Questions, from the man at the back of the room. Cont/..
Well, it seems the Invisible Manning is to remain so, which would be considered by some to be ‘passing strange’. I reckon Joe Q would have a couple of questions for him; and, would Manning not have added a little more credibility to the Hood burial party?
Hornby – “[it] was the fact that they weren't given the extra weather information that might have helped them make extra decisions about diverting before the point of no return.
This is a very glib statement and typifies the whole attitude of this report. The statement manages to convey the impression that the missing, never transmitted, weather reports were seriously considered as part of the causal chain. Acknowledged, mentioned and dismissed. The simple fact that they were crucial to in flight decision making is lost; the failure of safety system is lost, the BoM stuff up is lost, the Nadi stuff up is not mentioned. All critical safety elements – ticked, flicked and neatly tucked away, out of sight. This treatment of safety related matters, standing alone, is borderline criminal; but, the real indicator to the cynical, entrenched, underlying evil within the ‘report’ is clearly exposed here:-
Hornby –Likewise, the crew didn't proactively seek that weather information in time to allow them to make alternative decisions before reaching the point of no return.”
This guy cannot possibly be serious – can he? Now then, for the lay people on the Senate panel, I shall explain why this is so. There is an old aviation expression “Fat, Dumb and Happy” (FD&H). It essence it means ‘Fat’ as in plenty of fuel, ‘Dumb’ in being unaware of impending troubles; and, ‘Happy’ that all seems well. Step into my world for a moment gentlemen. Here we sit, fat, dumb and happy; we left with a good weather report, we have lots of fuel, the weather is good and it’s dark. At 8 pm the radio chirps – it’s Nadi with the routine weather bulletin for our destination – “all good” is the essence of the weather message; duly noted, we return to being FD&H. What we do not know (Dumb) is that 3 minutes later a revised forecast has been issued, which indicates that we must divert somewhere else. A little while earlier, a report was generated, this one clearly defines the need to consider going somewhere else. Without the crew being psychic, could someone please explain how the duck do we divine that the weather has (to use another ancient aviators expression) turned to Shite? Twice, the Pel-Air aircrew were not provided critical, decision making, imperative information, which carry legal implications: (references - PelAir & the wx gotchas of the APAC FIRs etc. , The 0739 key to the PelAir wx imbroglio ,The 0803 lost in White rabbit obfuscation. & The tale of the little White lie & the snowball effect )
Joe Q – Are the flight crew to be asking every ten minutes if there is a revised forecast for their destination? 0800 routine in flight report received; do we consult the Ouija board for the amendments; or, rely on the system to provide the new information at 0803; lest we all go for a midnight dip. Does ATSB not realise that the non transmission of the 0739 ‘Speci’ and the 0803 amended TAFOR were pivotal to decision making – the 0803 was an ‘operational requirement’ which would awaken even the sleepiest aircrew; why has this item be relegated to an also ran - and glibly dismissed as a minor matter, and the crew’s fault?
‘Joe Q’ – Why has the ATSB not raised an urgent SR relating to the ‘classification’ of operations? The RFDS do a very good ‘ambulance/ emergency’ service, but you cannot ‘book’ a ‘charter flight’ with them. Patient ‘transfer’ is a contracted, charter flight. Why can’t ATSB influence, through SR, CASA to finally address this aberration?
Once you accept as righteous the initial opening statements above from ATSB; you are lost. For the rest continues in the same vein; 500 odd pages which ‘address’ the issues – but nothing, absolutely nothing, identified as contributing has been addressed. The list of discrepancies is long, time is short and O’Sullivan fiddles while Rome burns and the foxes lift the lumber from the chook shed.
Toot – toot.
Well, it seems the Invisible Manning is to remain so, which would be considered by some to be ‘passing strange’. I reckon Joe Q would have a couple of questions for him; and, would Manning not have added a little more credibility to the Hood burial party?
Hornby – “[it] was the fact that they weren't given the extra weather information that might have helped them make extra decisions about diverting before the point of no return.
This is a very glib statement and typifies the whole attitude of this report. The statement manages to convey the impression that the missing, never transmitted, weather reports were seriously considered as part of the causal chain. Acknowledged, mentioned and dismissed. The simple fact that they were crucial to in flight decision making is lost; the failure of safety system is lost, the BoM stuff up is lost, the Nadi stuff up is not mentioned. All critical safety elements – ticked, flicked and neatly tucked away, out of sight. This treatment of safety related matters, standing alone, is borderline criminal; but, the real indicator to the cynical, entrenched, underlying evil within the ‘report’ is clearly exposed here:-
Hornby –Likewise, the crew didn't proactively seek that weather information in time to allow them to make alternative decisions before reaching the point of no return.”
This guy cannot possibly be serious – can he? Now then, for the lay people on the Senate panel, I shall explain why this is so. There is an old aviation expression “Fat, Dumb and Happy” (FD&H). It essence it means ‘Fat’ as in plenty of fuel, ‘Dumb’ in being unaware of impending troubles; and, ‘Happy’ that all seems well. Step into my world for a moment gentlemen. Here we sit, fat, dumb and happy; we left with a good weather report, we have lots of fuel, the weather is good and it’s dark. At 8 pm the radio chirps – it’s Nadi with the routine weather bulletin for our destination – “all good” is the essence of the weather message; duly noted, we return to being FD&H. What we do not know (Dumb) is that 3 minutes later a revised forecast has been issued, which indicates that we must divert somewhere else. A little while earlier, a report was generated, this one clearly defines the need to consider going somewhere else. Without the crew being psychic, could someone please explain how the duck do we divine that the weather has (to use another ancient aviators expression) turned to Shite? Twice, the Pel-Air aircrew were not provided critical, decision making, imperative information, which carry legal implications: (references - PelAir & the wx gotchas of the APAC FIRs etc. , The 0739 key to the PelAir wx imbroglio ,The 0803 lost in White rabbit obfuscation. & The tale of the little White lie & the snowball effect )
Joe Q – Are the flight crew to be asking every ten minutes if there is a revised forecast for their destination? 0800 routine in flight report received; do we consult the Ouija board for the amendments; or, rely on the system to provide the new information at 0803; lest we all go for a midnight dip. Does ATSB not realise that the non transmission of the 0739 ‘Speci’ and the 0803 amended TAFOR were pivotal to decision making – the 0803 was an ‘operational requirement’ which would awaken even the sleepiest aircrew; why has this item be relegated to an also ran - and glibly dismissed as a minor matter, and the crew’s fault?
‘Joe Q’ – Why has the ATSB not raised an urgent SR relating to the ‘classification’ of operations? The RFDS do a very good ‘ambulance/ emergency’ service, but you cannot ‘book’ a ‘charter flight’ with them. Patient ‘transfer’ is a contracted, charter flight. Why can’t ATSB influence, through SR, CASA to finally address this aberration?
Once you accept as righteous the initial opening statements above from ATSB; you are lost. For the rest continues in the same vein; 500 odd pages which ‘address’ the issues – but nothing, absolutely nothing, identified as contributing has been addressed. The list of discrepancies is long, time is short and O’Sullivan fiddles while Rome burns and the foxes lift the lumber from the chook shed.
Toot – toot.