Dick Smith Flyer
Dick Smith's letter to Kerry O'Brien re Avalon Airport
By Dick Smith
Aug 21, 2007, 12:46
Kerry O’Brien
7.30 Report
ABC Television
700 Harris St
ULTIMO NSW 2007 |
Dear Kerry
$100,000 CHEQUE TO PROVIDE AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL AT AVALON AIRPORT
I am dismayed at the revelations in relation to the way that the Treasurer’s spin doctor could get a story stopped on the ABC’s 7.30 Report. I refer of course to Michael Brissenden’s account of what happened. I particularly liked his comment “I think it matters because it is about integrity and honesty”. Of course it shows me and other members of the viewing public just how beholden your reporters are to a system which many would view as dishonest.
It is interesting how you attack people such as John Laws and Alan Jones but keep secret how your own journalists are acting.
Does this explain why the 7.30 Report has never covered the important safety issues mentioned in my ‘Unsafe Skies’ presentation (Attachment A)?
On 28 June 2006 I sent out the attached press release (Attachment B) which stated:
WORLD RECORD
Over 1 Million Passenger Movements Without Air Traffic Control
Dick Smith to Give Special “Risk” Awards to the ATSB and Airservices Australia
Avalon Airport, near Melbourne has now operated for two years with over 1 million passengers in “dirt road” uncontrolled airspace.
Dick Smith said, “This is a world record not even achieved in Africa and other third world countries. How long will the Government hold its nerve?
It is a form of Russian Roulette with small planes mixing with large jets on a “do it yourself” system.
Dick Smith said “I plan to give a special award to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) for keeping the safety incidents out of the media so that Qantas can maximise its profits.”
“It is obvious that profits paid to executives of airlines and regulators can quickly comprise safety” said Dick Smith.
Even though I believed at the time that the 7.30 Report had been completely “captured” by the Airservices Australia spin doctors, I sent a copy of the press release to both your Sydney and Melbourne offices. Amazingly, a few days later I received a phone call from your Melbourne 7.30 Report journalist, Mr Mick Bunworth. He could not believe my claims and said he wanted to do a major story and would I be prepared to be interviewed? Of course I agreed. He then asked if he could get evidence of my claims from other people. I gave him the name of Mr Alan Webber, an officer who had recently been employed at Avalon Airport and had been with Qantas for over 21 years as an air safety inspector. Mr Webber was also a pilot and very concerned about a number of near misses and other safety incidents that had taken place at Avalon Airport, caused because no air traffic control was operating.
Within days Mr Bunworth interviewed Mr Webber for over one hour with a full crew, ie a substantial amount of money was spent. I must admit at the time I was totally sceptical as I believed that you and the 7.30 Report had been completely captured by the spin doctors employed by Airservices Australia. I had been told that Airservices had employed John Connolly and Partners’ Gabrielle Trainor, whose job it was to assist in preventing any negative reports on Airservices Australia.
A number of weeks later, when nothing appeared on the 7.30 Report and when it was obvious that I was not going to be interviewed, I contacted Mr Webber. He said that the interview had gone ahead but he had been recently phoned by Mr Bunworth to state they were not going ahead with the segment because they “could not get a Jetstar pilot to confirm claims that were made”.
I tried to contact Mr Bunworth but I was told by your Melbourne office that he had gone to work for Al Jazeera! I knew instantly the excuse (in relation to the Jetstar pilot) was ridiculous, as they could lose their jobs if they speak out and that once again the 7.30 Report had been captured – in a similar way to the situation where the Treasurer’s Press Secretary rang your Mr Michael Brissenden to stop the story.
What other explanation could there be? The segment would have made fantastic television. You could have shown Qantas Jetstar Airbus jets taking off in front of the tower but then zoomed in to show that there was absolutely no one in the tower at all, the whole thing being one giant con.
Kerry, since that date there have been a growing number of serious safety incidents at Avalon Airport It is obvious there is going to be a major mid air collision at Avalon Airport in the very near future. Surely you can understand that.
I believe the same “capturing” happened when I published my book ‘Unsafe Skies’ which described among other things the way that the 7.30 Report had distorted a story on Broome Airport. I had been pushing for a number of years for Broome Airport to have controlled airspace because of the very high number of passenger numbers and the serious incidents which were occurring. Your people had interviewed me at great length but then cut the interview to give the Australian public the clear impression that I was actually pushing for lower safety at Broome Airport – the opposite to the truth.
I immediately wrote to you after this interview went to air asking for equal time to explain the truth. You did not even answer me. Obviously the spin doctors are so powerful with you and the 7.30 Report that you could not resist their spin. I can imagine how it went, “Oh, Dick Smith is just an amateur, he wouldn’t know, we are the professionals”.
Note that after I published ‘Unsafe Skies’ the 7.30 Report gave no coverage to the claims I made. These claims included the fact that Airservices Australia controllers turned off the alarm system on five separate occasions, not telling the pilot of a Cheyenne flying to Benalla that he was off course, resulting in six deaths. An incredible story – but you did not cover it. The only explanation can be that you have been completely captured by the Airservices Australia spin doctors.
Here is an even more important story. That is, why Civil Air, the air traffic controllers union, which you are usually close to, has never made a public mention of the necessity for air traffic controllers to man the Avalon tower, despite the serious safety incidents that are occurring and despite the fact that there are now over one million passenger movements a year? Now that would be fantastic television drama - probably win another Logie.
Or what about a segment on why the Shadow Minister for Aviation, Mr Martin Ferguson, has never ever mentioned or supported a call for the Avalon tower to be manned by air traffic controllers when Qantas Jetstar are operating. I just wonder how he is being captured. I bet the truth to that story could win a Logie.
Kerry, I believe you are really letting Australia down. There will unfortunately be blood on your hands when the inevitable accident occurs and it becomes apparent that you have not only suppressed stories on the need for air traffic control but you have also run stories which are quite dishonest and inaccurate and have prevented airports being upgraded to controlled airspace.
The matter is now extremely serious. Only a few months ago a Qantas Jetstar Airbus aircraft, fully loaded with passengers, took off from Avalon Airport without giving any radio calls at all. The chance of a mid air collision is great in such circumstances. Can you imagine if a similar thing happened at Sydney Airport? It would end up on the newspapers right around the world and on the television news everywhere. What actually caused this serious safety deficiency? I have no idea, it could have been human error or equipment error. We will probably never know because the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) being captured (just as the ABC’s 7.30 Report) did not undertake an investigation.
Come to think of it, that story itself could probably win a Logie if it was covered!
I sincerely believe that because of the growing number of movements and the complete lack of any air traffic control or even a local radio operator at Avalon, it will only be months before there will be a major mid-air collision with hundreds of lives being lost. Because of that, I am prepared to pay for the tower (that exists already) to be manned. I enclose a cheque for $100,000 made out to Airservices Australia.
I am not sending it directly to them because they will not accept it and they will use their spin doctors to distort my offer and stop any change.
I hope this cheque will give you a chance to do a proper story about the neglect. You could cover in your segment how the Wikipedia posting on Avalon Airport shows a beautiful photo of the tower (Attachment C) but does not make it clear that the tower is not manned when Qantas Jetstar operate. Little do Qantas Jetstar passengers know that in fact the tower is only manned when the Prime Minister comes in to land or if the military do some training flights in a small King Air.
This risky system has never been tried anywhere in the world that I know of. Even in Africa, probably one of the most dangerous places to fly, I have never encountered a local airport with jet airline traffic not having air traffic control or at least a radio operator to confirm that the radio is on frequency or there are other aircraft nearby.
I have explained to you before that there is a financial benefit for the Airservices Australia executives not to have the tower operating. This is because all small towers lose money for Airservices and the executives depend on a substantial part of their pay on the bonus of the profits of the organisation. (Come to think of it, that is a great story in itself that could feature in the 7.30 Report – that too could win a Logie.)
My offer is for the money to be used to pay controllers to man the existing tower when the Qantas Jetstar airline aircraft operate. This tower should be manned under the government National Airspace Policy as approved by Cabinet with Class D airspace. Airservices Australia are already running such towers in the United States and as it is obvious that the Australian controllers who are members of Civil Air do not wish to man the tower, it will be necessary to get Airservices Australia employees from the USA to do so. I am sure they will be readily available. The costs will be a lot lower and safety will be dramatically improved.
Kerry, the decision needs to be made immediately as traffic is increasing dramatically at Avalon and so are the incidents (Attachment D). I trust you will contact Airservices and I look forward to your major story on this issue and the handing over of the cheque to get air traffic control operating at Avalon.
Yours faithfully
Dick Smith
Correction - Mr Alan Webber has pointed out that he worked for Qantas as the Flight Training Administration Officer.