cost valuable reform  time, which cooled the iron and gave CASA a breathing space to mount the defences and whitewash the band aids. As a reward for all the hard work, polishing the mirrors and cleaning up the smoke machine, the gods made CASA a gift – Chester.  Probably got the gig because he was the only one Barmy Baby could beat in a pissing competition; the winning moment enshrined on BB’s brag wall.

{Spelling copied directly from the Nationals little book of trivial things}.

Aye, the gods do seem to have a twisted sense of humour. This business at Mt Isa an example; it should shock even the most uniformed, political wooden head that all is not well in Sleepy Hollow. I can, with some certainty predict that if the lid on this can of worms and snakes is ever torn off, the nation will be aghast at the shame, the waste, the venality and the outright dishonesty of this putrid thing we feed a small fortune to, in order to keep our skies safe. Perhaps Carmody can keep dodging bullets while patching over the blood stains and whitewashing the floors; then again, perhaps not. We shall see that story unfold, just as surely as we watched the Mt Isa horror story develop.

Anyway – I’m working on the tote board odds for the Snakes and Ladders championship, your bets accepted from sunrise tomorrow.  Game on – again.

Toot toot.