Mike Cleaver, well know to this list, has asked me to forward this to the list on his behalf. He is having problems with his email and his attempt to post it direct bounced.
Allan Armistead (Canberra Gliding Club) ph (02) 6249 6470, fax (02) 6249 6555, mobile 0413 013 911 PO Box 908, Dickson ACT 2602, Australia "When once you have tasted flight, you will always walk with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been and there you always will be." Leonardo da Vinci, 1452-1519 -----Original Message----- From: Mike Cleaver [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, 10 March 2004 1:26 To: Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia. Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] Re:accident ABC news report At 00:08 10-03-04 +1100, Peter C wrote: > > [quoting Mike Borgelt] > > I still haven't seen a full public report on the mid air and bailout at > > Narromine over two years ago. Any major accident should be treated the same > > as a fatality as it is only luck that separates them. > > > > > >But who sees the reports ? I get the impression that most are kept pretty >close >to the chest, only for a few, which sort of defeats the "so others may learn" >bit. Unfortunately, you are unlikely ever to see the "full and public report" for the following reasons: The ONLY lawful authority to investigate and publish accident reports at the time of that accident was the Australian Transport Safety Bureau. Their attitude towards sport aviation accidents is "these people are not the Australian travelling public, and we have nothign to learn for Joe Public from a glider accident. Government policy is to only spend taxpayers' money on investigations with a large benefit to the public, or where a fatal accident occurs to an airline or charter operator." It is not necessarily the fault of ATSB staff, nor CASA (who have no influence over our independent accident investigators) - it is a fault of a Government policy dictated by economic rationalists like a certain public figure who has gone very quiet since his pet airspace scheme has been shown to be full of flaws in both the technical detail and the implementation. (Despite Mike B's fervour for it). The GFA has no legal power to investigate accidents - or at least, it had none whatever when this accident happened, and quite justifiably believes that any report it may produce (or any report of subsequent accidents where it may have the legal right to investigate as a lower priority to ATSB) will be seen by the public as being subject to a serious conflict of interest and a public perception - however wrong this may be - that any GFA investigation will be aimed at protecting those in the GFA who may possibly bear some ":responsibility" for any failure that may have led to the accident. [Such a concept of "blame" is quite out of place in a modern accident investigation - they are intended to be carried out for the sole purpose of identifying risks that may be avoided in future to prevent a recurrence of the accident.] The question of accident and incident investigation arose in our discussions on the future regulation of sport & recreational aviation, but somehow, the cost of investigating accidents needs to be found. Accident investigators do not grow on trees, and there is a cost incurred in doing any investigation, especially one that is going to be both thorough and impartial. Whilst we might want to have glider pilots investigate, we might also want to write and support professional accident investigators carry out this task for the safety benefit of us all. Wombat P.S. Allan - I suspect this may bounce as I am having problems posting to Aus-soaring. Could you re-post it for me if it does not appear on the newsgroup by say midday Wednesday? Thanks
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