Once upon a night time dreary.

 

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Once upon a time, in the distant past, a mate bought a property which had some outbuildings – chook sheds and the like. There was one, which had been nicely made and he had a notion to keep it for storage of those must have, but rarely used things. Alas, the white ants had been through the walls – a classic; you could poke your finger through what looked like ‘good’ timber. The roof was pretty sound though, the rest for the bonfire.  Long story short – we took the roof off – in pieces (he insisted, despite my protests). Then I set about building a brand new shed to the same dimensions and design as the previous. When it came time to replace the top, much of the salvaged timber could not be used – time, effort and money wasted.

{BRB -“The point you fool; get to the point”.} The ASA debacle reminds me of that shed, standing, but rotten to the core; the ASA board like the roof, probably serviceable but not worth the effort to save – by the time you have dismantled and stored the used timber, picked the nails and fittings off; you have a pile of stuff where the ‘useful’ parts are less than that required. Easiest to start from scratch and build with a purpose. It depends on your point of view; but, to my ear the entire board of ASA is denying any responsibility for the One Pie Sky.

“..Let’s do the timewarp again…”

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Angus Houston, we have a problem with air traffic control

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The OneSky Great White Elephant – Gift to a nation

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All very neat and corporate, no doubt all legal; but what’s the point of having a board if they simply ‘sign off’ on the project without examining the whole, very carefully indeed. This is not a Chook shed they are approving – it is a project of great national interest, public safety, industry efficiency and a great big pile of public money. It begs the question; how can a government monopoly loose a fortune and present the industry with a less than perfect system continue as it stands? But what I’d like to know is how can a board sit on it’s collective thumbs and allow the situation we find ourselves in happen – on their watch. It is wrong: plain, pure and simple. Time to rebuild, from the ground up. Privatisation is the only real solution – take a long, hard, look at Canada, the Americans are –

I actually, foolishly, thought that ATSB could not ever surprise me again. Well this business with the Taswegian Coroner has; did you ever, in all your days hear the like. The megalomaniac running the outfit is under fire from all sides – can’t get the money he needs (wonder why) and Manning is sniffing about the place, looking to move into a nice warm seat; not to mention a Senate committee looking to climb all over any wrong move by the already discredited agency. Bless the Coroner; he is only trying to untangle an aviation fatal accident. He states, quite rightly, that his interest in preventing a re occurrence. He wants to close the safety loop,; he wants to make a recommendation – although, fat lot of good that will do him, considering the long, long list of Coronial recommendations which have been dismissed, out of hand, by an arrogant bureaucracy. The same colossal arrogance which dismisses Senate, ASSR and ATSB Safety Recommendations; on the pretext of ‘they know better’. “We are the experts” they claim, above the law.

But if this is so:- Why now do we have the drone bunfight?  WTD – Our ‘experts’ dragged in some student who was researching ‘drones’ as a part of a doctorate – paid him to do so and restricted the terms of reference to a very narrow study. From this epistle, they drafted a regulation which suited their shiftless, lazy, no responsibility but all control ethos. Now we have the Senate doing the CASA ‘experts’ jobs – again; and taking the drone question apart. Please tell me why we have all these highly paid ‘expert’, far seeing, masterful visionaries, when they must rely on ‘other’ independent experts’ to do their jobs for ‘em. Speaking of which – Darren 6D has opened his trap and changed feet  – again. I love the quote where he ‘welcomes’ the latest round of flatulence – in the form of yet another, expensive ‘opinion’ only, time buying discussion paper.

“Federal Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Darren Chester has welcomed the release of a discussion paper focusing on the regulation of remotely piloted aircraft (RPA)—or drone—operations and air safety.” – BOLLOCKS; he should be kicking seven bells out of ‘em for dragging their arses, buggering up and playing at silly buggers with a potential risk. Experts!  – my left sock has more foresight.

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  – L. Frank Baum

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Silly question of the week goes to the indefatigable Xenophon – “How can the Government continue to ignore the peak body representing 5000 commercial aircraft pilots?

That’s an easy one Nick – it’s what has always been done. Don’t y’know – Pilots are thick headed, dangerous types with criminal tendencies who know far less about aircraft, safety and the practicalities of managing safety than the CASA anointed experts. Set some time aside Nick, have a coffee with some of the clowns masquerading as experts, honestly it would break your poor heart to hear and see some of the purblind stupidity they have inflicted on this benighted industry. We can provide over 50 examples from this year alone, 200 from last year and as many again from the year before. You see dear Senator, you are basically honest and intelligent; and, therefore have trouble believing the tales of venal incompetence are true. Real experts become Captains, Chief pilots, run Check and Training systems; write policy into manuals and make it stick; they do not ponce about in offices pretending to be experts; they simply are.

Here’s a challenge from Aunty Pru; accept submissions on Flight Operations Inspectors aberrations and stupidity; set aside one afternoon for the committee to hear those submissions and interview those who wrote ‘em. Do it in camera – man; it will rock you.

No doubt P2 will supply the graffiti  – “truth, you can’t handle the truth”. I forget who said it; but it is germane to Australia’s greatest aviation disaster – Darren Chester – Miniscule for Aviation.

6D Chester & Wingnut Carmody

Aye well – sound and fury; again. The well trodden paths around the same old mulberry bush; but it will, soon or late, have to stop, before the questions unanswered become a reality which will bring down a blind government.

That’s it – early start tomorrow – time to light the fire: I’ve done my duty to the tools as the band-aids attest, 16 chisels and four plane blades all surgically sharp, nick free, oiled and put away tidy. Exeunt; stage right – “K”  lights the oil lamps, ambles over to an ancient fridge, pulls a pint of amber heaven, eases into the deep, comfy luxury of old leather, puts up feet and waits quietly for P7 coming home, with new tales of the wide world.  AAaaahhhh !

Selah.