A twiddle - for wont of better.
You can readily understand the pain and fury of Choppagirl; we’ve seen it before; far too often for my liking. A while back, after one of the ‘big’ events reports was declared a total waste of time, a few of us started to discuss the ATSB performance. Not stellar – not since Lockhart River; something changed about then, or shortly thereafter. The romantic in me wants to say ‘heartbroken’, the realist wants to scream – ‘Ducked over’ by experts. The ATSB tried hard with the Lockhart accident, in fact it was about the last accident they seemed to put a big effort into. Any comparison between Lockhart and Pel-Air clearly defined the downward spiral; chalk and cheese.
Then we had the Dolan era and the infamous ‘Memorandums of Understanding’. Which served to make it clearly understood that ATSB should mind its manners and fall in line with the big guns. And, no surprise – it did. We were not too concerned with all that; what intrigued us all as much then as it does today is the ‘why’ of it all. Several good ideas were put forward, we occasionally drag ‘em out, much as medical student would do with a cadaver to refresh a new idea. Of course we get nowhere, except the routine anger remerges and the routine condemnation and cursing continues. We did however come up with some food for thought; for instance:-
a) Government (as in whatever clown is put up as minister) is quite convinced that Australia is he safest aviation nation ever. This ain’t true of course; but the minister of the day wants to believe it and is spoon fed, by his 'advice' ‘facts’ to support this notion. It also helps that since the Seaview accident, heaven and a goodly chunk of Hell has been moved to ensure, categorically and absolutely that no minister will be held responsible for aviation safety. The system ensures remoteness from blame and credible deniability. Provided the budget is approved and the ministerial hands are clean – all is rosy.
b) ATSB and CASA were, about the time of Lockhart on an even footing. ATSB could and did point the finger at CASA and asked them to clean up their act. The Staunton report, after Seaview tried to do this – it backfired – then there was Millar; who’s logic was transmogrified into the twisted interpretation of MoU etc. CASA gained the ascendency, the political clout, the money and elevated themselves to almost god like status. – Aided and abetted by the DoIT they captured minister after minister; until it became accepted as ‘the norm’.
c) ATSB hit rock bottom when Dolan ran the shop. Any pissing competition between Dolan and McConvict could be equated to a mouse taking on a lion. Not mind you that Dolan would contemplate such a barny. CASA wanted to rule – Dolan had even less backbone than he had idea of what the ATSB should be; or, what it’s real role was. The hapless, infamous 'Beaker' known universally as the Uriah Heep of accident investigation, readily acquiesced. The rest = history.
There’s more, but you get the drift. Only idle speculation over a beer in the pub of course; but one of our research guru’s reckons this is all reflected in the ‘quality’ of ATSB reports; the lack of ‘sparkle’, the clear ring of truth muffled and the endless obfuscation all reflect an operation with a very low morale level, the courage beaten out of ‘em and low self esteem.
Which leaves us with a demoralised accident investigator, being run by Hi-Viz Hood – the caged Canary; who despite his love for ‘courage’ wrist straps seems to lack this essential element. Go along to get along; time will pass the bank balance grows and if the world and it’s wife thinks the ATSB is a second rate outfit – who cares; except those left behind, wondering what happened, why and how to prevent a reoccurrence.
That is as close to an explanation as I can put together Choppagirl. The thoughts, speculations and ramblings of a bunch of miscreants who despair of the ATSB decline into insignificance. We all (bar P2) stopped reading their musings a while ago now. Life is too short.
Toot – coffee - now – toot. (Fast type).
You can readily understand the pain and fury of Choppagirl; we’ve seen it before; far too often for my liking. A while back, after one of the ‘big’ events reports was declared a total waste of time, a few of us started to discuss the ATSB performance. Not stellar – not since Lockhart River; something changed about then, or shortly thereafter. The romantic in me wants to say ‘heartbroken’, the realist wants to scream – ‘Ducked over’ by experts. The ATSB tried hard with the Lockhart accident, in fact it was about the last accident they seemed to put a big effort into. Any comparison between Lockhart and Pel-Air clearly defined the downward spiral; chalk and cheese.
Then we had the Dolan era and the infamous ‘Memorandums of Understanding’. Which served to make it clearly understood that ATSB should mind its manners and fall in line with the big guns. And, no surprise – it did. We were not too concerned with all that; what intrigued us all as much then as it does today is the ‘why’ of it all. Several good ideas were put forward, we occasionally drag ‘em out, much as medical student would do with a cadaver to refresh a new idea. Of course we get nowhere, except the routine anger remerges and the routine condemnation and cursing continues. We did however come up with some food for thought; for instance:-
a) Government (as in whatever clown is put up as minister) is quite convinced that Australia is he safest aviation nation ever. This ain’t true of course; but the minister of the day wants to believe it and is spoon fed, by his 'advice' ‘facts’ to support this notion. It also helps that since the Seaview accident, heaven and a goodly chunk of Hell has been moved to ensure, categorically and absolutely that no minister will be held responsible for aviation safety. The system ensures remoteness from blame and credible deniability. Provided the budget is approved and the ministerial hands are clean – all is rosy.
b) ATSB and CASA were, about the time of Lockhart on an even footing. ATSB could and did point the finger at CASA and asked them to clean up their act. The Staunton report, after Seaview tried to do this – it backfired – then there was Millar; who’s logic was transmogrified into the twisted interpretation of MoU etc. CASA gained the ascendency, the political clout, the money and elevated themselves to almost god like status. – Aided and abetted by the DoIT they captured minister after minister; until it became accepted as ‘the norm’.
c) ATSB hit rock bottom when Dolan ran the shop. Any pissing competition between Dolan and McConvict could be equated to a mouse taking on a lion. Not mind you that Dolan would contemplate such a barny. CASA wanted to rule – Dolan had even less backbone than he had idea of what the ATSB should be; or, what it’s real role was. The hapless, infamous 'Beaker' known universally as the Uriah Heep of accident investigation, readily acquiesced. The rest = history.
There’s more, but you get the drift. Only idle speculation over a beer in the pub of course; but one of our research guru’s reckons this is all reflected in the ‘quality’ of ATSB reports; the lack of ‘sparkle’, the clear ring of truth muffled and the endless obfuscation all reflect an operation with a very low morale level, the courage beaten out of ‘em and low self esteem.
Which leaves us with a demoralised accident investigator, being run by Hi-Viz Hood – the caged Canary; who despite his love for ‘courage’ wrist straps seems to lack this essential element. Go along to get along; time will pass the bank balance grows and if the world and it’s wife thinks the ATSB is a second rate outfit – who cares; except those left behind, wondering what happened, why and how to prevent a reoccurrence.
That is as close to an explanation as I can put together Choppagirl. The thoughts, speculations and ramblings of a bunch of miscreants who despair of the ATSB decline into insignificance. We all (bar P2) stopped reading their musings a while ago now. Life is too short.
Toot – coffee - now – toot. (Fast type).