CASA Director of Aviation Safety, John McCormick, has flatly rejected any allegations that CASA and the ATSB colluded over the Pel-Air ditching report.
In a statement made to the Senate Committee on Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport (RRAT), McCormick made CASA's position on allegations very clear.
"I completely reject any allegation that CASA has in anyway colluded with the ATSB or encouraged it to produce a report less critical of CASA or Pel-Air," he said in an opening statement to the committee last Monday.
"CASA's dealings with the ATSB throughout our respective investigations have been entirely appropriate, transparent and consistent with applicable laws and policies.
"Where there was no legal constraint on its ability to do so on request, CASA has provided the ATSB with all documentation it has been asked to provide and at no time has CASA asked, suggested or implied to the ATSB that it should focus with more or less severity on any individual or organisation in the conduct of its investigation or in the formulation of its findings."
The allegations of collusion gained momentum in earlier evidence by aviation investigation expert Bryan Aherne, who stated that his opinion of why certain factors were missing from the report swapped from "incompetence" to "omission" after seeing the CASA special audit report done on Pel-Air after the accident.
"In light of the CASA special audit now in the public arena, I believe that the ATSB report is partly incompetence but I am now of the opinion that it contains deliberate and intentional omission of safety critical facts and evidence which would substantially change the findings and analysis," he said in a statement.
"Any aviation safety professional who reads the drafts and the final report alongside the now public special audit can only form the same reasonable conclusions. I believe the committee should determine whether there has in fact been an attempt to breach the TSI [Transport Safety Investigation] Act 2003."
Much of the evidence provided to the RRAT committee was given in-camera, but the public transcript in available on the Senate website here.