[Peetwo]

High viz Hoody front & centre yet again - err why?

I note that, in relation to the ATSB opened AAI into the fatal Rossair Conquest training accident near Renmark (see HERE), that the ATSB notified via a media statement yesterday that the micromanaging CC Hoody will once again be turning up in his matching high viz jocks, socks and vest to conduct a media briefing :

Media release

Title

Media briefing on fatal aviation accident at Renmark, SA
 
Date: 01 June 2017

ATSB Chief Commissioner Greg Hood and SA Police Superintendent James Blandford will provide an on-site media briefing at 11 am (ACST) Thursday, 1 June 2017, at the location of the Renmark aviation accident in South Australia.

Three people died when a Cessna Conquest 441 aircraft, registered VH-XMJ, collided with terrain at 4.30 pm on Tuesday 30 May 2017. The accident occurred about 4 km west of the Renmark airport.

The briefing will outline the known facts of the accident, the investigation team’s on-site activities and the investigation process.

ATSB investigation AO-2017-057

Who:       ATSB Chief Commissioner Greg Hood
               SA Police Superintendent James Blandford

Where:    SA Police Forward Command Post — proceed along Sturt Highway, turn onto
               Santos Road (dirt road), travel 5 km, turn left at the witches hat and
               proceed to Forward Command Post

When:    11 am ACST, Thursday 1 June 2017

Media contact: 1800 020 616
 


Last update 31 May 2017

        
Q/ Does this indicate that Hoody has indeed sacked the ATSB media spokesperson?
Q/ Was the Hood appearance at the request of the IIC? If so wouldn't it be more appropriate for the GM of AAI to field questions and provide briefing of a potentially technical nature?
Q/ Does this mean that Chief Commissioner Hood will appear at all future media briefings of all fatal accident investigations? 

The cynical part of me believes, that because Hoody is really a reincarnation of Beaker, that his appearance at such briefings signifies potential sensitivities in an AAI that may require his top-cover expertise...

Just saying -


MTF...P2 .

P7 (poach) - And very well said indeed good Sir. 

Ps In case you were wondering how Hoody's media briefing went - - here is a summary courtesy of ABC news online:

Rossair flight only in air for seconds before crash near Renmark, investigators believe
By Sarah Scopelianos and Tom Fedorowytsch

Updated about 6 hours ago
Thu 1 Jun 2017, 1:57pm


Photo: Australian Transport Safety Bureau staff have taken over the site from police. (ABC News)
Related Story: Rossair chief pilot among dead in Riverland plane crash

Map: Renmark 5341

The doomed Rossair flight, which crashed near Renmark killing three experienced pilots, had only just taken off from the nearby country airport, authorities have said.

Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) chief commissioner Greg Hood said the plane had left Adelaide for Renmark on Tuesday afternoon and had landed at the Renmark Airport.

He said the aircraft was only in the air for 60 to 90 seconds after take off from the airport before it hit Mallee scrub.

The strong smell of fuel led emergency service personnel to the crash site.

Mr Hood said the crash site had been handed to the bureau's five investigating officers this morning by SA Police.

Officers had identified hazards at the site and were conducting laser mapping of the area, Mr Hood said.

Paul Daw, 65, Rossair's chief pilot Martin Scott, 48, and Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) representative Stephen Guerin, 56, were killed when the Cessna Conquest with the registration VH-XMJ crashed.

Mr Hood said it would be a "complex investigation".

Photo: ATSB chief commissioner Greg Hood speaks to the media. (ABC News)

"We don't see these types of accidents very often in Australia," he said.

"I think for the past 30 years or so we have not seen a serious accident involving the Conquest aircraft or in fact a Rossair or their predecessor Air South.

"This crash site is concentrated. It's about 40 metres all in all and so that tells us potentially the aircraft has gone in a reasonably steep rate of descent."

Some debris was found further afield from the main crash site.

Mr Hood was asked about what sort of training exercises were being conducted during the check and training flight and whether they included a simulated engine failure, but he said he could not comment.

"The investigation will try and discover what type of airwork was being conducted, but it is too early to say yet whether that was the likely cause [of the accident]."

The 10-seater plane was not required to have a cockpit voice recorder or flight data recorder.

Mr Hood said the crew had failed to contact air traffic control by a designated time and at about the same time a satellite picked by the aircraft's electronic locator beacon, which is activated on impact.

Flight history, the aircraft and its national and international safety record, maintenance and pilot records, data from air traffic control system and whether any final calls were made on the local air traffic control system will be looked at.

Several people saw the plane climbing out of Renmark in its final moments.

Investigators are expected to remain at the site for several days.

Pps Interestingly enough when the ABC News first cut to high viz Hoody in the bush they ended up reporting that CC Hood was one of the ATSB investigators -

Hmm...maybe that is the image that Hoody really craves -

FWIW as a media stooge Hoody held up alright...