Senator Nick Xenophon has stated that CASA and the ATSB used pilot Dominic James as a scapegoat to cover up their own failings following the 2009 ditching of a Pel-Air aeromedical Westwind off Norfolk Island.
Speaking about the release of a senate inquiry report into the way CASA and the ATSB went about the investigation, Senator Xenophon said the problem was deeper than one occurence.
“CASA and the ATSB made the pilot of VH-NGA into a scapegoat to cover up their own inadequacies, but this goes way beyond one incident,” Xenophon said. “This report reveals a disturbing trend in Australia’s aviation industry, where the regulatory safety system is failing the travelling public.
Senator Xenophon said the committee had been “the most united” one he had ever participated in.
“Everyone was shocked and in disbelief about the evidence we received,” he said. “I don’t think anyone expected we would uncover the fact that information had been withheld by CASA, or that the ATSB was aware of systemic issues but ignored them completely.
“This committee report is one of the strongest I’ve ever read. It outlines in no uncertain terms the serious problems with the way CASA and the ATSB operate.”
The Westwind, VH-NGA, ditched with six people on board after four failed attempts to make an instrument landing.
The ATSB report released in 2012 concluded the ditching was a result of poor planning on behalf of the flight crew. Dominic James and the flight nurse Karen Casey have been working to have the report re-issued since. In November last year, Senator Xenophon referred the matter to the Senate Committee on Regional and Rural Affairs and Transport (RRAT).
The report, tabled today, recommends the investigation be re-opened and the flight data recorders be recovered. Regardless of the senate findings, the ATSB is backing its original investigation.
"We are aware of the Senate Committee’s report, tabled today, and will give it careful consideration," the ATSB said in a statement.
"We regularly monitor and review our systems and processes and will feed the Committee’s recommendations into these processes. We stand by our report into the Pel Air accident and the thorough investigation we undertook to produce the report."
According to the RRAT report, the Senate investigation reveal substantial shortcomings with both CASA and the ATSB, including:
- The ATSB had not followed its own mandate in terms of investigations, and had focussed solely on the actions of the pilot, Dominic James, instead of looking at broader problems within Pel-Air itself and with the way aeromedical flights to remote destinations are undertaken
- CASA had failed in its regulatory oversight of Pel-Air, and only a Special Audit of Pel-Air conducted after the ditching revealed the extent of the problem
- CASA had withheld a damning internal review from the ATSB, despite a Memorandum of Understanding between the agencies in relation to information-sharing, which outlined its own failures in relation to Pel-Air
- The quality of evidence provided to the committee by the ATSB’s Chief Commissioner Martin Dolan called into question his credibility as a witness, and
- The ATSB inexplicably downgraded the incident from "critical" to "minor", with little or no reasoning to show why this was the case.
In a statement released this afternoon, CASA is also standing its ground. "CASA stands by its evidence and submissions given to the Committee. CASA is aware of the Senate report, tabled today, and will give it due consideration."