[Peetwo]

Dick pitches in on Mangalore midair -

Ref from ATSB delays:

Hooded Canary releases Mangalore mid-air prelim report - 

Via HC central yesterday:

Warning: Bucket may be required for the Hooded Canary segments -   

Read the preliminary report AO-2020-012: Mid-air collision involving Piper PA-44-180 Seminole, VH-JQF, and Beech D95A Travel Air, VH-AEM, near Mangalore, Victoria, on 19 February 2020

Not sure exactly why the Hooded Canary feels the need to put his 2 bob's worth in? Why can't he just leave it to his experts? Perhaps HC is just trying to justify his existence and bloated (nearly 500k) base salary but I do wonder if there isn't some hidden (singing Canary) message behind this?

For a more damning assessment of the ATSB's findings so far IMO you can't go past the 'Advance' post off the UP -   

  US vs Australian airspace

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In the USA ALL IFR aircraft are separated by ATC.

Dick Smith has been trying to bring Australian safety standards up for at least 30 years by insisting on the same ATC separation here.
The ATSB report confirms what this forum has known for some time => both aircraft were visible to ATC via ADS-B tracking.
Airservices have a flow chart that demonstrates the workload of providing separation is LESS than the workload of only providing traffic.
WHY?
Each task requires ATC considering the trajectory of every aircraft in the sector.

To separate aircraft, the ATC makes a decision and issues an instruction.

If the ATC passes traffic then the pilot may respond with his decision to change altitude or track or otherwise avoid the conflict.

BUT then the ATC has to assess this change to determine if a different conflict will occur and perhaps pass further traffic.

So let us stop accepting the nonsense argument that it costs more to provide separation compared to traffic information - it does not.

What is the total cost of this accident going to be?

Almost two decades ago Dick organised a trip by both Airservices and CASA staff to the United States with flights arranged to demonstrate the ease of use and safety of Class E airspace.

A very experienced US ATC from the Southern California Terminal Radar Control Unit addressed the team and pointed out how easy it was to provide separation and how safe the result.

John and Martha King of King schools tried very hard to educate the team on why US airspace is as safe as Australian airspace in terms of collisions per flight hour but has so much greater traffic density and thus greater actual safety.

A lot of very experienced pilots and controllers in this country know Dick was right back then and he is proven right again by this accident.

CAN WE LEARN FROM IT THIS TIME???

(PWP and cranky).

The 'accidents' we had to have.

A Pipistrel crashed and burned; quite recently. One killed, one badly mauled by the old enemy – fire. Now the culprit is alleged 'engine failure' – an accident happened. Could have been any engine on any aircraft. An unpredictable occurrence, part of the risk matrix, bus, truck, car and even lawn mower motors occasionally quit – without notice – results directly in relation and proportionate to circumstances. Unavoidable.

But what of those accidents which were clearly and inexcusably preventable? How do we come to terms with those? Essendon – entirely preventable. The bloody DFO building should never, not ever been allowed. Six dead, with a potential for many, many more.  And yet?

Now four dead in an entirely preventable mid-air collision -

Old Akro (legend) "By definition, IFR aircraft can not separate themselves visually and giving them traffic does NOT solve the problem. IFR aircraft are frequently constrained to fly one flight path and one only - they have no choice; consider an instrument approach for example."

Advance (Choc frog candidate) - “Get on to Worksafe, the Victorian Police, the AFP, your local MPs and point out that the Airservices organisation responsible for separating aircraft had the means to do so but did not; that the CASA OAR organisation charged with implementing international best practice in airspace administration has failed to do so.

Thing that really bunches my panties is the incredible difference in the 'take' between the highway death of four Coppers and the mid air collision between two aircraft. Same ducking body count. The world, his wife and every bleeding heart halfwit on morning TV is wittering on about an explainable road accident, of which we have many. Yet non of these talking heads seem to be in the slightest concerned that a major infrastructure, aircraft separation system has a gaping hole in it; several holes in fact. An allegedly 'fail safe' public transport system has failed four pilots.  No one apart from the responsible ATCO' (bless 'em) and those few remaining flying public transport aircraft, within that deeply flawed monopoly system seem to give a toss that this event occurred despite many, many warnings, issued by experts to several governments that Australia has got airspace wrong.

Four Bobbies killed in the line of duty – a national outpouring, gnashing of teeth and much wailing; furry muff. BUT. Four dead in a mid-air – page three for 12 hours and forgotten. In this day and age of whiz-bang technology the mid air collision should never have been even a remote possibility – and yet, there it is. Done, dusted and waiting down the three years required for ATSB to eventually finish smoothing it all away, under the ever hungry bipartisan carpet.

Will these accidents spur government to come to grips with real 'air safety'? No reason it should – it never has in the past, despite millions spent on gaining the right answers –only  to be obfuscated, manipulated and diluted to a fare thee well. Sickening waste.

Shame, shame on the lot of ya. Disgusting don't cover it, but 'twill suffice for now.

Toot – Aye, Full steam – Toot.

Via Skynews:

'We are flying blind': Dick Smith calls for urgent air safety reforms after fatal mid-air collision
18/05/2020|6min

Former head of the Civil Aviation Safety Authority Dick Smith is calling for the reform of Australia’s air traffic control regulations, following the fatal mid-air collision of two planes at Mangalore in February which killed four people.

Most airports, excluding those in major cities and regional areas, operate in uncontrolled airspace where the responsibility for aircraft to communicate is left to the pilots.

Mr Smith told Sky News “you’re absolutely flying blind up there” and more crashes are likely to occur unless changes are made.

Former US Airforce pilot Richard Woodward was commissioned by the Howard government 20 years prior to reform the country’s low level airspace, but was unable to complete the task due to costs and sector complacency.

Mr Smith’s most recent attempt to prevent introduce safety regulations was brushed off by Deputy Prime Minster Michael McCormack last year, who saw no cause to review Australia’s air traffic regulations and was backed by Centre Alliance Senator Rex Patrick.

“We’ve operated across Australia for decades without controlled airspace at these airports and we’ve had very few accidents and what I don’t want to see happen is we burden the industry with additional costs, particularly when general aviation is in fact a struggling industry,” Mr Patrick told Sky News.

MTF...P2