Budget Estimates - CASA AQON.
Via the RRAT Estimates webpage:
At this point in time it would appear that the Carmody 'covering letter' referred to in QON 207 to 209 is still yet to be tabled.
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Via the RRAT Estimates webpage:
Quote:Asked Of Civil Aviation Safety Authority
Proof Hansard Page/Written 80
Portfolio Question Number 236
Question
Senator PATRICK: So these photographs are of the state of a tyre for a Qantas aircraft that landed in Brisbane. It was transiting through Townsville, this was in 2016, and the log of events shows that, due to insufficient manpower available to carry out the wheel change, the aircraft was sent on: 'The tyre may continue in service without safety concerns but must be replaced at the next check.' The bottom line is that there were not enough engineers on the ground to change the tyre, so they sent the aircraft on to the next location-possibly under commercial pressure; I don't understand the reasons why. But you would I'm sure appreciate, Mr Carmody, the seriousness of having an aircraft take off with a tyre in that state, noting in extremis the Concorde, when it took off from Paris, shed a tyre which went through the fuel tanks, with a tragedy at the end of that. So I suspect you would be concerned about an aircraft that might take off with a tyre like that?
Mr Carmody: I'm aware of the matter because it was 18 months ago. It's been referred to us. It's been referred to the Industry Complaints Commissioner, and the Industry Complaints Commissioner has reviewed the matter. So it's gone through our internal processes. I will make a couple of points: I saw the document, which hasn't been tabled but which you read out, that the tyre was released. So an engineer certified that the tyre was okay. I don't know, therefore, what damage occurred on subsequent landing. I assume that's not take-off damage; that's landing damage. An engineer certified it was suitable for take-off.
Senator PATRICK: I've talked to a number of engineers who have suggested that that sort of damage to a tyre couldn't happen on a single landing; you might get an isolated location; the point of the two photographs is they show that it's all around the tyre. But, in general, would that not concern you at all?
Mr Carmody: I was concerned, but, as I said, the matter was raised, it went to the independent Industry Complaints Commissioner and it was reviewed. So, as far as I'm concerned, any matters have been resolved.
Senator PATRICK: That's noted.
Mr Carmody: There is a completely independent mechanism; it's independent of me.
CHAIR: I appreciate that. I often have a plumber come to my house and the tap is still leaking afterwards. If that's the case, then I'd be concerned about the independence or the attention paid by an independent-
Senator PATRICK: Can I just stop, because I think there is a step in the middle that you are missing. That is that this gets investigated by CASA, and in this instance it was. There were concerns over the investigation and it then went on to the complaints commissioner. The role of the complaints commissioner is not to conduct an investigation. The complaint was that CASA had not conducted its job properly.
Mr Carmody: So it was investigated by CASA and it was then peer reviewed by another office, so a different part of the organisation, to see whether the investigation was well founded, which we do quite often in contentious cases. We put inspectors from a different location on to review the matter so that we have a different set of eyes-an independent set of eyes. That was done in the process. Then it went to the industry complaints commissioner.
CHAIR: We could spar around all day here-I hope I don't mow your lawn, Senator-I'd like you to take on notice to supply the committee with the entire file, cover to cover: any artefacts; any photographs; any interviews, whether audio or otherwise; any files that are held, IT, however it does. You know the drill. From A to Z, supply it to the committee so that we can have a look at this.
Mr Carmody: Certainly, Senator....
Senator Scullion: Can I just get a point of clarification. For the interests of completeness, the body is slightly independent from you. So the material of the committee you are going to provide includes their deliberations as well?
CHAIR: Absolutely.
Senator Scullion: Just for clarification.
CHAIR: Thank you for that, Minister-A to Z.- Collapse Question
Answer
The information requested has been provided to the Committee under a covering letter from the CASA Chief Executive Officer and Director of Aviation Safety of 8 June 2018.
Asked Of Civil Aviation Safety Authority
Proof Hansard Page/Written 81
Portfolio Question Number 307
Question
Senator PATRICK: I'll mention another incident as well that you are probably aware of, a TCAS incident on a Qantas flight. The aircraft arrived into Sydney on 19 November 2016. The tech crew reported that, 'TCAS: some targets displayed in wrong position last three sectors-that is, aircraft landing in Melbourne appeared 90 degrees out on final.' Are you familiar with or have you heard-
Mr Carmody: I'll have to take that on notice. I haven't got the documentation in front of me.
Answer As indicated in Committee Question number 209 the information requested has been provided to the Committee under a covering letter from the CASA Chief Executive Officer and Director of Aviation Safety of 8 June 2018.
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Answered Date
07/08/2018
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Portfolio Question Number 237
Question
Senator PATRICK: There's a detailed set of concerns that the federation has laid out as to what did not occur in the investigation of the tyre matter and in the TCAS matter, and hence the relation to what I've tendered to the committee. I don't know where we go from here, Chair. I'm disturbed by that and maybe they need some time to look at it and respond. Could we also get the TCAS file?
CHAIR: I'm satisfied that Mr Carmody and his team will mull over this for a little bit, and we'd look forward to a further conversation soon and not after waiting for next estimates. When you think you've satisfactorily had a look and talked to the commissioner, you might contact Dr Thompson and we can just have a meeting for 15 minutes-
Mr Carmody: Chair, that would be fine. I'd also be happy to provide you with a specific written response on the issues that you've raised surrounding this so you would have something formal, if that would suit the committee as well?
CHAIR: Yes, I think that's suitable for the committee.
Answer
The information requested has been provided to the Committee under a covering letter from the CASA Chief Executive Officer and Director of Aviation Safety of 8 June 2018.
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Answered Date
07/08/2018
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Portfolio Question Number 238
Question
Senator KETTER: I have a follow-up question. The issue that gave rise to the problem is the manpower shortage at Townsville Airport, as I understand it. Was that investigated as part of CASA's processes, and what was the result of that? Has that been rectified?
Mr Crawford: That would ultimately be a matter for the SMS at Qantas. Their safety management system should follow-up on that. What we do is we review the effectiveness of their SMS.
Senator KETTER: Sorry, I can't hear you, Mr Crawford.
Mr Crawford: That should have been followed up with the operator's safety management system. What we do is we do surveillance on the operator; we look at the effectiveness of their safety management system.
Senator KETTER: Is the answer to my question that-
Mr Crawford: The issue is that, at the end of the day, we cannot determine from the photograph taken at the other airport whether that tyre was serviceable or not. We can't by looking at that photograph. But the maintenance engineer says that the tyre was safe to go, so he is saying it was serviceable. That's what we have to work with.
Senator KETTER: That's not the issue I'm raising. I'm talking about the assertion in that log that there were manpower shortages which gave rise to the fact that the tyre couldn't be changed.
Mr Crawford: We'll take that on notice.+ Expand Question
Answer
The information requested has been provided to the Committee under a covering letter from the CASA Chief Executive Officer and Director of Aviation Safety of 8 June 2018.
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Answered Date
07/08/2018
At this point in time it would appear that the Carmody 'covering letter' referred to in QON 207 to 209 is still yet to be tabled.
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