Air Force chief looks to solve civil aviation issue

[rooster59]

Air Force chief looks to solve civil aviation issue

BANGKOK, 30 October 2015 (NNT) - Air Force commander-in-chief ACM Trithot Sonchaeng has inspected progress in the fixing of defects in Thailand's civil aviation, particularly involving international safety standards.

ACM Monton Satchukorn, the spokesman of the Command Center for Resolving Civil Aviation Issues (CRCA), disclosed that the Air Force chief held a meeting with CRCA members as well as representatives from government agencies and airline companies at the Air Force headquarters.

Representatives of the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had earlier inspected the results of defect-fixing efforts on October 27-28.

However, the Air Force mission to fix defects in the Thai civil aviation will be continued on in cooperation with the civil aviation organizations of several countries such as the Executive Office of the European Aviation Safety (EASA).

The European agency as well as the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) are yet to evaluate the results of such defect-fixing mission from 9th-13th November 2015.

-- NNT 2015-10-31

[eliotness]

I guess the 14th Nov will be the crunch date. Let's see if these big boys have teeth or just huff and puff.

[Srikcir]

Air Force Chief looks to solve civil aviation issue

PM Prayut looks to become the greatest PM in history

“The future depends on what you do today." - Mahatma Gandhi

"Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment." - Buddha (translated)

[springheeled jack]

they know what needs to be fixed they were told by the caa all they have to do is get on with the job instead of getting someone to verify the facts.

[Always18]

I'm sure that having such a self-important, patronage-and-payment appointee "inspect progress" will reassure the C.A.A. that their concerns are being properly addressed....................

[tigermonkey]

One of the issues that ICAO looks at in their evaluation of a countries effectiveness in regulating their aviation safety, is the independence, lack of bias and freedom from outside influence, of the regulatory body. In Thailand, that regulatory body is the DCA. They also look for the organisations being regulated, such as airlines and airports, to be completely independent of the regulatory body.

The DCA is a directly controlled department of the Thai Ministry of Transport and has no independence, and is entirely directed by the whims of whatever government is in power. Recently, the DCA has come under the control of the new Command Centre for Resolving Civil Aviation Issues (CRCA), which has been set up at the last minute under the control of the Thai Air Force to appear to resolve the DCA problems.

The DCA is responsible for regulating the 28 domestic airports (which they own), the six international airports which are majority owned by the Treasury, all airlines based in Thailand, including THAI and Thai Smile (which are majority owned by the Treasury). There is absolutely no independence of regulation and enforcement. The situation is little different from police ownership of gambling dens and brothels.

I am not surprised that they only have 18 regulatory inspectors in their staff of 1500, and those inspectors probably do their inspections by phone. Their regulatory manuals are decades out of date, but this is not important when those you are regulating are all family.

[tomross46]

Make and hold execuatives accountable. This has been for many years an Old Boys Club. I remember when Mr. Wanglee was the CEO of Thai International, it was profitabe and ran smothley. That was when the PM was General Prem. Government agencies through the world, do not care about their bottom line, they care about how they look to the higher ups.

[gandalf12]

If they are just starting then dont bother. The industry can not be fixed in the time left. They have talked and talked about how everything is in order and now they say they are going to take care of it; this has to be a joke. The airlines should be blacked by the FAA until proper measures are put in place and checked that they are being maintained for several months at least. After that period unannounced spot visits to check

[chainarong]

I guess the 14th Nov will be the crunch date. Let's see if these big boys have teeth or just huff and puff.

Don't worry , if the Thai DCA don't come up to scratch , they will just restrict their operations in US air space, then the UN will follow and the EU, you don't mess about in this type of industry, especially regarding air worthiness

[chainarong]

You have to wounder just how confident the Air force is with the DCA audit, however Air forces every where don't have an civil aviation audit they are military so therefore are exempt, they do their own audits , so depending on how efficient the military is would reflect how well their air force performs, one can reflect on that and pray.

[GreerLudly]

You have to wounder just how confident the Air force is with the DCA audit, however Air forces every where don't have an civil aviation audit they are military so therefore are exempt, they do their own audits , so depending on how efficient the military is would reflect how well their air force performs, one can reflect on that and pray.

In Thailand, I often find myself thinking that confidence is rather higher than it should be and competence is rather lower than it should be. I might well be wrong, but I doubt Air Traffic issues will accommodate an extension or an accommodation in the same way that illegal fishing or human trafficking might. But I expect we'll see, perhaps it can be fudged because everyone's afraid of upsetting or otherwise losing the influential friendship of Thailand...

Or so Mr Prayuth would have us all think.

Edited October 31, 2015 by GreerLudly

[gandalf12]

You have to wounder just how confident the Air force is with the DCA audit, however Air forces every where don't have an civil aviation audit they are military so therefore are exempt, they do their own audits , so depending on how efficient the military is would reflect how well their air force performs, one can reflect on that and pray.

In Thailand, I often find myself thinking that confidence is rather higher than it should be and competence is rather lower than it should be. I might well be wrong, but I doubt Air Traffic issues will accommodate an extension or an accommodation in the same way that illegal fishing or human trafficking might. But I expect we'll see, perhaps it can be fudged because everyone's afraid of upsetting or otherwise losing the influential friendship of Thailand...

Or so Mr Prayuth would have us all think.

It will be hard to fool the FAA. They have seen it all before

[geriatrickid]

Make and hold execuatives accountable. This has been for many years an Old Boys Club. I remember when Mr. Wanglee was the CEO of Thai International, it was profitabe and ran smothley. That was when the PM was General Prem. Government agencies through the world, do not care about their bottom line, they care about how they look to the higher ups.

Another "It was good back in the day / Good Old days" delusional claim.

Many of the large airlines back then were making sizeable profits courtesy of customers who were paying significantly higher air fares (in today's money). There was no Air Asia, no Jet Star, no Tiger, and no LCC charters. TG had the domestic market to itself and a greater share of the international market landing in Thailand because of protectionism. General Prem ruled Thailand at a time when there was little regional competition. China had yet to enter the aviation sector, Vietnam was still recovering from a devastating war, Cambodia was a basket case because of the Khmer Rouge legacy, etc.

You then make an unfounded and obnoxious claim about government agencies. Do you have any idea how the air transportation safety agencies operate in the west? It is easy to make ignorant unfounded claims, but it is more difficult to explain how agencies tasked with ensuring safety and compliance are to carry out their responsibilities when they are under staffed and under funded. You claim that the agencies are useless. Fine. Don't fly. It's those safety agencies that ensure the aircraft you take to fly to the west are safe and operated in a prudent manner.

[natway09]

Is there no one better qualified to undertake this mission?

The air force cannot even keep its own planes, heles & blimps in the air