Chief Pilot Suspended 2 Years Ago
The Age
Saturday June 3, 2000
The Civil Aviation Safety Authority reinstated the suspended chief pilot of Whyalla Airlines, Mr Kym Brougham, in April despite finding in 1997 that he was contemptuous of licensing conditions and failed to properly roster and train crew, it has been revealed.
CASA conceded last night that it approved the chief pilot's return to the skies on April 12 after the replacement chief pilot left the company, even though the company had flown at least two passenger flights in breach of regulations.
CASA spokesman Peter Gibson described the breaches as technical and said the company was counselled. He said there had not been any reason to ground the company previously.
The head of Whyalla Airlines, Chris Brougham, yesterday defended his company, which owned the passenger plane that crashed in the sea off South Australia on Wednesday.
Mr Brougham said criticisms of the airline's performance and operation by CASA's former chairman, Dick Smith, were ``grossly unfair".
He said at no time had Whyalla Airlines been grounded by CASA and while CASA had not always been happy with management procedures it was more than happy with standards of safety, maintenance and pilot training.
``At all times we have been the holders of an Airline Operators Certificate," he said.
He said the company acknowledged there had been several operational incidents in the past five years, but in each case corrective action had been taken.
Mr Smith said yesterday that the company had been involved in an episode three years ago in which an aircraft was damaged when it touched down with its wheels up. He said the pilot showed considerable skill and took to the air again before the propellors hit the tarmac.
Kym Brougham was the instructor on board the aircraft, but a private pilot doing night training was in control.
Mr Smith said the company did not report the incident and set about repairing the damage itself.
``Unlucky for them a CASA inspector happened to be walking past," he said. Mr Smith said company officials had to admit that they had nearly crashed the plane.
A team of Australian Transport Safety Bureau investigators arrived in Whyalla yesterday to investigate this week's incident.
A December 1997 CASA report into Kym Brougham was scathing of his attitude and abilities. The report was written after a June 1997 incident in which the same plane that crashed on Wednesday landed 200 kilometres short of its destination after running out of fuel. Kym Brougham was the pilot. Chris Brougham said his brother Kym, who is the other owner of the company and an experienced flyer, was suspended over the incident.
``Pilots aren't supposed to make those sorts of errors," Mr Brougham said. ``We were investigated by CASA, we made changes to the process and we took other action particularly in relation to the pilot." -- with SMH
© 2000 The Age
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