[Peetwo]

Hoodlum to take over from Beaker -

Well here's a turn up for the books, from Binger courtesy of the Oz:

New ATSB chief Greg Hood faces tough choice

• Mitchell Bingemann
  
• The Australian
  
• May 6, 2016 12:00AM
  

Greg Hood, who will be the next ATSB chief. Picture: Roger Lovell

The federal government has appointed former Airservices executive Greg Hood to replace Martin Dolan as the head of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau.

The appointment will be announced today by Minister for ­Infrastructure and Transport Darren Chester, who will grant Mr Hood a five-year term, starting from July 1, 2016, as the chief commissioner of the ATSB.

Mr Hood will replace Mr Dolan, who has been in the media spotlight for the past two years as the head of the search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.
As one of his first duties, Mr Hood will have to make the difficult decision whether or not to continue the search for the missing aircraft.

“The way I see it, there is still 15,000sq km to go and it would be remiss of us not to continue being hopeful until that area is searched,” Mr Hood told The Australian. “MH370 and what transpires with the search will be my biggest immediate challenge.

“But any decision to extend, expand or curtail the search will be a very delicate decision to be taken in conjunction with the Australian, Malaysian and Chinese governments.”

In 18 months of searching, submersible vessels equipped with cutting-edge sonar equipment have not been able find any trace of the Boeing 777, which was on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 passengers when it disappeared on March 8, 2014.

The search — which has cost Australian taxpayers about $90 million — is expected to cease by the end of June if no fresh evidence is found.

Mr Hood has more than 30 years’ experience in the transport sector, most recently as executive general manager of Air Traffic Control at Airservices Australia.

He previously held several senior management positions in the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASE) including executive manager of the Operations Division.

“This appointment will enable the ATSB to continue to perform its vital role as the national transport safety investigator to the high standards expected by Australians,” Mr Chester said.

    
Still absorbing the implications of this appointment, 1st take is that this is actually a very good thing. One thing Hoody definitely knows is where all the shelf-wared skeletons of PelAir cover-up & Airtex/Skymaster (Canleyvale tragedy) are buried...

Time will tell whether he can return 'Reason' & credibility to the ATSB but he definitely is not a Muppet like Dolan with NFI...  



MTF...P2