> I see Crikey giving both these organisations a serve today. The
> article appeared in "Indaily" a daily helping from Adelaide's
> Independent Weekly, which I subscribe to.
> Here's a quote from the article:
>
>
> What won't CASA tell us about Qantas?
> It's not just Crikey that gets Qantas horror stories. CASA has
> received a string of detailed complaints about dangerous procedures
> and broken flight safety rules through its anonymous reporting
> facility and directly from the ground engineers and mechanics union.
>
> Here is the latest example sent to Crikey this morning:
>
> QF 12 departed Los Angeles on Thursday 21 August on time at
> 2230. Due in to Sydney on Saturday 23 August at 0605. Flight time
> planned at 14 hours 46 minutes from Sydney the aircraft diverted to
> Brisbane due to 'weather and high cross winds'. A lie - the aircraft
> VH-OJT a 747-400 had been unserviceable in LAX for 2 days with a
> faulty fuel pump. The issue was not resolved and the aircraft left
> thus resulting in the diversion. Plenty of fuel on board but a busted
> pump which could not get it to the engines.
>
> It goes on to give details of other alleged breaches of safety
> procedures and wonders if CASA is sitting on these until the audit is
> completed.
>
> I guess, in the current industrial environment, you could expect some
> mischief-making from the engineering unions, but the article seems to
> suggest that some of this information is coming from the pilots, so
> there may be some fire behind some of this smoke, it seems.
>
> As JB has commented, it takes years to establish a good safety culture
> (hear, hear to that) and it can be dismantled relatively quickly if
> management become disengaged from the culture.
>
>