[Peetwo]

...It is becoming farcical to the point where, as said previously, why don't we just hire a technical writer to draft half a dozen pro-forma reports, which can at least be published on time.  When you start deconstructing the pitiful efforts of the ATSB accident reports, that's what they boil down to.  A little bit of ATSB fluffy technical analysis, the summary written by a CASA word weasel, couple of pictures and, job done.   Said it all before – HERE - ...

"...This business at Mildura could have ended in tears, except the gods were benign and the weather was willing to cooperate.  The message was clear- ignore this warning at your own peril.  The NTSB or TSBC would by now have their interim reports and more than likely at least three SR out, for discussion with the agencies concerned.  We get a teddy bears picnic, some happy clappy, tent revival with tambourines at the corporate love in.  The whole thing buried under a pile of used soft white paper and wrapped in time.  This ensures that no one will want to pick up the mess and it will, conveniently, with the passage of time, be forgotten..."

Corporate attitudes need retro-modification to realise that the PIC, not the bloody bean counters command the aircraft.  If the BC want to dictate the how a flight is managed, then they should share the responsibility when it all goes pear shaped.   It would help if the HR people could adjust the settings so that pilots who can say NO and are not easily intimidated are hired. 

...You see, I am intrigued that the crew of two major carriers could not 'see' that with the forecast conditions, time of year and day that fog was, potentially, on the cards.  Sure the flight was technically 'legal' but, I wonder how many crews did slide an extra 30 minutes for Mum inboard, just to be sure.  Then there is the question of why both flights, with fore knowledge each sailed past viable, fog free alternates.  There are many valid questions which demand answers; but relying on a PC approach is cheap, gutless and of no value to the travelling public.  It is indeed, beyond all reason...

...The Uriah Heep of aviation safety, inventor of the PC accident investigations cannot be protected, not any longer. The Pel-Air re investigation provides more than enough evidence that this leopard will not change its spots. Unqualified, ignorant, arrogant and operating under top cover is not what the leader of a NTSB should be; but there it sits, smiling.   How in the seven hells it survived the Senate inquiry I'll never know, but there it sits; still smiling for the cameras, dribbling spaghetti sauce.  Well done Minuscle: merde !!  but you can pick 'em.  

The character is notable for his cloying humility, obsequiousness, and insincerity, making frequent references to his own "'humbleness". His name has become synonymous with being a yes man.[1] He is the central antagonist of the latter part of the book. - Wiki.

Toot toot. (Half steam).....

Excellent spleen vent "K" shame we can't transmogrify that pretty blunt message into our vacant headed miniscule, who is being seriously misled by the murky, Mandarin Mrdak....

From over on Skimore Corner Gobbles IMO sums it up quite nicely... 

"...Farmer Truss and his sidekick Pumpkin Head will be giggling away at yet another finding against CAsA that they will pop into the top drawer along with all the other recommendations, and no doubt the top drawer will be emptied when there is a shortage of pot plant base newspaper, or when there is a shortage of shitter paper in the Execs toilet.

I do find it interesting the number of deaths however, and Australia does not have an enviable GA record which does make one wonder whether we are capturing systemic issues below the ice flow or whether we are concentrating on what we can see poking above the waterline? Oh silly question, silly me.

To be honest the small end of town has been deficient for some time, it's just that it gets swept beneath the carpet. Yet tell that to the loved ones of those killed in some of these avoidable accidents. And of course the media only care about the crumpling of large tin, the Government only cares about accidents at a level that brings it bad publicity, and those in GA with big voices who are proactive only get shut down and shut up by the powers to be..."
 
If the truth be known the big end of town and the Sky Gods are more than capable of looking after themselves, it is the small end of town that gets shafted the most by the current status quo in aviation safety administration in this country.

Off another discarded & forgotten UP thread, that was IMO of excellent value i.e. ATSB reports, are two posts of relevance from Old Akro

First:

ATSB reports

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There was not the usual flood of reports at the end of July. There are now 87 outstanding reports. The oldest of which goes back to 30 June 2011 (Operational non compliance of VH-VNC near Avalon Airport). There were 10 new occurrences in July, but only 5 reports issued.

Even what look like simple reports (eg AO-2012-042 - PA34 descending below LSA at Townsville) are taking over a year.

If you take the ATSB budget and divide by the number of reports (air, sea & land) the average reports costs more than $200,000. Surely even McKinsey & Co would be cheaper and faster.

Last:

Just reading the Feb 20 batch of ATSB reports.

Seriously, have they sub contracted this to Mills & Boon? Or is the work experience kid writing them?

I understand the ATSB's new no-fault policy. But surely if there is no learning or lessons from a report - then why are we bothering?

After a mid air collision is the best advice / recommendation we can muster to read a 5 year old ATSB brochure "A pilot’s guide to staying safe in the vicinity of non-towered aerodromes."

And of course the really funny thing is that the ATSB report

http://www.atsb.gov.au/media/4533008...-205_final.pdf

has a dead link to its recommended "safety message" document. Are we really paying these people?

I've tried searching the ATSB site on both the title of this publication and its ATSB publication number with no luck. It appears that it has been removed from their website. Really doesn't look like they care much, does it?

Surely a mid air collision at a significant capital city airport deserves something more insightful? Where is the value in producing this type of report at all? Why not save the money and just stop doing these mindless investigations?

And from the same UP thread, the following is a post of mine that IMO highlights perfectly how much the ATSB has drifted from the Annex 13 principles and it's original remit when compared in this case to the TSBC:

TSBC in-flight breakup report a benchmark for ATsB??

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Hmm..has Beaker inadvertently provided us with a template for a future re-modelled ATsB??

Most of us have been dubious (including Senator X #34) of Beaker's real intentions for calling in TSB Canada, whatever his original intentions it has been enlightening to look at how another TSI agency operates.

The TSBC are a no fuss, principled, extremely competent AAI agency that goes about it's business without fear nor favour nor fanfare...

In reference to my previous post:

Two updates on the investigation page today could possibly suggest a disturbing trend...but then again probably not..:

Quote:
AO-2013-226
In-flight breakup involving de Havilland DH-82, Tiger Moth, VH-TSG, near South Stradbroke Island, Qld on 16 December 2013

16 Dec 2013

Pending

23 Dec 2013

AO-2013-187
In-flight breakup involving PZL Mielec M18A Dromader aircraft, VH-TZJ, 37 km west of Ulladulla, NSW on 24 October 2013

24 Oct 2013

Interim Factual

23 Dec 2013

The TSBC recently released a final report into another tragic in-flight breakup accident, that IMO should set the benchmark for the two ATsB investigations mentioned above....

Aviation Investigation Report A11W0048

With equal weight the TSBC systematically examine all the possible causal factors (all the holes in the cheese) and end up with the following in their safety action section:

4.0 Safety action

4.1 Safety action taken

4.1.1 The Federal Aviation Administration

On 25 May 2011 the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued Airworthiness Directive (AD) 2011-12-02. Effective on 02 June 2011, the AD applied to Viking Air Limited Model DHC-3 Otter airplanes (all serial numbers) that were equipped with a Honeywell TPE331-10 or -12JR turboprop engine installed per Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) SA09866SC (Texas Turbines Conversions, Inc.) and certified in any category.

The AD was prompted by analysis that showed airspeed limitations for the affected airplanes were not adjusted for the installation of a turboprop engine as stated in the regulations. The AD was issued to prevent the loss of airplane structural integrity due to the affected airplanes being able to operate at speeds exceeding those determined to be safe by the FAA.

The AD imposed a maximum operating speed (VMO) of 144 mph for DHC-3 Otter land/ski aircraft and 134 mph (VMO) for DHC-3 Otter seaplanes. Footnote 17

On 19 August 2011 the FAA issued AD 2011-18-11, which became effective on 03 October 2011. The AD applied to all Viking Air Limited Model DHC-3 Otter airplanes that were certified in any category. The AD resulted from an evaluation of revisions to the manufacturer's maintenance manual that added new repetitive inspections to the elevator control tabs. The AD stated that if these inspections were not done, excessive free-play in the elevator control tabs could develop. That condition could lead to loss of tab control linkage and severe elevator flutter, which could lead to a loss of control. Footnote 18

 
Tough act to follow...where's your money on the bureau, in it's current diabolical state of disfunction under Beaker, showing the same due diligence of the two in-flight breakup accident investigations listed above??

 
Considering those posts are more than a year old not much has changed the..Beyond All Sensible Reason (BASR)..Beaker/Uriah Heap/Dolan is still in charge; the bureau is still conducting deficient, politically corrected investigations and; still putting out absolute crap reports.

So is the ATSB redeemable?? Time will tell but the current miniscule definitely doesn't have the testicular fortitude to put things right and go against the self-serving advice of his Murky Mandarin.

MTF...P2  

Ps Come on Barnaby you know you want it??