For an insight into how ineffective CASA is in regulating the airlines, this week’s spat with one of its former inspectors John Wood is hard to pass up.
On Monday Wood wrote this damning critique in The Canberra Times.
Today CASA issued this reponse to Crikey.
The key point Wood made, that CASA is not carrying out its obligations under the Civil Aviation Act, remains unanswered.
CASA was clueless about the Ansett failure to carry out several critical airworthiness directives between Christmas Eve 2000 and Easter 2001.
It was clueless about Qantas overlooking a truly critical airworthiness directive in relation to the pressure bulkheads of six of its aging 737s for five years until like Ansett in the past, Qantas discovered its error (on 12 August) and grounded the jets pending repairs which have now been completed.
Today the CASA spokesman, Peter Gibson, said:
“Does CASA or the FAA or any other regulator directly oversee the implementation of each AD? The answer is No. That is the responsibility of the airline. The regulators then look at AD compliance as part of audits, which means not every AD is checked out but rather a sample to make sure the systems are working.
“If non compliance is found then the regulator takes action.”
But surely that’s the point. It didn’t find them. And when it comes to Qantas audits, why were they so abysmally ineffective?
The current special CASA audit of Qantas is also turning into an audit of its own auditing skills as well as the mess within the airline.
Crikey contacted persons who variously have worked in the FAA or still do and they expressed incredulity that CASA wasn’t aggressively pursuing critical ADs and disbelief that it had allowed deferred maintenance at Qantas to turn into a crisis.
CASA declined to comment on informal advice being circulated in SE Asia that Malaysia has responded to Australian allegations of sub standard maintenance in a Kuala Lumpur facility used by Qantas by deciding not to approve any overhaul or modification procedures carried out in Australia.
The Malaysian position is that CASA standards for such work are either vague or non-existent, and the Australians contractors will only be allowed to carry out procedures such as refitting aircraft or installing auxiliary fuel tanks if they have obtained authorisation by the FAA or its European counterpart EASA.
If such bans on Australian MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul) activities take hold they will kill off significant export earnings in a sector already struggling to come to terms with Boeing Australia’s decision to reduce its local presence.
Harvey a real personal best self aggrandisement and false analogy in the one comment
By the way I have a very personal interest in your work Ben. Since 2004 I have travelled in excess of 350 major airline flights just in Australia. I want you to be successful not the failure I have been.
I see you’re beating your head against the wall on this issue. Don’t stop. It’s worth it when you are saving human life and tragedy. The reason it is so hard to get something so simply necessary done properly is the structuring of a killer attitude that has taken place for a myriad of reasons. In 1998 I was published on the killer attitude in medicine and didn’t go on and on and on about it so every year thousands of Ausies have died (the medical profession has a seriously sorry attitude to patient death and a magnificent attitude about their self-importance). Oddly enough, back then, I compared my precious medical profession to the airline industry and its excellent performance suggesting that if the Dr had to be buried with his dead patient the unnecessary death rate would dry up. The pilots’ special situation is offcourse why there are virtually no deaths in spite of everything and the danger is NOT caused by the pilot as it is caused by the Dr. I couldn’t get positive action in a field strewn with bodies. Attitude is not part of assessment and is the most powerful enemy because good people have easily disguised bad ones.
Psychology, psychology, psychology is everything.
If anyone had any doubt that Big Business has hi-jacked the public interest and democracy in Australia the example of CASA’s regulation of Quantas should unambiguously clarify the situation for them. Big Carbon Big Oil, Big Mining and Big Finance and the response of the Government and their regulators to their greed and rent seeking is simply appalling. Jeff Kennet said Giovernments should steer and not row. Anyone who thinks that the opposite has not happened is as silly as Jeff. The only beacon of light in all of this is the ACCC who do their best with the crap legisalation given them by our politicians. Carr and Sheidan on ABC’s Q&A say we are well governed. Compared to who?
Worth Reading