Shall I compare thee to a- - JUMBO JET?
Why not? 400 SOB, taxi speed 30 to 40 KpH, tight area to manoeuvre a large vessel in, pointed at a crowded terminal or joining a busy taxiway. Hardly the place to have one isolated 'steering' failure is it? Let alone 'multiple' events.... Yet Sydney's (gate way to Australia sporting an internationally recognised harbour and bridge) harbour and river ferry services, operated by a French company, running the new, cheap Chinese ferries can have multiple failures of the same system in a busy harbour with hundreds of folk waiting on the dockside and there's barely a ripple of public interest. Had these incidents involved aircraft there would be more than one journo banging the safety drum and a bloody sight more heavy duty 'safety' outfits involved than the gutless NSW OTSI.
Hell's bells - NSW spent more time and much more money agonising over which 'flag' to fly over the iconic bridge than it did on investigating the obvious potential for what could result in a very serious, costly accident, in both human and fiscal terms.
Consider this:- “In the past, Transdev Management have tried to convince me a Steering Toggle failure isn't a Steering failure”. - Chris Cowper, Ferry Master.
Can you imagine a Qantas Captain (or any Captain) swallowing that more than once? Point is, that for whatever reason, instead of turning left at Albuquerque; the 'ship' took an un commanded path; unacceptable. Once in 10,000 hours – yes; maybe, but multiple instances of the same system failure, over a short period of time? – WTD?.....
Chris Cowper, Ferry Master. - “When, after 12 days, Transdev had not carried out investigations to find the cause of these failures, I reported this incident to AMSA. (Australian Maritime Safely Authority) As a result, OTSI (Office of Transport Safety Investigations) conducted an investigation. All 6 Gen I Emeralds had to have modifications made to their Steering systems."
That begs the question though, don't it? Just who's interests are the priority?– Certainly not the thousands of passengers who take a boat trip every day, rain , hail or shine, despite the rough passage across the harbour heads. Their 'safety' should be the one and only top priority. To coin an old adage, if you think 'safety' is expensive; try having an accident. The blessed legal bills alone would make a stone idol weep, not to mention the political fall out. That, IMO is irresponsible 'governance' – writ large across the entire spectrum. Not too much imagination required from those who understand the way in which the upper middle layers work – the word from the top filters down to the comfortably ensconced - “put a lid on this and play it down” - “right away” says the mid level nameless chump, conscious only of the rice bowl and protection thereof.
The Cowper story is an excellent example of abrogation and deception where the elected pass the buck down stream, to a place far removed from their office to the un-elected. Millions spent on a pointless Flag waving, publicity stunt and a legitimate safety concern from the Masters of large ships with 400 lives on board can be shuffled down the ranks and played away to a 'nothing to see here – move along' event. Its not good enough is it? Nowhere near.
Aye well:- “hush, hush, Whisper who dares; the government is saying it's prayers.” No matter:- Bravo Captain Cowper; well done Matt O'Sullivan, and thank you AMSA (on behalf of the men, women and children of Sydney siders ferry using fraternity).
(Sotto voce) - Toot – toot.
Why not? 400 SOB, taxi speed 30 to 40 KpH, tight area to manoeuvre a large vessel in, pointed at a crowded terminal or joining a busy taxiway. Hardly the place to have one isolated 'steering' failure is it? Let alone 'multiple' events.... Yet Sydney's (gate way to Australia sporting an internationally recognised harbour and bridge) harbour and river ferry services, operated by a French company, running the new, cheap Chinese ferries can have multiple failures of the same system in a busy harbour with hundreds of folk waiting on the dockside and there's barely a ripple of public interest. Had these incidents involved aircraft there would be more than one journo banging the safety drum and a bloody sight more heavy duty 'safety' outfits involved than the gutless NSW OTSI.
Hell's bells - NSW spent more time and much more money agonising over which 'flag' to fly over the iconic bridge than it did on investigating the obvious potential for what could result in a very serious, costly accident, in both human and fiscal terms.
Consider this:- “In the past, Transdev Management have tried to convince me a Steering Toggle failure isn't a Steering failure”. - Chris Cowper, Ferry Master.
Can you imagine a Qantas Captain (or any Captain) swallowing that more than once? Point is, that for whatever reason, instead of turning left at Albuquerque; the 'ship' took an un commanded path; unacceptable. Once in 10,000 hours – yes; maybe, but multiple instances of the same system failure, over a short period of time? – WTD?.....
Chris Cowper, Ferry Master. - “When, after 12 days, Transdev had not carried out investigations to find the cause of these failures, I reported this incident to AMSA. (Australian Maritime Safely Authority) As a result, OTSI (Office of Transport Safety Investigations) conducted an investigation. All 6 Gen I Emeralds had to have modifications made to their Steering systems."
That begs the question though, don't it? Just who's interests are the priority?– Certainly not the thousands of passengers who take a boat trip every day, rain , hail or shine, despite the rough passage across the harbour heads. Their 'safety' should be the one and only top priority. To coin an old adage, if you think 'safety' is expensive; try having an accident. The blessed legal bills alone would make a stone idol weep, not to mention the political fall out. That, IMO is irresponsible 'governance' – writ large across the entire spectrum. Not too much imagination required from those who understand the way in which the upper middle layers work – the word from the top filters down to the comfortably ensconced - “put a lid on this and play it down” - “right away” says the mid level nameless chump, conscious only of the rice bowl and protection thereof.
The Cowper story is an excellent example of abrogation and deception where the elected pass the buck down stream, to a place far removed from their office to the un-elected. Millions spent on a pointless Flag waving, publicity stunt and a legitimate safety concern from the Masters of large ships with 400 lives on board can be shuffled down the ranks and played away to a 'nothing to see here – move along' event. Its not good enough is it? Nowhere near.
Aye well:- “hush, hush, Whisper who dares; the government is saying it's prayers.” No matter:- Bravo Captain Cowper; well done Matt O'Sullivan, and thank you AMSA (on behalf of the men, women and children of Sydney siders ferry using fraternity).
(Sotto voce) - Toot – toot.