Says Chief Refuses To Accept Responsibility For 2005 Fatal Crash

Australia's aviation watchdog chief should be fired in the aftermath of one of Australia's worst air disasters, the Federal Opposition says. As Aero-News reported, 15 people died when a TransAir Metroliner III crashed into Queensland's Lockhart River in May 2005. It was Australia's worst air disaster in 40 years.

Now, Opposition transport spokesman Martin Ferguson says Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) Chief Executive, Bruce Byron, should resign after he refused to accept responsibility for the disaster, despite a scathing report from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB).

"This morning I was prepared to give Transport Minister Mark Vaile and CASA the opportunity to respond to the ATSB report in a meaningful way," said Ferguson. "Bruce Byron's statement that (he) is unable to accept the conclusion in the ... report that CASA contributed to ... the accident flies in the face of the evidence.

"I call on the minister to ask for his resignation immediately."

Two of the 22 factors which the ATSB said contributed to the crash relate directly to inaction by CASA.

"CASA did not provide sufficient guidance to its inspectors to enable them to effectively and consistently evaluate several key aspects of operator management systems," the report states, adding "CASA did not require operators to conduct structured and/or comprehensive risk assessments, or conduct such assessments itself."

"We need to expedite the regulatory reform program to ensure we have up-to-date, effective safety regulatory and management systems in place," Transport Minister Vaile said in a prepared statement. "The Australian government's objective is for Australia to have a world class safety regulatory environment, including regulations that are outcome based and simple to follow and reflect world's best practice."

Vaile announced a taskforce aimed at reforming the troubled CASA. Aviation activist Dick Smith, former Department of Transport and Regional Services secretary Allan Hawke, Jeff Boyd and Rob Graham will sit on the taskforce. But the taskforce is no more than a "bandaid" to hide Mr Vaile's own failure to hold CASA to account," Ferguson says.

"No serious review of regulation can exclude the major airline operators in this country, yet this is what is proposed," he adds. "Divisiveness, conspiracy theories and vested interests are not what we want for CASA today or in the future. We need new blood and people who have the respect of the industry."

So far, Mr. Byron has given no indication he will resign. 

FMI: www.casa.gov.au