Bloody amazing-
“Not everyone shared his optimism. That Australia helped coordinate the surface search was one thing. But that it should be in charge of the underwater phase puzzled many, including American aviation journalist and author of The Crash Detectives, Christine Negroni.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) was still tainted by its shoddy investigation into another aviation disaster in which a Pel-Air WestWind air ambulance was forced to ditch near Norfolk Island in 2009, having found itself unable to land in bad weather and with insufficient fuel to divert. The two and a half year investigation by the ATSB prompted a national scandal when a television documentary aired allegations of misconduct by the ATSB. A subsequent Senate inquiry found the ATSB’s accident report was deeply flawed and had unfairly blamed the pilot.
“It seemed to me that the Australians including the [head of the ATSB] Martin Dolan were eager to become the heroes in solving the world’s most riveting air mystery. In an interview in June 2014, Dolan told me enthusiastically that coordinating the search was ‘the challenge of a career’,” recalled Negroni.
Beset by public humiliation, did the ATSB see the MH370 mission as an opportunity for redemption? To cleanse its name and bury past shame? Possibly.
Whether it was up to the task is another matter. The man appointed to head the initial search effort was the much decorated Angus Houston, former Chief of the Australian Defence Force, who had a great reputation in the military but no previous experience of civil aviation accidents nor of underwater searches”. Florence de Changy.
Our very own, highly professional AMSA was ‘bundled’, without a beg your pardon, out of the search, to allow the ATSB (not seriously expert in maritime searches) to rule the roost. Now we see the company AMSA would, possibly, have contracted, tearing their hair out in sheer frustration; offering essentially a Lloyds open – no cure, no pay – just to get the blasted job done; and, get it done right!
No matter which way you cut it; the Australian government have (IMO) many, very many, serious questions to answer; the cost to the Australian tax payer being just one, those of the Chinese nation others. WTD were they thinking; and, why ain’t Martin Dolan pilloried?
“Not everyone shared his optimism. That Australia helped coordinate the surface search was one thing. But that it should be in charge of the underwater phase puzzled many, including American aviation journalist and author of The Crash Detectives, Christine Negroni.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) was still tainted by its shoddy investigation into another aviation disaster in which a Pel-Air WestWind air ambulance was forced to ditch near Norfolk Island in 2009, having found itself unable to land in bad weather and with insufficient fuel to divert. The two and a half year investigation by the ATSB prompted a national scandal when a television documentary aired allegations of misconduct by the ATSB. A subsequent Senate inquiry found the ATSB’s accident report was deeply flawed and had unfairly blamed the pilot.
“It seemed to me that the Australians including the [head of the ATSB] Martin Dolan were eager to become the heroes in solving the world’s most riveting air mystery. In an interview in June 2014, Dolan told me enthusiastically that coordinating the search was ‘the challenge of a career’,” recalled Negroni.
Beset by public humiliation, did the ATSB see the MH370 mission as an opportunity for redemption? To cleanse its name and bury past shame? Possibly.
Whether it was up to the task is another matter. The man appointed to head the initial search effort was the much decorated Angus Houston, former Chief of the Australian Defence Force, who had a great reputation in the military but no previous experience of civil aviation accidents nor of underwater searches”. Florence de Changy.
Our very own, highly professional AMSA was ‘bundled’, without a beg your pardon, out of the search, to allow the ATSB (not seriously expert in maritime searches) to rule the roost. Now we see the company AMSA would, possibly, have contracted, tearing their hair out in sheer frustration; offering essentially a Lloyds open – no cure, no pay – just to get the blasted job done; and, get it done right!
No matter which way you cut it; the Australian government have (IMO) many, very many, serious questions to answer; the cost to the Australian tax payer being just one, those of the Chinese nation others. WTD were they thinking; and, why ain’t Martin Dolan pilloried?