FED: CASA must learn from Lockhart plane crash report - Vaile

AAP General News (Australia)
04-04-2007
FED: CASA must learn from Lockhart plane crash report - Vaile

SYDNEY, April 4 AAP - Australia's aviation safety regulator has lessons to learn after
the release of a report on a fatal plane crash today, federal Transport Minister Mark
Vaile says.

Fifteen people died when the TransAir-operated Fairchild Metroliner plane crashed into
a mountain near Lockhart River in far north Queensland in May 2005.

Pilot error and poor maintenance were at the core of the crash, one of Australia's
worst aviation accidents, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) said in a report
released today.

Mr Vaile said he had written to the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) chief executive
Bruce Byron asking that he make a detailed assessment of the implications of the report
for future safety regulation, and reply with what action the organisation would take on
the findings.

He said from his reading of the report, it was recommending that CASA pay more attention
to regional airline operators and give greater emphasis to surveillance of them.

"Somebody buying a ticket to fly on a commercial airline in Australia is entitled to
the expectation that the airline is safe to travel with and has the certification of the
safety regulator," Mr Vaile told reporters.

"As far as I'm concerned, CASA needs to do whatever is necessary to fulfil that obligation."

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KEYWORD: LOCKHART VAILE

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