Grounding of affordable air services to the Torres Strait has forced travellers to make perilous trips in open boats for months while Skytrans submits flight data to prove routes are safe.
Skytrans has been conducting safety tests to prove to the Civil Aviation Safety Authority that commercial flights with full payloads can safely resume on Mabuiag Island after the regulator changed the rules in November 2022. Video: Supplied
This week flight data recorded on a series of passenger-free flights that touched down and took off from Mabuiag and Erub islands was sent to the Civil Aviation Safety Authority in a desperate bid for the regulator to see reason.
In October last year changes to the enforcement of civil aviation orders limited short runway operations and effectively grounded Skytrans Cessna Caravan aircraft servicing Mer, Erub and Mabuiag islands.
Aerial shot of the Mabuiag Island airstrip which is one of the shortest in Australia.
Despite operations in line with manufacturers specifications, CASA regulations add a safety buffer to take bad weather, pilot error and aborted takeoff into account, meaning the 460m strip on Mabuiag is too short.
Services have returned to Mer Island but no commercial service at Erub and Mabuiag islands has forced locals to make dicey open water crossings in small boats for eight months.
Tragedy predicted last year came to pass last week with the drowning of Wendy Richardson who was flipped out of a tinnie while travelling in bad weather between Badu and Mabuiag islands.
Wendy Richardson (left) with her sisters Julie Ryan and Lindy Shepherd. Picture: Supplied
Skytrans has a largely unblemished safety record of more than 20 years.
Quizzed in a Senate Estimates hearing by Senator Susan McDonald, CASA chief executive officer Pip Spence was asked about legislative change to get flights back.
“It has been one of the most difficult issues that I’ve dealt with since I have been in CASA,” Ms Spence said.
“Everything in me says these people desperately need these services. The alternatives are so terrible.”
However, compassion and understanding from the CASA boss failed to shift an eight month deadlock for Mabuiag and Erub islands.
Skytrans Group chief executive Alan Milne. Picture: Brendan Radke
Skytrans Group chief executive Alan Milne indicated the regulator had a moral responsibility to evenly balance airline safety against often dangerous alternative transport options.
“We have tried to convince CASA that it’s safe and in accordance with manufacturer’s specifications,” he said.
“We did reach the upper levels of CASA and there was that understanding that ‘yes’ we need to do something to help get this sorted.”
CASA has agreed to accept flight data from tests at Darnley and Mabuiag islands this week but Mr Milne couldn’t say how long the regulator would take to analyse data and grant a short landing exemption.
Wendy Richardson went missing southeast of Mabuiag Island. Picture: Google Maps
Senator McDonald was frustrated by an issue that was made a problem by CASA which it was now working to resolve.
“ (CASA has) identified an issue that didn’t have a problem and now a whole lot of people have a worse problem,” she said.
Leichhardt MP Warren Entsch said the terrible irony of the situation, was days after the disappearance of remote speech therapist Ms Richardson off Mabuiag, Skytrans was testing takeoff distances substituting passengers with water barrels.
“Whose life is going to be next? This has had a huge impact on the people up there and effectively cut them off,” he said.
The 10 seat Cessna Caravan2b operated by Skytrans. Picture: Skytrans
“In the interest of safety CASA is taking (the travellers) off a carrier that has never had an accident and in my view that decision has cost the loss of Wendy’s life.
“It’s a bloody disgrace and there is no excuse for it.”
A CASA spokeswoman told the Cairns Post every decision was made with the safety of passengers in mind.
“We have been working with Skytrans and providing progressive approvals to enable them to continue operating safely,” she said.
EDITOR’S OPINION: Demand for urgent review
A regional airline’s evidence of it being able to land and takeoff safely on Mabuiag and Erub islands should lead to an urgent review of last year’s decision to stop flights.
In October last year, changes to the enforcement of civil aviation orders limited short runway operations – grounding Skytransaircraft servicing Mer, Erub and Mabuiag islands.
Services have returned to Mer Island but not Erub or Mabuiag, forcing those needing to travel to either make open water crossingsin small boats or expensive charter flights.
Locals feared the decision would put people at risk. Those fears were realised last week when speech pathologist Wendy Richardsonwas flipped out of a tinnie and drowned while travelling between Badu and Mabuiag islands.
Today the Cairns Post launches its campaign, Rally for Runways, calling on the Civil Aviation Safety Authority to urgentlycomplete a review into its decision to halt flights. We acknowledge the Mabuiag runway is short at 460m, and the dangers associatedwith that must be considered. But Skytrans has an unblemished safety record of more than 20 years. And now the worst imaginablescenario has eventuated. Fears were first aired in November last year when Leichhardt MP Warren Entsch labelled it a “bloody disgrace”.
“This is an important issue, it’s putting Torres islanders at risk and into dinghies,” he said at the time.
Ms Richardson, a speech pathologist, dedicated her life to the most vulnerable and now, according to Mr Entsch, has paid dearly, because of the decision made last year.
“Whose life is going to be next? This has had a huge impact on the people up there and effectively cut them off,” he said.
“In the interest of safety CASA is taking (the travellers) off a carrier that has never had an accident and in my view thatdecision has cost the loss of Wendy’s life.”
The safety of people in the air must be considered but last week’s tragedy is indicative of what might transpire in the future. And we cannot allow that to happen again.
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