It seems that every time the senior management of Pel-Air open their mouths in public they take on more water.
In today’s Australian, Jim Davis, the managing director of REX, the regional airline that owns Pel-Air follows up the amazing admissions made earlier this week by Pel-Air chairman and former federal Transport Minister, John Sharp about how the flight it sunk in the sea off Norfolk Island had ‘no Plan B’.
Among other things, Davis says “current policy did not mandate an alternative under the right circumstances, such as good en-route weather.”
But the rules do. Civil Aviation Order CAO 82.0 section (2.4) imposes an obligation on the company to carry enough fuel to reach an alternative airport under even the most adverse of conditions, such as an engine failure or cabin depressurisation.
The relevant regulation is reproduced in the post below this. Compliance with the rules is a condition of the Pel-Air air operating certificate or AOC unless a dispensation or waiver has been granted by CASA (which would itself cause a scandal) and CASA’s statement last night clearly implies this is not the case in that it reaffirmed the legal requirements of CAO 82.0.
Pel-Air is carrying out aerial ambulance work. It is seeking another major contract held by the Royal Flying Doctor Service in NSW. But it is managed by people who in relation to the Wednesday night Norfolk Island ditching exhibit variously a lack of knowledge of, or indifference to, the safety rules with the comments they have volunteered onto the public record of newspaper and broadcast media interviews.
Wednesday night’s ditching saw a woman being medically evacuation from Apia to Melbourne and her spouse, the two pilots, and two Care Flight staff left treading water for up to 90 minutes, with only three of them wearing life vests.
For almost two hours on Wednesday night, until the light on a life jacket was spotted in the ocean, Australia’s safety authorities are understood to have believed there were no survivors.
For an Australian jet to sink in the sea because it didn’t carry enough fuel is a gravely serious matter.
The controlled landing Davis and Sharp attributed to the heroic skills of the Captain Dominic James is now admitted by Davis to have occurred with little warning. (Question. Where was the mandatory life raft and was it launched and lost?)
A lot of critical safety issues are now metaphorically circling around a tiny jet lying in shallow water two kilometres off the Norfolk Island coast.
Isn’t a full review of the fitness of Pel-Air to hold its AOC a matter of some urgency from a public safety perspective if nothing else?
14 Comments
Where were the EPIRBs?
Incredible, astonishing and deplorable.
“Isn’t a full review of the fitness of Pel-Air to hold its AOC a matter of some urgency from a public safety perspective if nothing else?”
Yes, but will the lobbying be too intense? Apart from a CASA review, I would think and hope that CareFlight would be conducting its own review as to Pel_Air’s fitness to do the job with the safety and compliance that we expect..
Hi Ben, I couldn’t believe all media hype about this unbelievable and totally unnecessary ditch into the open sea near Norfolk. Nor the high praise for the pilot who chose this death-defying solution to an ill planned medivac. First what happened to the Mayday….Mayday….Mayday before ditching? In fact what happened to the Securité….Securité….Securité earlier when there was even a remote possibility of running low on fuel.
I am an experience sailer even having circumnavigated Australia and Tasmania for the Mathew Flinders Bicentenary and fished proffesionally around Norfolk years ago. I have had a close association with Norfolk for over 40 years. Let me tell you a little more about Norfolk:
Norfolk is renowned for often having thick fog in November. Decades ago the Norfolk Islanders would often have to delay their commercial bean seed harvest due to the moisture of November fogs. Many dozens, maybe over 100, Australia/Norfolk flights have had to divert to their alternative landing strip in New Zealand over the last 50 years. On a November day in the early 60’s I flew on a DC4 from Sydney to Norfolk (5 ¾ hours) we circled Norfolk for around 2 ½ hours, attempting to land, before flying on to Auckland for the weekend as the alternative.
Sea rescue cannot be seen as an expectation around the Island. There are no boats on moorings or at anchor. It is so rough there are not even any boat ramps. To take one of the small boats out the vessel is towed under a derrick on the wharf. Their skipper gets into the boat and his mate uses their 4WD or ute as the motive means to lift the boat and swing it out over the turbulent water. When the skipper sees a brief opportunity the boat is quickly lowered into the water, the skipper unhooks and powers away from the crashing waves. He later swings by the wharf, when he sees a lull, and his other crew jump in. Then the vessel has to go out often through breaking seas, past a niggerhead, and through a treacherous narrow reef passage. All in the dark and there are no navigational aids on or around Norfolk. Now start looking for a small ditched aircraft on a dark night in rough seas in an area of about 8 x 4 kilometres. I see the only heroes here as the crew on the vessel that endangered their own lives in going out to rescue that crew. And I understand the location was only found because a farmer spotted the feeble light from a torch that the pilots relied on as their means of rescue. I only see foolhardiness on the part of the airline and its crew. Ron
Thank goodness there are others out there who see this ridiculous reporting. The Captain is being “Hailed a hero”: as a professional Pilot that is great news! No matter how bad my decisions are I can come out a hero!
Seriously, the real unsung heroes are the thousands of Pilots that land their aircraft safely every day. How dare anyone compare this avoidable incident to the unavoidable Hudson river accident.
Please push the truth out there Ben, by the time ATSB and CASA release anything the story will be ancient history.
“I see the only heroes here as the crew on the vessel that endangered their own lives in going out to rescue that crew.”
Amen to that. Seriously brilliant seamanship, by the sounds of it.
I’d find your argument compelling if I couldn’t help but detect genuine disgust for Pel-Air. To me it seems as though you’re taking a good outcome from a bad situation a little too personally. It would be refreshing to hear someone comment on aviation related topics without feeling the need to personally attack a perfectly good operator. There is nothing wrong with seeking the truth from an incident such as this. At the end of the day it was a successful ditching and from what I can tell the first for the operator. If Pel-Air is so horrifically negligent as you describe them to be, I’m surprised that their safety record and performance to date has been so successful. I guess it must be luck as apparently you seem to be the expert on the short comings of this particular operator. I have a question though… If this incident occurred with the Careflight being operated by another company would you be so venomous in stating your views?
Ed,
“Horrifically negligent” are your words not mine. I’m responsible for what I say, not what others say I say.
My reporting of a Care Flight that ends up in the sea in the dark because it runs out of fuel would not be influenced by the carrier performing the task. The chairman of Pel-Air John Sharp and Jim Davis, the managing director of owner REX have themselves made serious admissions in relation to the conduct of this flight. They have voluntarily made those comments, although it is not clear that they realised the implications of what they said.
I think your way off the mark there ED. Yes, the guy pulled off the ditching but think about it, no fuel, no Mayday, 3 life jacket for 6 people, no flares.
Ed said: “It would be refreshing to hear someone comment on aviation related topics without feeling the need to personally attack a perfectly good operator … If Pel-Air is so horrifically negligent as you describe them to be, I’m surprised that their safety record and performance to date has been so successful. I guess it must be luck…”
Why is Pel-Air a good operator? This is the third major crash for the airline. Crash into Botany Bay resulted in 2 dead. Crash into the hillside at Alice Springs resulted in 3 dead.
If anything, the mainstream media has given Pel-Air a dream ride by not mentioning its past record, and proclaiming the pilot a hero for running out of fuel and crashing into the ocean. Ben Sandilands is the only journalist telling it how it is.
Excellent article Ben. I ‘ve been flying for over 50 years with 30 years in NAC\AirNZ. Operated Norfolk Island many times in F27 and B737, oh and once on a DC3 ferry AKL to Tontouta so I know a bit about the topic. You are 100% correct and the rest of the media are a disgrace.
Ed “There is nothing wrong with seeking the truth from an incident such as this.”
This is not an “incident”, it is DEFINED as an “accident”(an incident is also defined and doesn’t resemble this event in any way) but isn’t really an accident it was an inevitable result of utter incompetence.
Past time that this celebrity(CEO to pilots) airline was shut down.
The heroes were the rescuers not the perpetrator.
How is it that Pel-Air (Rex Aviation) is allowed to operate a flying service?
How is it that the pilot is made out to be a hero?
How is it that they are not closed down immediately?
Rixx
Ben, thank you for sharing this issue with us.
What is the latest from the investigations or reports?
Could everyone please stay on a straight line and avoid the ego bashing until conclusion of investigations.
Also, for a non-avaition person, l feel the whole crew of the Hudson River experience would be insulted to be compared with this incident.
What Sulley, Skiles and cabin crew achieved is the most outstanding display of professional and civil action we ever likely to witness in our lifetime.
Any self-respecting pilot should aspire to honour their efforts with an open mind until proven otherwise.
The FACTS of the matter will determine what the true nature of this incident was.
Supporting your profession would help inspire future pilots.
Just a few thoughts from the other side of the cockpit door.
One small request Ben, could you please share this blog post with fellow flyboys in the industry to let them know some members of the travelling public do care for their professionalism and dedication.
Full Throttle on …..3………2………..1………GO
Michael6660,
The latest is that the data and voice recorder have been located but in deeper water than originally believed and that recovery options are being considered. My guess is that the timing of the interim or preliminary report will depend on the recovery and examination of this data.
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