[Peetwo]

Update 27/01/2017: Via the Oz

CASA under fire for issuing licence to pilot under probe



Josh Hoch, right and on a Hoch Air plane, above left, has been charged with 340 offences of endangering public safety. Picture: Wesley Monts

Josh Hoch on Hoch Air charter plane. Picture: Facebook.

The Australian
12:00AM January 27, 2017
Paul Cleary
Senior writer

The charter operator charged with 340 offences of endangering public safety was issued with a CASA operator’s licence as recently as last month, prompting leading figures to attack the regulator for incompetence and dysfunction.

CASA records show the regulator issued Hoch Air with an Air Operators Certificate on December 8, even though CASA had been co-operating with the Queensland Police investigation for two months. The AOC is valid for four years.

Queensland Police charged the principal and pilot Josh Hoch, 31, this week with offences that include five counts of tampering with competitors’ fuel. Police allege that Mr Hoch added an “abrasive material directly into engines” which caused a catastrophic failure and forced the landing of two aircraft. Engine failure occurred to two other planes prior to take-off.

Kennedy MP Bob Katter allegedly spent $257,000 on charter flights with Hoch Air although Mr Hoch was unlicensed at the time. Mr Katter’s office declined to comment. CASA’s licensing of Hoch Air appears to be inconsistent with the Queensland Police statement, which says that a “review of aircraft security and passenger safety at Mount Isa Airport was immediately commenced” as part of the investigation launched in October. “Additional measures were implemented to further ensure the safety of passengers and crews,” the police added.

A CASA spokeswoman said the regulator was “actively reviewing information arising out of the Queensland Police investigation and will take such further action as necessary”. CASA could not comment further.

Police asked the Mount Isa Court to refuse bail, but the magistrate granted it. However, Mr Hoch’s family was unable to raise the $50,000 bond by Wednesday afternoon and as a result he spent a second night in the Mount Isa watch-house.

Mr Hoch’s defence lawyer, ­Michael Spearman, blasted CASA, telling the Mount Isa court:

“CASA has known about these flights since 2013. Now if CASA had any concern about a pilot it can invoke provisions of section 30DC of the Civil Aviation Act, instantly grounding a pilot if there is a serious and imminent risk to air safety.

“CASA has not done so, despite knowing of the allegations for months. These started back in October (2016) and certainly those charges from back in 2013,” the Townsville Bulletin reported.

Mr Spearman added that CASA had conducted an audit of Mr Hoch and his company earlier last year, yet he was allowed to remain in the air.

Ben Morgan, executive director at Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, said the incident showed CASA was far too focused on “misdemeanours” while allowing serious wrongdoing to go unchecked.

“If in fact CASA were not aware this is absolutely serious and it’s going to need the minister’s attention to work out how the regulator let this slip through the cracks,” he said.

“CASA is in court with misdemeanour pilot activities when something as brazen as this has been going on for four years.”

Former CASA chairman Dick Smith said the regulator was a “totally dysfunctional organisation”. He said he had tried to introduce an “administrative fines system” that would replace the system of continuously writing letters to non-compliers.

The investigation also uncovered extraordinary evidence relating to the alleged grievous bodily harm of an aircraft engineer at Charters Towers in July 2014. The engineer, aged in his 60s, sustained “permanent and life-changing head injuries”, the police statement said.

Update 30/01/17: Via Townsville Bulletin

Chief Pilot of Hoch Air Josh Hoch.

Call for urgent report on pilot

[img=0x0]http://pixel.tcog.cp1.news.com.au/track/component/article/38fbcf038be3a35fac7ec06d4f1a23d8?esi=true&t_template=s3/chronicle-tg_tlc_storyheader/index&t_product=TownsvilleBulletin&td_device=desktop[/img]CHRIS McMAHON, Townsville Bulletin
January 28, 2017 1:00am
[img=0x0]http://pixel.tcog.cp1.news.com.au/track/component/article/38fbcf038be3a35fac7ec06d4f1a23d8?esi=true&t_template=s3/chronicle-tg_tlc_storymeta/index&t_product=TownsvilleBulletin&td_device=desktop[/img]
A FULL review into how North Queensland pilot Josh Hoch, 31, got away with his alleged offending for so long has been ordered by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority.

Federal Transport Minister Darren Chester has also called for an “urgent briefing” from CASA into the explosive case of alleged plane tampering in Mount Isa.

Josh Hoch, 31, was arrested on Tuesday afternoon in Mount Isa and charged with 342 counts across 14 offences, including tampering with aircraft, dangerous operation of aircraft and fraud, allegedly committed from 2013 through to 2016.

Mount Isa Magistrates Court heard on Wednesday that Hoch had allegedly tampered with his competitors’ planes on five different occasions to win commercial contracts and had flown members of the Katter Australia Party around North Queensland, including Bob Katter spending $257,000 on chartering flights with Hoch.

Mr Chester yesterday asked the country’s aviation watchdog for a report into all aspects of the case and investigation against Hoch.

“Given the serious nature of the allegations I have requested a full report from CASA and an urgent briefing on all aspects of the investigation,” Mr Chester said.

“With legal proceedings underway, I’m not in a position to comment any further at this stage.”

A CASA spokeswoman said they had launched their own review into the dealings they have had with Hoch, their investigative process and auditing process.

“CASA has launched an internal review to determine whether any significant safety-related issues involving Mr Hoch and the operations of Hoch Air were, or ought to have been, identified and acted on prior to launch of the police investigation and the arrest of Mr Hoch,” the spokeswoman said.

“We are currently reviewing our records to inform such safety-related action as we may need to take now, and to ensure the integrity and sufficiency of our entry control, audit and surveillance activities. Should we need to, we will look more closely at any aspect of our regulatory functions should additional attention be required.”

The spokeswoman said CASA needed to have evidence to act on, rather than unsubstantiated claims of actions.

“It is important to remember that, like any other regulatory authority, CASA is only able to act on evidence that tends to show there has been a breach of the regulations, not on unsubstantiated claims of such conduct,” she said.

“It would be premature for CASA to comment further on this at this time.

“We will not comment on the criminal allegations against Mr Hoch.

“These are matters before the court and any questions should be directed to the prosecutorial authority.”

Hoch walked from Mount Isa watch-house yesterday after posting the $50,000 surety he failed to produce when given bail on Wednesday

Tick..tick..tick..tick..tick miniscule 4D....  

What say you "K" & Gobbles - think it's about time we started re-visiting the dirt file on the tales of embuggerance and shambolic duplicitous shenanigans of CASA FNQ -  


MTF...P2