TGIF on the AP Forum: 23/06/23

First this week’s #SBG: Brunch – with Buckley.

It is a good thing to see and hear Glen’s matter being ‘cast’ into some legal semblance; a ‘well done and a thank you’ is well deserved by Master McKenzie. The ‘legal’ mind works a little differently to us mortal folk; but that aside it is the ‘steadying’ calm influence that McKenzie brings to the table which, IMO, is a great asset to Buckley. The ‘thing’ which has always intrigued me about the whole thing is (as per usual) Why?

The easy motive pick is ‘competition’. Glen achieved a very difficult goal; the Part 142 operating certificate opened some fairly important doors; like airline training contracts etc. Second favourite would be ‘political’ – the useful idiot, posing as minister seemed enamoured of the SOAR scam and of course the approval of the world first ‘tail-wind’ ILS. There is however a dark horse in the running…

But, whichever motive you fancy; there is one sure bet in the mystery of the ‘Why Cup’. It is, of course, CASA. The history of the Buckley matter is mighty weird. Buckley had been around for years; well established; model (ish) citizen; praised for the Part 142 work done by CASA; certificate on the wall – well accepted by industry etc. etc. Then ‘Wallop’ all bets are off; and just like that, Glen achieves poverty and pariah status, almost over night (in the time scale of the analysis)..

“They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.”

I note that the truly awful ‘Commode’ has only made allegations within the Senate Estimates; never outside of that arena and, as far as we can tell, the Police have not held (TBOMK) a brief to investigate those allegations made at Estimates. Then you have creatures like Crawford and Martin (Alec acolytes) going after Glen, hammer and tong. The whole thing stinks to the high heavens of someone being ‘put in his place’ methinks, – for daring to speak an educated opinion on the new raft of potentially ruinous regulation; those being someone’s signature Hurrah? I wonder –

“I never wonder to see men wicked, but I often wonder to see them not ashamed.”

We here do try to mix it up a bit; indeed many of the BRB would love to see even a glimmer of hope emerging from the sludge we are obliged to witness pouring out of our three defunct of operational value’ safety agencies’. Indeed it would be a thing of great delight to report on any small withdrawal from the swamp of ineptitude – the Three Legged race to the bottom. A clear winner – one who shook off the shackles and set the way out of the boggy bottoms; Alas. Three decades ago it was a very different race; the Monarch tragedy was investigated by the BASI – they stepped out of shadow and produced a brilliant report with wide implications, a benchmark of integrity and excellence – things changed and ‘safety’ was improved. Bravo; encore? No! Why not?

“As a rule, the more bizarre a thing is the less mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is the most difficult to identify.”

There are serious matters which are demanding the attention of the DoIT – from Airspace control and passenger safety, to mid-air collision, to building effect on runway safety margins; which raises yet another eye watering anomaly. Below this scribble I have just finished an eight page draft on the current artificial restrictions CASA have placed on ‘scheduled’ services into Torres Straight Island air services. It is not for publication: it is for other ‘Subject Matter Experts’ (SME) a creature neither CASA or ATSB seem to possess. They excel in Bollocks and ‘rules’ – but fail to consider the strips in PNG or Lord Howe – then talk of the ‘at risk’ time line; do the maths – apply common or garden logic – (but enough) I digress.

“a great way to hide the truth is to write a lot of non-fiction”

Aye, we certainly do have a lot of ‘non fiction’ floating about just now. One classic example is the the ATSB response to the ATCO REPCON. Sydney is a reasonably busy port, not manic, but busy – the ATC is short staffed and that ‘elevated risk’ has been diligently reported now to the ATSB. The ATSB has responded – HERE – to the 15 open, honest, SME REPCON appeals for ‘help’. The current ATSB wordsmiths have completely covered themselves in dishonour: demeaning the appeals of the men and women who created a sterling reputation three decades ago. The response is cynical in the extreme and, IMO, down right lethal. They have extrapolated 15 paragraphs from the REPCON, stitched ’em together to make the matter seem like a bunch of old ladies snivelling about the tea being cold. To add insult to injury, they have assisted ASA to credible deniability and left the victims of a gross system cock up, to ‘suck it up’. Everyone off the hook except for the boys and girls on ‘the consuls’ – risking serious charges should they drop the ball. Meanwhile the lack of ATC services (turned off as and when deemed acceptable) continues advising aircrew that ‘they’ alone are responsible for separation. The three headed dragon meanwhile slumbers in Canberra with a full tummy and a cosy blanket to rest under. The immortal words “Houston, we have a problem” go unanswered – there’s no one at the consul to help. But, in defence of the ATSB; they did put out an important ‘advertorial’ encouraging the owners of Van aircraft to ‘consider’ a nose wheel modification. Sheeeit!; that’s a real safety award winner that is – breathtaking; worth every penny of the tax payers money.

“For it falls out

That what we have we prize not to the worth

Whiles we enjoy it, but being lacked and lost,

Why, then we rack the value, then we find

The virtue that possession would not show us

While it was ours.”

There is salvation; at the keg stands TOM, two foaming pint glasses, freshly (and expertly) pulled – he lights a cigar and stands by the stove – “long day?” – “Aye” says I “long enough”. So, time to post this twiddle; finesse a cigar, drink a hard earned Ale and let the system reach the bottom it needs to find before integrity and good sense prevail again. Until then – Cheers.

Selah..

Second from the embuggerance thread: GlenB embuggerance update: 22/06/2023