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The final ATSB report into the crash of a Cessna next to a WA highway revealed CASA received multiple complaints against the airline before the incident, including allegations of “bullying” and an “oppressive culture”.
Investigators probing the June 2023 crash of VH-DAW, a Cessna 310 flown by Broome Aviation, uncovered multiple reports to the regulator from former passengers and employees which appeared to detail poor management and unsafe operational practices.
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The pilot suffered major facial injuries and a passenger was mildly injured when the light plane ran out of fuel and crashed near the Derby Highway en route from Broome to Turkey Creek.
The ATSB report suggested CASA failed to properly investigate the complaints and “did not fully” assess the ability of a key member of Broome Aviation’s staff to do the job, in the belief it was an interim appointment.
“There was an oppressive culture at the organisation, based on bullying and pressure from the CEO that ‘preys on junior pilots’,” read one complaint in November 2022, more than half a year before the crash.
According to the ATSB, that complaint also detailed instances of “pilots being forced to fly aircraft at night with unserviceable instruments, pilots being advised to fly outside legal operational requirements, [and] comments made to pilots to ignore issues or defects with aircraft”.
A common theme among the complaints, as well as from interviews the ATSB conducted after the incident, was pilots feeling pressure to “get the job done” regardless of safety or training, the report said.
“Operational pressure from the organisation and their management is forcing pilots to make unsafe decisions in flight,” one complaint read.
“A report to CASA is better than trying to reason with the company. The mentality of not only managers but also the owner isn’t conducive to safe aviation practices.”
Another former pilot said: “I knew that either I was going to be involved in something that I shouldn’t be or that an incident was going to happen.”
Broome Aviation has taken a range of safety actions in response to the accident, the ATSB’s investigation, and CASA’s audits. These include updating its operations manual, incorporating an in-flight fuel management procedure, and appointing a full-time HOFO and an alternative HOFO.
It has also modified its check and training system, changed processes to ensure all defects are reported, and has implemented a safety management system in line with the current regulations, with monthly safety meetings now held to address safety concerns.
CASA advised that it would consider the issues of organisational pressure when it conducts its next surveillance event on the operator.
Broome Aviation declined to comment.
