Monday, November 15, 2010

Investigator questions Jetstar safety

A Jetstar training captain and former air-accident investigator has raised concerns about safety standards at the low-cost airline, saying some cabin crew are not properly trained for emergencies and its safety department is not adequately resourced.

In a submission to a Senate inquiry into aviation training and standards, Geoff Klouth said the airline had reduced the time spent on training new attendants, resulting in some cabin crew completing their courses without operating on its A321 aircraft.

"They have been unable to 'arm' doors. Arming the doors is necessary to allow for the automatic deployment of the emergency escape slide if the aircraft has to be evacuated," he said in his submission.

Mr Klouth, a Jetstar pilot and a former senior investigator at the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, said captains had stood down some flight attendants because of their lack of safety training for the A321s, which was a "symptom of the reduction [by Jetstar] in resources and training".

A Jetstar spokesman, Simon Westaway, said the airline demanded its flight attendants meet the highest of safety standards and this had been the case since it was launched in 2003. "We require a very high standard … and we stand by the training regime we have in place," he said. "We have sound resourcing right across the business, including in our safety department."

Mr Klouth was a fleet investigator in Jetstar's safety department when one of its aircraft made an aborted landing in Melbourne on June 21, 2007. Although he said there was not a "deliberate attempt to conceal information", there were "no protocols that required the ATSB to be informed of subsequent information" about the incident. His role as a fleet investigator was a part-time position as he was also a first officer.

Mr Klouth said his investigation into the Melbourne incident was limited by a "lack of resources" in the department. "As a part-time investigator I was not provided with a computer and had to provide my own, and I was not even allocated a desk," he said in the submission. "An airline safety department should be audited, possibly by CASA [the Civil Aviation Safety Authority], to ensure that sufficient resources are provided."

He wants airline safety departments to be forced to send copies of any internal investigation to the safety bureau. "Not all incidents that have been investigated by Jetstar have been reported to the ATSB," he said.

Mr Westaway said the airline provided up to 40 per cent more incident reports to the ATSB than it was required to, and the safety bureau had issued a final report in March about the Melbourne incident. "We stand steadfastly by the safety culture - you only have to look at our record," he said.

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