Qantas pilot cover-up..."You should not have been allowed to fly from that time".

 

Dr. Phillip's critical report on Qantas.   Read this first and see the cover-up
 

I state again that, in the circumstances, and keeping safety in mind, you should not have been allowed to fly from that time. Further, you should not have been allowed to fly again, until there was unequivocal evidence that you had completed a successful course of treatment.

Taking all of the above into consideration, I believe there is strong clinical evidence that you developed OCD in 1978 at the time when you felt a compulsion to crash your4car. The second and more significant episode of OCD occurred on 29 August 1979, with a similar episode on 30 August 1979, but against a background of slowly increasing phobic anxiety. Your then recent onset of OCD raises significant safety issues. Even assuming a less stringent concern about safety matters at the time, you should have been stood down from flying. Further, you should have not been allowed to return to your aviation career until safety could be guaranteed.

It remains my opinion that you developed a significant disability in 1979 which was not adequately addressed by Qantas, particularly in terms of removing you from flying, and in the organising of best available treatment, and carrying out a very careful post treatment assessment to ensure that you were fit to fly and that you would not place passengers and the general public at risk.
 
 
A letter from CASA showing that Qantas wouldn't get away with their cover-up today.

Dear Mr Griffin
 I refer to your letter of 9 February 2009 to Mr Bruce Byron, Chief Executive Officer of the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) regarding a medical issue during, your employment at Qantas. Mr Byron has asked me to respond on his behalf.
 However, if a current pilot had similar symptoms (to those of yours in 1979) it is likely that CASA would recommend further investigation of the medical condition and may, depending on the circumstances, ask that the pilot discontinue flying pending the results of the investigation.
Yours sincerely
Shane Carmody
Deputy Chief Executive Officer Strategy & Support
 
Barrister and Arbitrator Derek Minus had this to say.
In my view, looking in detail at the facts of this matter that where extensively reviewed and reported on by five psychiatrists, a number of whom were of particular eminence, it is clear that the Applicant's condition of obsessive compulsive behaviour has a constitutional basis but was made evident after a non-work-related incident in 1973. There was at least one earlier incident which occurred prior to that on 29 August 1979. There is no explanation provided as to why the incident on the flight deck of the Qantas 747 occurred that suggests it was caused by his employment or even to the standard required by s 6 of the 1926 Act, that the employment was a "contributing factor".  
 
Barrister John Catsanos from Henry Parkes Chamber had this to say.

"So, in my submission, on a causation basis the medical evidence falls thunderously short of establishing causation. I just want to make it clear that I'm not in any way attempting to trivialise the circumstances and events which Mr Griffin has deposed to, the lengthy information that he's provided in relation to his condition, I don't seek to trivialise it to say that there's any untruth in it. What I say is that as a matter of causation it can't be visited upon Qantas and there's just no evidence to support it."

 

 
Associate Clinical Professor Jonathan Phillips had this to say.
  I believe it is fanciful to consider that your accident on 15 November 1973 had any relationship with the obsessive compulsive disorder which became problematic in 1979.   Simply, a brain injury needs to be severe if it is to be associated with any substantive psychiatric disorder including obsessive compulsive disorder. 
The fact that your obsessive compulsive disorder began in the course of your employment with Qantas is obvious.   But for your position as first officer, and concerns regarding possible questioning by the check captain, you probably would have not developed obsessive compulsive symptoms associated with loss of all generators. 
 
Who do you believe. Qantas believe the barrister.
To read the transcript click here.

 

How LOW will Qantas fly to cover up their irresponsible actions?
Their high profile legal team headed by John Bell will not accept that my illness was caused by my employment with Qantas.
How many more medical reports similar to that of Professor Phillips below will it take for them to accept their responsibilities?
 

 
Would you like to have been flown by a suicidal 747 pilot? Read this website and decide if their ETHICS are similar to Hardies.
Leigh Clifford, I as a shareholder hope that you can bring some honesty and morals to Qantas

Here is another stupid act of Qantas putting your life at risk. Who wants to be in an aircraft without the captain in charge of himself, let alone the aircraft.

Read a captain's chilling account of my compulsion and how Qantas ignored warning signals.
 
Read how Qantas broke the law in clearing me to fly.
 
See who else Qantas gives free trips to for favours
Perhaps someone could explain to CASA their own rules. In a letter from Bruce Byron, their CEO, he said that there was insufficient evidence to fail my medical. Does he mean then that it is OK for a pilot to fly a Qantas 747 with the compulsion to shut down all engines? Read the cover-up letter to protect CASA and Qantas. Who in their right mind would clear a pilot with a compulsion like this to fly?    Have your say and email CASA and Qantas. Last October Qantas second officer Matthew Morgan committed suicide while on a stopover in Los Angeles.   What did Qantas and CASA know about that?            Read the CASA cover-up
 
 

It might even put you off getting on another Qantas aircraft. Imagine your family trying to get compensation as many are trying to do now..

Would you have wanted to fly with this pilot?  Qantas gave you no choice and made you.

Read this bizarre report from Psychiatrist Dr. Ellard from the Northside Clinic, Sydney.

On this unsubstantiated opinion Qantas put YOUR life at risk. 

Full details of this report in letter number 3 further below.

"I think that first officer Griffin comes into this category. It is quite common for those who are phobic about heights to have the fear of voluntarily jumping off the edge of a cliff (When they are standing on one) and many people standing on a railway station have a sudden urge to jump in front of a train as it comes in. First Officer Griffin's obsessional thoughts are in this category and not very far removed from normality. One might mention in passing that quite a number of women who have babies have obsessional thoughts about throwing their babies out of the window.

It is extremely unlikely that he would ever perform any of the acts which preoccupy him and I would have no hesitation in certifying him for all flying duties."

If I was in the same category, statistics from NSW Government show that some women

HAVE KILLED THEIR BABIES and similarly I could have SHUT DOWN THE ENGINES.

Note.. The Northside Clinic will not endorse Dr. Ellard's diagnosis. Hmmm.

 Parents affected by a mental illness    http://www.kids.nsw.gov.au/kids/resources/publications/childdeathreview.cfm

Why then would a responsible airline clear such a pilot when two previous psychiatrists reports showed ( according to CASA regulations below) that he shouldn't.

In the report by Dr. Degotardi (Letter No. 1 in my file) the key factors are in the last two paragraphs.

 

This man has now a neurotic phobic anxiety reaction, which has been present in an acute form for 5 years and has become markedly worse for the last 4 or 5 days. It is likely that this disorder will continue without treatment and that he will experience further panic attacks similar to the one Last Friday. Those symptoms could be relieved by anxiety controlling drugs but these may effect his ability to fly and therefore would be no answer while on duty. He may be responsive to psycho-therapy, but this would be prolonged and of un-certain outcome. There is even a possibility of spontaneous recovery.

Behavior therapy with appropriately aligned deconditioning may be effective but this is also uncertain with strong probabilities of re-emergence of symptoms eve when originally successful.

 

In the report by Dr. White (Letter number 2 in my file) his key points were.

In summary there is no doubt that he presents a case of phobic anxiety state, a fairly common neurosis, as also described by Dr. Colin Degotardi after his interview on 4the September,1979.

Medication can relieve the strength of the symptoms but does not attempt to deal with the cause. Psychotherapy which could be of some length being an hour or two a week for some years may or not help to alleviate the condition.

Behaviour conditioning could well be tried and this would involve the teaching of muscle relaxation, a state which inhibits feelings of panic and anxiety.

 

From the regulations below Qantas clearly broke the law.

Appendix B

Australian Air Navigation Orders  

3.3 Mental Fitness

(a)                The applicant shall have no established medical history or clinical diagnosis of either the following

                    ( i )           a psychosis

                    (ii )            any personality order severe enough to have repeatedly resulted in overt acts

(b)                The applicant shall have no established medical history or clinical diagnosis of a mental abnormality, personality disorder, neurosis, alcoholism or drug dependence  which makes it likely that within two years of the examination he will be unable to safely exercise the privileges of the licence or the rating applied for or held.

Perhaps someone could explain to CASA their own rules. In a letter from Bruce Byron, their CEO, he said that there was insufficient evidence to fail my medical. Does he mean then that it is OK for a pilot to fly a Qantas 747 with the compulsion to shut down all engines? Read the cover-up letter to protect CASA and Qantas. Who in their right mind would clear a pilot with a compulsion like this to fly?    Have your say and email CASA and Qantas. Last October Qantas second officer Matthew Morgan committed suicide while on a stopover in Los Angeles.   What did Qantas and CASA know about that?            Read the CASA cover-up


Note. QANTAS stands for Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services.
There is no U in it, so if you don't put U in it you won't get scared like these passengers did.


 
Are you about to fly? Use this link to see the Google list of DRUNKEN PILOTS 
 
If you are game use this link to view Qantas and Jetstar near misses
 
There is an increase in mental illness and alcohol use by airline pilots. Why?

 

Imagine your adrenalin is being excited by the roar of the 747 engines as you thunder down the runway on take off.

If just after 'lift off' there was a sudden hush from those massive engines, your heart would be in your mouth, pumping as it had never done before. Your white knuckles would be the result of clutching the arm rest or the person next to you with the power of a vice as you thought you were about to die before your time.

All those things you should have done. Here you are in a 747 that thinks it is an injured butterfly, floundering down to earth except this one has up to 150,000 litres (150 cubic metres ) of aviation fuel in its belly, waiting to burst into life.

My terrifying book is not fiction but what could have happened, as Qantas cleared me to fly after I told them of my compulsive disorder to shut down all four engines. I flew until I couldn't stand the terror any more, as take off was now my brain's desired time to strike.

Details of all the medical reports can be seen in graph form. Graph


A Qantas pilot's mental nightmare
PILOTS AND MENTAL HEALTH.


Bryan Griffin was a pilot with Qantas from 1966 until 1982

After the crash of Egypt Air in November 1999, a speculation was that the Co Pilot committed suicide. This immediately brought severe panic symptoms to Bryan Griffin as he had been so close to carrying out a similar act in a Qantas 747. Part of the panic turned to frustration about his termination arrangements with Qantas and he phoned their Public Relations to ask them to reconsider his retired employment entitlement of 5 years discount travel. He had been employed for 16 years. The person he spoke to was Melissa Thomson who sounded very sympathetic to his story and said she would make some phone calls to see what could be done and that she would ring him back. In addition he also sent her an email. It has just been revealed from the NSW Police Freedom of information that she misled the police. NOTE. At this time Bryan was not aware of any of the following psychiatrists reports.

She did not ring him back but passed the contents of the conversation to Qantas Security. The following day Bryan was visited by Sergeant Llowarch from the Windsor police who said he was investigating E 7891736 on behalf of Detective Gentle from Botany Bay police. The investigation was of a possible extortion attempt on Qantas (initiated by Laurie Ratz, of Qantas security). Sergeant Llowarch led him to believe he would be prosecuted if he told the media of the email. (Later he was told by the police that it was NOT a police matter) In fear of prosecution he rang the Department of Transport (C A S A) and they sent him his complete medical file. It was only after receiving these documents that he became aware of all the psychiatrists reports.

The way the events occurred

On a Qantas 747 flight from Perth to Singapore on the 29th of August 1979 Bryan Griffin was the First Officer. During the flight he was going over emergency procedures and suddenly felt the compulsion to carry out  "Phase  1"  of the emergency procedures for the loss of all generators. (For P & W engines in 1980 ),This would have entailed CLOSING THE THRUST LEVERS and CLOSING THE START LEVERS. see photo of thrust levers This procedure was to cover if all four engines were in idle on descent and they flamed out, with the result that all generators would also stop. (as in a car when you stall it ), The "phase 1" is to put the engines in a starting position, for the same reason you don't normally start a car with the accelerator in the fast position.
First Officer Bryan Griffin did in fact not carry out this procedure but it caused him much distress. On the following day, the 30th August 1979 on the flight from Singapore to Sydney the same thought came into his head. He subsequently sought relief from his First Officer duties and continued in the capacity of Second Officer.
On the return to Sydney on 31st. August 1979 he reported to the Qantas Medical Centre and was referred to three psychiatrists.

The first was Doctor Colin B. Degotardi, Consultant Psychiatrist.    5th September 1979

Diagnosis.                     NEUROTIC PHOBIC ANXIETY REACTION.

Treatment suggested    BEHAVIOUR THERAPY, MEDICATION.       Read his report (No 1).

The second was Doctor Warren White, Consulting Psychiatrist.     9th September 1979

Diagnosis.                    PHOBIC ANXIETY STATE

Treatment suggested   MEDICATION, PSYCHOTHERAPY, BEHAVIOUR CONDITIONING. Read his report (No 2)

The third was from Doctor Ellard   19th October 1979   Note This consultation was 9 weeks after the second one. Surely the first two must have been seriously considered. Perhaps the findings were not satisfactory to Qantas and that is the reason for this third one.

Diagnosis.                UNCLEAR.

Treatment suggested. NONE

Read this letter.(No 3) page 1 page 2
 

Air Navigation Orders state:(1980)
3.3 Mental fitness

(a) The applicant shall have no established medical history or clinical diagnosis of either of the following.

(i) a psychosis

(ii) any personality disorder severe enough to have repeatedly resulted in revert acts.

(2) The applicant shall have no established medical history or clinical diagnosis of a mental abnormality, personality disorder, neurosis, alcoholism or drug dependence which makes it likely that within two years of the examination, he will be unable to safely exercise the privileges of the licence or the rating  applied for or held.
 

Qantas in their letter to the Department of Transport stating they had given Bryan Griffin a medical pass,( No 4) page 1 page 2 enclosed the report from Dr Ellard. (No 3) page 1 page 2 )

After reading these reports do you think Qantas was negligent in its DUTY OF CARE to Bryan Griffin?

When this site was opened, Qantas solicitor Andrew Jones sent me this letter saying that certain statements were untrue. They have been asked several times to tell me which statements, but the solicitor has declined to do so.

In later correspondence it is noted that the Department of Transport was not aware of the first two reports and was told to ask Qantas for them. Also Bryan Griffin was not made aware of these two reports for if he had, he would have sought the treatment. The treatment he did receive after seeing Dr. Ellard was to wear a rubber band on his wrist and after a course of thought stopping, the therapy was to twang the rubber band which was to switch his thoughts to happy ones. The flight deck of a 747 is not really the place to try this out, as in actual fact it did not work.

After returning to duty as a First Officer, Bryan Griffin found that the "thought stopping" didn't work for him and the only way he could be calm on the flight deck was if he could tell the other crew members and training safety personal of his problem. Knowing he had their support made him feel more at ease. Slowly the word about him was spreading to other pilots. On one particular flight on 19th July 1980 when in general conversation he told the captain of his illness, he was immediately removed from duty. This particular captain, second officer and the flight engineer were connected by phone to Sydney and spoke to Dr Thompson and the Qantas chief pilot, Captain Davenport. They were told that there was nothing wrong with Bryan and that his illness was no worse than that of a sore toe. With this information the captain reinstated Bryan Griffin and he continued the return flight to Sydney. On his return to Sydney the captain was reprimanded for his actions in removing Bryan from the flight deck. This should not have happened as the captain was correctly acting by the regulations. The symptoms as they were described by Bryan Griffin should have made any captain remove him from the flight deck. You will see from letter No 5 that Dr. Thompson tells the Department of Transport that captains were reluctant to fly with Bryan and that senior ones had been watching him. Note. It took Doctor Thompson two months to write to The Department of Transport about this incident. I was obviously not of high priority. What were they trying to prove. That under supervision a mentally ill pilot could fly a 747.It was obvious that Bryan's condition had not improved if so many pilots and Qantas staff were aware of it,so therefore at the time of this incident Dr. Thompson should have taken some action to rectify the situation, both for Bryan and the other crew members. Dr.Thompson also said that Bryan unwisely disused his medical condition with the captain. If Dr Thompson was quite happy for Bryan to fly with this condition, then why couldn't it be discussed?

It followed this very upsetting trip that Bryan Griffin started carrying and taking serapax, which had been prescribed by his GP to cover his anxiety at home.

Letter (No 5) page 1 from Qantas to The Department of Transport re the removal of Bryan Griffin from the flight deck.

In December 1981 Bryan Griffin was flying the sector from Los Angeles to Honolulu in a 747 SP. While getting dressed for the flight he was so frightened that he would shut the engines down on take off, he took serapax tablets as he had done on other flights, with the result that his flying was far below standard. Because of his below standard flying at the beginning of this sector, Captain Brooks removed him from flight deck duty and later recommended to operations in Sydney that he have further training. It was lucky for every one on that flight that in his condition the aircraft became airborne. Bryan's mind was completely confused by doctor Thompson saying he wouldn't do it, and the powers in his mind telling him to do it. With a brain in so much turmoil the flight deck of a 747 or a Cessna 172 is not the place to be. He was not a indispensable pilot. Qantas could have given him a challenging job in many sections, but that was never suggested. It appears now that the operations section did not know the seriousness of the illness. On arrival in Honolulu Bryan Griffin contacted Flight operations and told them of his mental condition and passengered back to Sydney as he felt he could no longer carry out his duties safely. The feelings had now become so great and the thoughts had now changed to shutting down the engines on take off. Bryan Griffin put the safety of all others before his career, by requesting to passenger back to Sydney. On his return to Sydney Qantas sent him to another psychiatrist, Doctor Tym who said that with a course of drugs he could be cured. Nothing in Bryan's condition had changed overnight so he had been correct in the description of his illness to his fellow crew members, but the powers that be up to now had chosen to brush his feelings of it aside.

Report from Doctor Tym (No 6) Read this letter. page 1

Diagnosis.               TRAUMATIC AFFECTIVE ILLNESS

Treatment suggested. MEDICATION

Treatment given.       MEDICATION

Result.                     SUPPRESSION OF ILLNESS
 

Further report from Doctor Tym (No 7) Read this letter. page 1

Further report from Doctor Tym saying Bryan Griffin was cured.(No 8) Read this letter. page 1      page 2 Although Doctor Tym said he was cured when asked for he would not prescribe any more drugs but instead gave Bryan several sessions of bright light treatment. For this he had to lay on a bed and stare at a bright light for three hours. Fascinating!

Is it normal for a person to have a high dose of anti depressants for three months and finish them completely in one week and be told you are completely cured?

I have since found out that the two drugs that he prescribed, Parnate and Typtanol, should NOT be taken together. If they are, they can cause Death.

The treatment given by Dr. Tym is against all doctors comprehension. Perhaps that is why he is not allowed to practice, practice is the word, in N.S.W.
 
Bryan Griffin was told he was cured by Dr.Tym (No 8) page 2 and on his return to the Qantas base the medical section told him to report to Captain Allan Terrell, Director of Flight Operations. Bryan was told that due to the fact that several captains would not let him fly with them, he would have to resign. Adding weight to their demands was the fact that the captain of a Japan Air Lines with a mental problem crashed his aircraft into the sea on approach to Tokyo airport on 2nd. September 1982. If Qantas operations had these indication from captains, especially after this crash, and considering the circumstances of Bryan Griffin's illness, why didn't they do something instead of letting this tragic incident get ready to repeat itself as it later did with Egypt Air.? Qantas gave the reason for leaving in his certificate of service as ILL HEALTH. See certificate Captain Terrell has told me that he was not aware of the first two Psychiatrists reports. It appears that the two people that should have been told of all the reports on Bryan Griffin in the beginning were Captain Allan Terrell, Director of Flight Operations, and Captain Ken Davenport, Qantas Chief Pilot. It appears that this oversight has caused many people much anguish, not to mention a lifetime of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder by Bryan Griffin, which if had been treated at the onset of the illness in a 747, he and his family might not have had to endure a life of mental anguish.

At the time of Bryan Griffin's resignation, Doctor J.C. Lane, the Director of Aviation Medicine at The Department of Transport was still making enquires as to his condition, and on 7th May 1982 wrote to Doctor White. (The second Consulting Psychiatrist.)  In his reply Doctor White (No 9) Read this letter. page 1   page 2   page 3 said that he had already seen Bryan and referred to his earlier assessment of Bryan in 1979 and said that he could not be as confident as Doctor Tym about the cause, management and prognosis page 2 and he also told Doctor Lane to get copies of the first reports from himself  (No 2)  and Doctor Degotardi (No 1) page 2 These two reports should have been given to CASA as per Air Navigation Order (1980) at the time of the licence renewal. In hindsight it would be interesting to know what the findings of the Department of Transport would have been if they had these two reports at the time of Bryan's first problem.

In a letter from Doctor Lane of The Department of Transport  to Professor Ball on the 3rd. September 1982 (No 11) Read this letter page 1 page 2 page 3 he refers again only to the report of Doctor Ellard (No 3) and not to the first reports of Doctor Degotardi (No 1) and Doctor White. (No 2)  He must have had some indication from someone that "Qantas decided to dispense with Griffin's services."  He as well as Doctor White (No 9) says he has difficulties about accepting Doctor Tym's formulation.

Professor Ball in his reply to the Department of Transport (No 12) Read this letter page 1 page 2 page 3 page 4 said his diagnosis was OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE DISORDER

Professor Ball also stated that "the disorder on one hand is notoriously difficult to treat and also periodically may have remission."

In subsequent years Bryan Griffin has not been able to hold down full time employment and has been an inpatient at Ashburn Hall Private Psychiatric Hospital in New Zealand for OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE DISORDER and an outpatient at St. Clement's Hospital in England for OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE DISORDER . Since his return to Australia he has been treated with medication for OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE DISORDER and will be on it permanently.

If you feel strongly about what you read on this site PLEASE email your opinion to...
Allan Joyce C E O Qantas

Summary of all doctors Summary of doctors page 1 Summary of doctors page 2

Bryan Griffin has seen 8 psychiatrists about his mental illness and only Doctor Ellard said that he didn't need medication..
 Email Bryan Griffin
Would you have voluntary flown with a pilot in this condition. Make sure it doesn't happen again. Tell Qantas to take better care of mentally ill pilots.



Pilots and Seat Belts
Was this a case of Qantas bending the rules?

In 1966/7/8 I was a second officer on the Electra 188c. The Electra only had two pilot seats, an engineers seat and a seat and table for the navigator. As Qantas was a three pilot crew operation, the second officer had to stand behind the engineer's seat for take off, climb, decent and landing. I found this position very unnerving and quite unsafe but felt I had to Put Up and Shut Up. However eventually I asked Qantas to give me assurance that they would cover me for insurance as my own policy would not cover me. They tried to put a harness on the flight deck door but that was choice was abandoned and the suggestion was for the navigator to leave the flight deck for take off and landing and allow the second officer to have his seat. I understand that the navigators said they would strike if that was put into practice (another Qantas Strike)as they needed to be on the flight deck to get an accurate departure time. The problem was solved by transferring me back to the Boeing 707 and continuing the operation of the second officer standing.
According to the Seat Belt and Safety Harness Regulations, reg 251 1 to 3 Safety harness must be worn by all crew members at certain times as determined. ie During take off and landing, During an instrument approach, and At all times during turbulent conditions.

After all my incidents I wonder whose regulations Qantas operate under.



After reading these articles and letters I think you will agree that there is a need for system so that pilots are able to report any mental disorder they might have to their employer without fear of loosing their jobs, and the company arranging for approved treatment, enabling them to return to the workforce after a period of time. Flying with some mental disorders is neither good for the pilot, passengers or the airline.

My Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is the driving force for me wanting to tell my story of not having appropriate treatment at the main onset of my mental illness. O C D also played a major part behind me putting my version of the story The Life Story Of Santa Claus on the internet. I hope that you take time to read it andForever believe.

Read CASA's excuse for not answering the questions on mental health and Qantas pilots standing for Take Off and Landing. Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport 30th May 2001 Hansard
pages 71, 72, 73





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I am encouraged by these web sites willing to add a link to my site. It shows that there are some responsible people out there willing to bring this subject to light.

Report on Japan Air Lines

Report on Silk Air Crash

Article To Die For

Article OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE DISORDER

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