Accident Investigation

[techie49]

Hi PhilOuch!!! I bet that hurt :-)

 

Others have presented a fair cross-section of responses and I too like a passionate (heated?) discussion.

 

But really, we have a system here that was foisted on us by you Brits when you still treated us mere cannon fodder for your wars and a place to send the black sheep from your aristocratice families. It's not that long ago that you sent the residents of your prison hulks here.

 

Our Australian Constitution is as much a creature of the British Parliament as it is of ours. Your ancestors saddled us with lots of things that today add to the complexity of our national governance -- including the states and the extraordinarily difficult process for changing the rules set down in 1901.

 

It's a tad ironic that today is Anzac Day in Australia. It gives us cause to remember the tens of thousands of Australians sacrificed by incompetent British commanders at Gallipoli and elsewhere. Our population then was less than 5 million but half our young men enlisted and one in six of them died. More than 10,000 at Paschendale alone http://www.ww1westernfront.gov.au/battlefields/passchendaele-october-1917.html

 

Anzac Day reminds us of how our troops, sailors and airmen fighting in Europe to defend the British "homeland" during WWII were not released by the British heads to defend their own country when it was so seriously threatened by the Japanese advance. It brings to mind the stand of our guys at Tobruk, holding Rommel's army at bay and preventing the Axis powers from reinforcing Europe and taking the Middle East oil fields from the south.

 

Oh, Australians took Tobruk and held it until relieved by the British who then lost it again. It was finally retaken by the Brits under Montgomery but he had 220,000 troops to do it with and even then it took a few goes before they succeeded.

 

So we are probably a tad touchy when criticisms are thrown around from abroad... But don't take it personally...no offence taken and none meant :-)

 

Kaz

You forgot to mention too Kaz, and I can say this with tongue firmly in cheek as an ex-Brit, if the system is so bad here why did a Great Train robber want to come here and also an ex-British Government minister (John Stonehouse) was here, but wasn't really!

As far as Montgomery was concerned, you should read the 'Enigma' story. Even with all the intelligence fed to him he still tried desperately to stuff things up in North Africa and finally managed to do so in Holland.

 

Paul

 

 

[Phil Perry]

While I agree with much of your post, Phil, I will bite at the "banana republic" jibe. We like to give everyone a fair go. And a second chance. If our candidate is eliminated during the first count, we get a second go; our vote goes to our second choice, and so on. This complex system has led to our pretty bland political history, and apathy is an unfortunate by-product. Too many of our voters are easily led by a media dominated by the big end of town, but every so often we elect people with actual integrity.

Just Baiting sir !. . . . .our "First past the post" system is definitely no better,. . . it might be if the electoral boundaries were not so unequal with regard to voter numbers ANYWAY,. .

 

This has nothing to do with Accidents and incidents so maybe another place another time.

 

Kind regards,

 

Phil

 

 

[Phil Perry]

Tut tut, now Phil. I lived in the UK for 40 years and the electoral system in the UK is just as much a load of bollocks, if not more so, than in Australia. What hacks me off here is that you HAVE to go and spoil your ballot paper even when you think all the candidates are *ssholes - otherwise they fine you. Show me a country with a perfect electoral system and I will move there. All the parties in the UK think the first past the post system is crap......until they get elected by it, then suddenly they forget how bad it is.....And wouldn't it be nice to have the resources and money to do things properly. However one of our state politicians recently found out the hard way that this is fairytale land. While in opposition he promised to "implement ALL the recommendations of the BushFire Commission Report". Then his party got elected, and he realized he would have to triple everyone's taxes to fund putting all powerlines underground as per the recommendations. So his options were :-

 

a) triple taxes, implement all the recommendations, and guarantee being voted out at the next election

 

b) leave taxes alone, implement SOME of the recommendations that could be afforded, and hopefully remain elected (ie do the same as the previous party....)

 

Guess which he chose. A good lesson in reality.

 

Keep smiling.

 

Neil

Too true Neil. . .

 

as Dazza has metioned above, the Australian system has to accommodate transport accidents over a wide spectrum, so obviously funding only goes so far ( I didn't actually know that, . . . )

 

Thanks guys.

 

Phil

 

 

[104chocks]

Hi

 

Not to mention gyrocopters - try finding published data in the public domain after 1996 about gyrocopter accidents in Australia.

 

Up to 1996 ATSB published summary of gyrocopter accident reports in Australia - you can still find these old reports on the ATSB website today - there to read and learn from.

 

After 1996 responsibility for gyrocopters passed to ASRA overseen by CASA - since then ( 17 years ) no gyrocopter accident summary reports have been put into the public domain.

 

Summaries are available to ASRA members but no one else.

 

In the UK, USA, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa, Poland, Denmark, Germany and France accident summary reports are published online for anybody, anywhere on this planet to read and learn.

 

Australia is somewhat behind the curve currently. Maybe the idea is to keep the issue out of sight.

 

I've put together a simple Blog listing of Gyrocopter Accidents in Australia - it would be far better if ASRA / CASA/ ATSB published such accident summaries - my Blog listing is NOT COMPLETE for sure and of course details are sparse. I've shown links to news media reports where possible but these themselves are often brief and can be inaccurate. There are also links to a few Coroners reports but for most of these accidents hard facts are hard to come by.

 

Hopefully one day this will change - ask yourself why is this summary data kept tightly controlled.

 

The blog listing can be viewed via

 

http://gyrocopteraccidentsinaustralia.blogspot.co.uk/

 

I do look at the Blog stats, the search terms used and the location of the visitors - I can tell you that there is a demand to find such information from within Australia and some topics re-occur regularly ( "GT Kruza accident" being perhaps the most common ).

 

If you can provide an updates and or corrections then please do get in touch - thanks.

 

Enjoy your aviation and fly safe.

 

Steve

 

 

[metalman]

Just Baiting sir !. . . . .our "First past the post" system is definitely no better,. . . it might be if the electoral boundaries were not so unequal with regard to voter numbers ANYWAY,. .This has nothing to do with Accidents and incidents so maybe another place another time.

 

Kind regards,

 

Phil

Baiting???,,,,,,your very good,,,,a master one might say,,,,,a master baiter!

;-)

 

 

[Teckair]

So what do we do? not take anything seriously as they might be just baiting!! go and bait yourself.

 

 

[turboplanner]

Baiting pretty much destroys the site as a reference resource.

 

 

[kaz3g]

I have never spoken to ATSB nor do I have any particular knowledge of the topic of accident investigation (did a bit of fire investigation years ago and completed the Investigator's Course at VicPols Detective Training School). So the following is merely my view as to the reason for the current paucity of air accident investigation reports covering light aircraft in Australia.

 

In a nutshell, both our civil and criminal justice system mitigate against early reports attributing a cause to an air safety incident.

 

Just to be clear, for Phil's sake, our legal system was inherited from the days of Britain's colonial rule. It is not that long ago (the Whitlam years) that we finally did away with appeals to the Privy Council from the High Court.

 

The system says that, in the case of civil matters, the trier of fact should not be exposed to the risk of prejudice by becoming acquainted with facts, real or fanciful, before or outside of the hearing. If you were the respondent - or even the plaintiff - in a negligence suit for damages would you want your defence or (complaint) weakened by speculation, especially uninformed speculation? Some countries have said this weakening of rights is ok...we haven't. Some also hold the right to free speech more important than the protection of reputation...we don't.

 

In the case of criminal matters, we have a basic presumption in law, supported by international convention, that a person is innocent until proven guilty. The UK has weakened this presumption almost to the stage where it is a farce and there are moves afoot here to do likewise. There are enough examples of wrong decisions by juries and even judges sitting alone, that I would argue very strongly against such a weakening of our individual rights. Just about everything that can go wrong on a flight is now proscribed by legislation and serious penalties apply for any breach. Do you want the normal situation where "he who accuses must prove" reversed so that you have to prove your innocence? After all, that is what the inquisitorial system of justice tends to do.

 

On its face, the deidentification of the parties about whom a report is made might prevent problems in either civil or criminal proceedings arising. But we are a very small community and we have an incredible access to information and communication resources such that nothing much would remain unknown if that were done.

 

It is a major issue and the current situation no doubt leaves other aviators in potential jeapordy. It requires some considered legislation to cover the pitfalls. More importantly, it requires an organisation far more professionally resourced than RAA to do it and it requires an ATSB with heaps more money than is presently available.

 

The vital question, therefore, is who will pay?

 

Kaz

 

 

[Head in the clouds]

Kaz, you raise some excellent points about the litigative aspects but I really think that's going way beyond the intent of what I, for one, want of an Investigation and a Report of RAAus incidents/accidents. I really don't think we need a choice of 'definitive findings - or nothing'. As I see it we have a good proportion of people within our ranks who are quite knowledgeable about engines and airframes and I think all we need to do is to compile a list of those people and their locations. Then when a plane and/or its occupants is damaged the nearest 'designated person' is paid a basic fee and empowered (by RAAus) to attend the site and have a scout around and take note of whatever is obvious. If it was an engine problem, the engine should then go to a qualified person to investigate the reason for stoppage.

 

The report doesn't need to categorically state what or who caused the crash, it just needs to report the observations. For example, "the throttle cable was disconnected from the carburettor". No blame is attributed and no conclusions are drawn. If the engine was also stated to have been found 50m away from the firewall then most people would get the message that the disconnected throttle cable probably wasn't the initial problem.

 

At the moment we don't get any information at all, surely an observer's report wouldn't prejudice a future legal hearing. Or would it? If it would then we might as well give up and go back to flying in secret as we had to in the early 1980s.

 

 

[turboplanner]

Comments were made not to long ago, I think on here, that went straight to the merits of a live case, after I certainly, and perhaps some others, had warned of the possible consequences of doing this, and which certainly could prejudice that live case, so if you want part reports, you have to be able to show how you're going to prevent this (not just referring to this site, but any public discussion).

 

 

[bexrbetter]

Baiting pretty much destroys the site as a reference resource.

No it doesn't.

 

Some people live day to day looking at the lighter side of anything, doesn't mean they can't and don't put things into perspective when required.

 

Society is made up of a wide cross section of personalities and attitudes and that tends to get exagerated in social forums sometimes, something one just has to accept and deal with, I do so with people who constantly complain for example.

 

There is also the option of "ignoring" people as well, left click on the person's name, a small screen comes up and "ignore" is to the right.

 

 

[Admin]

Baiting pretty much destroys the site as a reference resource.

YES, it does destroy a site as it can promote attitudes in posts that this site will not tolerate...this site is considered by the owners and management to be "different" to general forum sites out there as this site is here to promote and foster support and friendships all within a common interest of recreational aviation...NOT a play ground for Alpha Males to try and exert their "I am always right" attitude behind an "anon" identity driven by pseudo courage behind a keyboard...this, the site owners and management, stand firm on!

 

 

[Jaba-who]

Ok I'll bite on the first part of the statement.

 

Sadly, (sadly for me too as I get older), age has lots to do with lots of things. Even accidents that involve elderly pilots, drivers, boat skippers etc.

 

in my job I see elderly people every day who have lost the reflexes, the ability to respond rapidly to changes, the ability to interpret out of the ordinary events and generate adequate cerebral responses and then the capacity to rapidly enact physical responses. Generally these are people who cope very well when all the usual things happen. It falls apart most when things go unexpectedly awry.

 

It's a fact of life I'm afraid that as we age we are not able to do the things we used to be able to. In our headlong tumble not to be age-ist it's an elephant in the room no one wants to admit is real.

 

The common threads in this are:

 

When tested properly EVERY elderly person loses the capability at some rate -some faster than others.

 

As a general principle the more cognitive the loss is, the less aware of it the person is.

 

 

[VFR Pilot]

When flying it's not about reflexes but more about decision making. As long as the old grey matter is still ok there is no reason why an older person can't be a good pilot, even better than some younger, bolder pilots.

 

And no i'm not that old yet either.

 

 

[turboplanner]

It's about decision making, judgement and reflexes and older people in many cases retain all three. I can't understand why this subject is being regurgitated without any evidence to go on. The other part could have a bit of smoke to it, but no one is talking.

 

 

[ausadvance]

can I just steer this conversation away back to the taree crash for a minute (and I know that this isnt what this forum is strictly about, but the other one is closed), can anyone actually fill me in roughly what actually happened in the incident, and if there Is any suspicions to the cause? dont want anyone having a dig at a home modified aircraft being dodgy or a bloke being to old. just some actual fact as to what may have actually occurred in case there is something I, and/or anyone else could maybe learn from? like for example did a wing fold, did he just stall, gear collapse or is it truly unknown?

 

 

[Phil Perry]

Tut tut, now Phil. I lived in the UK for 40 years and the electoral system in the UK is just as much a load of bollocks, if not more so, than in Australia. What hacks me off here is that you HAVE to go and spoil your ballot paper even when you think all the candidates are *ssholes - otherwise they fine you. Show me a country with a perfect electoral system and I will move there. All the parties in the UK think the first past the post system is crap......until they get elected by it, then suddenly they forget how bad it is.....And wouldn't it be nice to have the resources and money to do things properly. However one of our state politicians recently found out the hard way that this is fairytale land. While in opposition he promised to "implement ALL the recommendations of the BushFire Commission Report". Then his party got elected, and he realized he would have to triple everyone's taxes to fund putting all powerlines underground as per the recommendations. So his options were :-

 

a) triple taxes, implement all the recommendations, and guarantee being voted out at the next election

 

b) leave taxes alone, implement SOME of the recommendations that could be afforded, and hopefully remain elected (ie do the same as the previous party....)

 

Guess which he chose. A good lesson in reality.

 

Keep smiling.

 

Neil

Gee Whizz guys. . . . . I'm truly disappointed If I "degenerated" the thread, . . . especially the bit about the voting system which was meant to be light hearted banter.

 

And please don't suggest that I rubbish anything about Australia seriously, I took the oath in the early seventies, so am proud to be a legal Australian citizen ( on paper anyhow )

 

I feel somewhat saddened that there are people who appear to believe that EVERYONE should remain completely PO- faced at all times when discussing some subjects. Ok, I'll TRY not to offend anyone's sensibilities in future, and try harder to stay "on message", but I don't believe in walking on eggs just IN CASE someone gets upset by an innocent / jovial remark.

 

Like the man said, there's an effective IGNORE button.

 

Kind regards to all.

 

Phil

 

 

[ericg]

G'day, Phil

 

Regards, Eric

 

 

[Phil Perry]

HiNot to mention gyrocopters - try finding published data in the public domain after 1996 about gyrocopter accidents in Australia.

 

Up to 1996 ATSB published summary of gyrocopter accident reports in Australia - you can still find these old reports on the ATSB website today - there to read and learn from.

 

After 1996 responsibility for gyrocopters passed to ASRA overseen by CASA - since then ( 17 years ) no gyrocopter accident summary reports have been put into the public domain.

 

Summaries are available to ASRA members but no one else.

 

In the UK, USA, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa, Poland, Denmark, Germany and France accident summary reports are published online for anybody, anywhere on this planet to read and learn.

 

Australia is somewhat behind the curve currently. Maybe the idea is to keep the issue out of sight.

 

I've put together a simple Blog listing of Gyrocopter Accidents in Australia - it would be far better if ASRA / CASA/ ATSB published such accident summaries - my Blog listing is NOT COMPLETE for sure and of course details are sparse. I've shown links to news media reports where possible but these themselves are often brief and can be inaccurate. There are also links to a few Coroners reports but for most of these accidents hard facts are hard to come by.

 

Hopefully one day this will change - ask yourself why is this summary data kept tightly controlled.

 

The blog listing can be viewed via

 

http://gyrocopteraccidentsinaustralia.blogspot.co.uk/

 

I do look at the Blog stats, the search terms used and the location of the visitors - I can tell you that there is a demand to find such information from within Australia and some topics re-occur regularly ( "GT Kruza accident" being perhaps the most common ).

 

If you can provide an updates and or corrections then please do get in touch - thanks.

 

Enjoy your aviation and fly safe.

 

Steve

I'm not the right bloke to ask Steve,

 

Reading through lots of threads on different Australian forums, there were quite a few posters bemoaning lack of Aircraft incident investigation but. . . . The consensus here seems to be that for a country with a small population ( relatively speaking ) that there simply is not sufficiant funding to go around all of the aspects of transport incidents, let alone JUST aviation, usually, in a train wreck, there could be a lot more damaged people than one would expect in the event of a Skyranger or whatever mysteriously falling out tof the sky.

 

So I don't know what the stats are with regard to rotorcraft mishaps in Australia. I dont dispute the dates you mentioned Either, and I jhope you are not correct in your question about "Tightly controlled" data, if OZ is, in fact behind the curve in this respect, then I hope it's due to lack of dollars to employ a group of people to deal fully and specifically with the situation rather than pure secrecy to avoid any kind of embarrasment.

 

Phil ( I ALWAYS try to fly safe. . . . it's the other guys that worry me. . . . ! ! ! )

 

 

[104chocks]

Small countires with small budgets can do great jobs - let's look over the Tasman to wee New Zealand.

 

Fatal accidents for all types of aviation are investigated and reports published online for all to read and learn from any location on this planet - many of these aircraft types are worldwide, common types, common concerns, common errors - earning doesn't need to be confined to one national boundary.

 

Here you will find gyros, gliders, helicopters, GA, ultralights - take a look at an example - excellent reports in the public domain- congrats to NZ CAA

 

http://www.caa.govt.nz/safety_info/fatal_accident_reports.htm

 

More minor incidents are given brief summaries

 

http://www.caa.govt.nz/Script/Accident_List.asp

 

NZ has less aircraft than Australia, but also less population and therefore less tax revenue - so with limited resources a quality service can be provided. The UK and the US have similar reporting in the public domain as NZ.

 

Unfortunately incidents and accdients of light aviation types overseen by RAAus and ASRA are not in the public domain, so little is learnt or shared - who knows if the trend is up or down.

 

Regards

 

Steve

 

 

[Phil Perry]

Small countires with small budgets can do great jobs - let's look over the Tasman to wee New Zealand.Fatal accidents for all types of aviation are investigated and reports published online for all to read and learn from any location on this planet - many of these aircraft types are worldwide, common types, common concerns, common errors - earning doesn't need to be confined to one national boundary.

 

Here you will find gyros, gliders, helicopters, GA, ultralights - take a look at an example - excellent reports in the public domain- congrats to NZ CAA

 

http://www.caa.govt.nz/safety_info/fatal_accident_reports.htm

 

More minor incidents are given brief summaries

 

http://www.caa.govt.nz/Script/Accident_List.asp

 

NZ has less aircraft than Australia, but also less population and therefore less tax revenue - so with limited resources a quality service can be provided. The UK and the US have similar reporting in the public domain as NZ.

 

Unfortunately incidents and accdients of light aviation types overseen by RAAus and ASRA are not in the public domain, so little is learnt or shared - who knows if the trend is up or down.

 

Regards

 

Steve

OK Steve,. . . but I wonder what it costs to run an aircraft of any sort per capita in New Zealand, when compared to total aircraft on the register ? Most people I know are runni g their flying on a tight shoestring, apart from the odd few who are blessed witha monstrous annual income, thereby haveing a lot more "Disposable" to spend on toys and hobbies. . . . If it DOES cost a lot more in NZ, then that might be why the investigation regime is different . . . .? I don't have much information regarding the way that RAAus works, other than that it appears to be totally different to the way things operate with the CAA, BMAA and LAA in this country and so it's difficult to compare, if indeed, a comparison would be fair in any event AND,. . . I've noticed in the last couple of days that if someone questions what's going on, especially implying any sort of criticism, ( Of Anything. . . whether jokey or otherwise. . .) then the wagons are circled, and a proverbial cricket bat strikes the proponent very hard on the back of the neck. And this is a sad state of affairs.

 

Phil

 

 

[Phil Perry]

G'day, Phil Regards, Eric

BARON VON ERIC. . . . . Have you changed your handle ? ? ? ?

 

If not, . . . then G'day sport.

 

Phil

 

 

[turboplanner]

I don't have much information regarding the way that RAAus works, other than that it appears to be totally different to the way things operate with the CAA, BMAA and LAA in this country and so it's difficult to compare, if indeed, a comparison would be fair in any event AND,. . . I've noticed in the last couple of days that if someone questions what's going on, especially implying any sort of criticism, ( Of Anything. . . whether jokey or otherwise. . .) then the wagons are circled, and a proverbial cricket bat strikes the proponent very hard on the back of the neck. And this is a sad state of affairs.

If you'd taken the trouble to spend a short time searching for previous accident investigation threads on this site, you would have information on the way RAA works.

 

Before going on to RAA, some years ago a decision was made to cut the funding on general aviation (GA), in areas such as full reporting, detailed flight plans, personal met information, and crash investigation - stupid decisions in my opinion.

 

This also led to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau cutting back on its investigations, with detrimental results to pilot education.

 

This was an ad hoc decision, and had nothing to do with Australia's population or political system, and no relationship to any other country.

 

RAA is a quasi self administering body, quasi meaning that the Department of Infrastructure and Transport re-assumes chain of responsibility by requiring RAA pilots and maintenance personnel to comply with its regulations. It can also meddle in crash investigations if and when it wants to.

 

RAA, like boating, motor racing, horse riding and other organizations has no legislation for self investigation, for a variety of logical and legal reasons, and crash investigations come under the umbrella of Police in six states and two Territories.

 

Their operations nest with the State and Territory Coroners.

 

The two disadvantages of that are that Police never release their investigation details other than their evidence to the Coroner, and the Coroner's duty is to find the cause of death ie. fractured skull, rather than the whole picture which is what we would be interested in i.e. incorrect cable was used leading to a control loss.

 

So unless an RAA incident is considered so significant that ATSB is tasked to investigate it, we have to search for Coroner reports, and in many cases they teach us nothing because of the different objectives.

 

The end result is that generally with an RAA fatality we never officially know the cause, however this is offset to a degree by debate in the social media, which while not necessarily accurate, often produces brilliant training information for life.

 

RAA do report minor crashes such as engine failures, runway excursions etc. which appear every month in Sport Pilot magazine. They can be criticised for either cavalier presentation - where they know the details but don't publish them, or simply not asking a few pointed questions. For example, just saying that on landing an aircraft departed the runway in incident after incident, pointing to either faulty design or faulty technique, doesn't give is the information to upgrade our skills.

 

As for the rest, when a pom, paper or not, calls Australia a banana republic on ANZAC day, after we gave 60,000 lives in WW1 and 40,000 lives in WW1 to help Britain, we are going to get mildly agitated and not see the funny side for some time.

 

 

[Phil Perry]

Turbo.

 

I am not going to adopt the coward's way and start a private converstion with you.

 

But may I please just put something straight, as I have no desire to upset ANYONE.

 

I deeply regret that you were offended by my post, I KNOW that Australians are extremely defensive of ANY criticism of that country. I was the only person around my town who rang a local radio station to remind everyone what day it was. There was little interest. People forget, or don't get educated about it any longer.

 

A close friend had just returned from a three month roving stay in Australia ( based in Adelaide ) and being an ex commercial and now G.A. pilot had told me of various conversations he had regarding "Investigation" which appear to crop up at varous airfields and Clubs, which prompted that particular post. The political comment regarding voting was irrelevant, as Our system is quite possibly worse and this, as I'm sure you KNOW . . .was just a joke. Simply that. When I retire, I intend to buy a plot somewhere in Queensland, and spend my time reading books and annoying everyone on the internet with my, perhaps to some people, warped sense of humour.

 

I have FOUR relatives who died in WW2, fighting in France, North Africa, and on the Burma railway as a P.O.W. ( and I'm REALLY sorry too about all the ANZACS who died fighting for ENGLAND and freedom in BOTH world wars as well|) . . .I wasn't around then, but their loss is still very sad, as I never got to meet any of them, although I still have and treasure the photo albums and aero engineering books of one of these, my Mother's elder Brother, who was shot down over the North Sea in 1941 and the Wellington Bomber, nor any part thereof was never found.

 

However, I have never taken umbrage in my life when anyone denigrates Bomber Command. . . ( as they do nowadays ) and tell me it was all wrong and cruel.

 

Thank you for your kind advice regarding "Having a longer look" at older posts on a similar vein to the thread we were operating within. . . . I will try to look more carefully in future.

 

I truly hope that we may remain friends.

 

Kind regards,

 

Phil Perry

 

 

[metalman]

Well, me Blighty bound friend,,,,you certainly know how to get a thread going,,,I like most of us would like to see alot of things done differently here but it seems we have an infestation of politicians that are mainly interested in getting re-elected,,,which I guess is the same in most western countries,,enough of that!!!

 

The accident reporting here is crap, and in light of countries like NZ that seem to have got that bit a little more right than us it only makes it appear more ridiculous! As for the funds ,,well ,we spend billions of bucks on stupid stuff here, the average person (especially those of us in business) just cannot believe some of the garbage our elected ones chuck money at ,so really that lack of funds would more correctly be misused funds .

 

I really can't see an answer to some of the issues ,even CASA is completely immune to government pressure, maybe the ATSB out of the goodness of their hearts would have a little look at some of our stacks,,maybe!

 

The bottom line for us is to build a culture of safety at our airfields, I sat next to a guy last night who had around 16000 hours, for me to "have a word with him about his flying" would be pretty damn hard( not that he was doing anything wrong ,just an illustration ) and for him to even consider my input would be humbling beyond belief, BUT ,we have to be responsible for our peers as it effects us all, it costs nothing to ask a mate if he's had a look at the WX radar as he's heading for the apron, it is good airmanship to stand back quietly while another pilot is pre-flighting(you may learn something, or get to teach something) it cost nothing to ask another pilot to pre flight your plane occasionally, might be amazed at what they find, the point is some accidents can't be avoided but a lot could be , in fact three stacks that resulted in pilots I knew in the last year could have been avoided if someone had said something ,but instead we got funerals.

 

thats my input like it ,lump it or use the ignore button