Airservices Executive General Manager, ATC, Jason Harfield has seemingly supported the contention that the Australian Transport Safety Board did not consider all factors in their investigation into the 2009 Pel-Air ditching off Norfolk Island.
Giving evidence to the Senate Committee for Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport, Harfield made it very clear he thought the accident could have been prevented had Fiji ATC passed on a critical weather report to the aeromedical Westwind.
In their investigation report, the ATSB had not cited this failure as a contributing factor to the ditching.
“The fact is that it was Fijian air traffic control that did not pass on the amended weather information, not New Zealand air traffic control,” he told the Senators. “On the basis of what happened in the accident, that weather information was critical in the sense that if that bit of information was seen, the outcome may have been different.
“I am reluctant to say that the procedure is unsafe because I do not have the broader information on what is going on. Here was a piece of information that should have been passed to the aircraft which could have prevented this outcome.”
Pilot Dominic James, who wore the brunt of the ATSB report, has contended that the ATSB omitted vital safety factors and has asked that the report be withdrawn.
The senate hearing is due to reconvene tomorrow and hand down its findings on November 29.