Air Mikisew shut down?

[Upnorth4]

This just insnt right.... TC has got the wrong company shut down. Air Mikisew has an incredible safety record and I highly doubt that they would do anything that would warrant a total shut down. I have heard that the company layed off a bunch of thier crews, I hope that isnt true.....

[CD]

CTA Order 2010-A-218: SUSPENSION of Air Mikisew Ltd. carrying on business as Air Mikisew's Licence Nos. 970010 and 970009

[Upnorth4]

This is WRONG Air Mikisew is a good company that does not deserve this. I hope that one day the TC inspectors receive the same treatment that they have given others.

[snaproll20]

I could probably write all day on this subject, but:

1.) Yes, it would be nice if TC got its own act together so some kind of respect and cooperation could be initiated.

2.) TC no longer follows the rules. sorry, they rarely do, but there was a time, "in a universe, far, far away."

3,) Despite some good people at TC, the organization is a catch-basin for useless, vindictive, incompetent, dishonest and unsavoury people. (Who cannot be fired for anything.)

4.) Every time TC does get around to enforcing the Air Act, most of us grumble about "bad inspectors". Unfortunately, this goes back to 1.) above.

5.) It is the Industry's fault. Everyone seems to forget that it is OUR business, not TC's. Years ago, an association of companies tabled a vote to ban a certain inspector across their region. This was a particularly dishonest, nasty and unsavoury piece of dirt. The vote was never done. (Fear? Competitive edge?, who knows, but one of the people I respect most who is ex TC was involved.)
It is this spineless lack of cohesive action that undermines the Industry constantly.


6.) Without an effective Ombudsman (as recommended by a Judge) and in the absence of any cooperation by the Industry, you are all lost. That is why I suggested an "oversight committee" manned by retirees from industry, and TC to steer this mess. Retirees from TC have made it obvious on this website that Ottawa is polluted by clowns who know little about aviation but everything about going around in circles and self-preservation and empire-building.


7.) Industry should at least insist on TC adherence to the Civil Service Code of Ethics.

8.) Eley needs to be as proactive as his FAA counterpart in communicating with Industry. (he did finally introduce himself in the "Safety" magazine, but Doc claims he throws it away, unopened).

9.) I am glad I retired years ago because I could see the way things were going, so I have little sympathy for the people suffering now.

[Prairie Chicken]

In some cases TC employees from the former Director General downwards have been publicly named and shamed. If these public complaints were without merit then defamation actions would have been commenced long ago. The lack of action by TC and the named persons indicates that they accept the complaints as being true.

Carrier, while the Crown will normally defend employees against a civil suit, they're not about to launch one, and that's what you're talking about here. Hence, I submit this isn't a valid arguement.

[beechesandhos]

its just a big power trip. they dont know how to use common sense or think for themselves. Sure one little negligible thing can be missed on an operational flight plan and historical data could prove a POH wrong, but this is all considered non compliance and deserves an immediate ripping up of the AOC. Kiss it TC! Doing nothing but putting hard working individuals out of jobs and sitting back and enjoying the view. I agree some operators run sketchy companies but its unsafe acts of flying that make it that way, not a piece of paper that has a couple errors on it, due to the fact the pilot has been flying his bag off, is tired and has to sit at a desk for 4 hrs planning out his next day's trip(s), while he's starving because he hasnt eaten since breakfast!
I dunno thats just the way i see it...

[sepia]

I truly can't fathom a world in which McMurray Aviation operates with impunity, while Mikisew is shut down. Anyone familiar with the two companies up there would find this to be an absolute farce.

[r22captain]

I truly can't fathom a world in which McMurray Aviation operates with impunity, while Mikisew is shut down. Anyone familiar with the two companies up there would find this to be an absolute farce.

X2

[lionheart27]

I guess its a shame when a good company gets shut down and a bad one has TC looking the other way.
That's a bit of shall I dare say " Corruption" in the ranks.
I know of some TC folks that have hot heads and like to put it to you. I guess it will always be there.
A nice steak dinner goes a long way....but seriously folks just make sure you follow the rules and they should have no trouble with you.

[Prairie Chicken]

An inspector can't just pull an OC; that takes the manager's delegation of authority. It isn't done lightly, and in most regions, if not all, the manager takes the matter up with the regional management council before pulling an OC.

[chancellor]

Having been through a couple, it seems to take alot less than one would think. In our case at the time all it took is one extremely motivated aviation inspector that had apparently been done wrong in the past by the chief at the time.

[Conquest Driver]

Any word on when they're getting it back?

[square]

Funny how you guys seem to have all the conclusions drawn with none of the facts at hand. Nobody knows why they were shut down but everyone knows it was BS, I guess because they have a pretty website? Well then why have their DOM and their QA manager both been fired in the past what, 3 months?

[AEROBAT]

I truly can't fathom a world in which McMurray Aviation operates with impunity, while Mikisew is shut down. Anyone familiar with the two companies up there would find this to be an absolute farce.

Air Mikisew is a native developement exercise, ie taxpayers money at work. McMuray aviation is private. I have nothing against Mikisew but the deck has been stacked in their favour for years.

[co-joe]

Anyone catch that bush pilots show a few days ago about mostly western aviation history? They profiled Punch, Max, and a few other pioneers and how one airline lead to another. They talked about the mad trapper and the air mail contracts to Ack-Lavik (mispronounced all the way through), and at the end they showed Air Mikisew and the chief talking about how he started an airline.

Amazing aviation history we have as a nation. So are they flying yet?

[AEROBAT]

I may be wrong and stand to be corrected, but I thought Mikisew bought out Contact aviation. Contact had a colourfull history in the area .

[AME 283]

:Look on the TC site. PNR does more suspensions than any other region and more than double the number of compliance actions than all of the other regions combined ?? This is from their own web site. Guess there is just a bunch of bad operators in PNR (I think not). Now what are we going to do about it ??

[mbav8r]

I'm too lazy to look it up, but is Maintoba included in PNR division? It could be something as simple as, there's a new sheriff in town or new mandate to not look the otherway. For a long time I wondered how certain operators in MB were still in operation, I even went as far as asking an inforcement guy, why Company xxx hasn't had an audit in at least 5 years. His response, they haven't had an accident and we don't have the manpower. They were aware of certain things but chose not to do anything. I told the guy, mark my words they will have an accident.
Anyway, they did have a few accidents and have been shut down a couple times now, I don't know how Mikisew fits into this, but perhaps they can no longer look the other way.
Remeber the company that blamed T.C in a law suit, because they should have shut them down before their accident?

[CD]

Transport Canada Regions

Also, according to the Operator Search List, here is a breakdown of the number of commercial operators (702, 703, 704 and 705) for each Region:

Atlantic - 41
Quebec - 93
Ontario - 198
Prairie & Northern - 302
Pacific - 195
National Operations - 6

[2R]

If they are shut down,Why can you still book a flight on their website ?
That does not make any sense to me.
Shut down is shut down ,unless they are operating as a travel agency and sub-chartering the flights,
Although operating a travel agency might raise some interesting questions.

[6ftsnipe]

My viewpoint of this is strictly a political issue, and Courtesy Air was simply a safety issue. Two totally different scenarios. Air Mikisew's safety record is pretty good, but when you look at Courtesy's chronic problem of keeping planes in the air, it's not hard to differentiate the issues.

[loopy]

What's up at Mikisew? Rumour is that their OC was pulled this week...

[Widow]

Air Mikisew Grounded by Transport Canada

Transport Canada has ordered Air Mikisew to ground all their flights until further notice due reporting issues of their quality assurance program.

Transport Canada issued a similar order in April, but Air Mikisew was able to subcontract charters to other companies.
Mikisew Group of Companies COO Dale Monaghan says he has no idea when operations can resume.

He also says all the aircrafts are fully inspected and certified.

http://www.mymcmurray.com/news/modules. ... e&sid=5639

[OceansEdge]

Well, if Transport Canada is finally diverting budget and resources to the inspectors and mandating the inspectors actually inspect and enforce for compliance instead of what has been happening - YAY for change. It's been a long time coming. Those who operate in good conscience, with ethics and within prescribed standards have nothing to fear and everything to gain. Maybe those who don't will finally get what they deserve.

Now if we could just get some protections in place to ensure the law is interpreted equally and fairly across the board.... and an official mediation agency legally empowered to resolve discrepancies without bias... maybe we could have industry deserving of respect.

For those who seek help to be within compliance I'd be glad to be of service - pm for details.

Cheers,
Kirsten B.

Kirsten,
Couldn't agree more.

It would be nice to think they are - I'd be very glad to see it happen. But that's a really huge 'IF'. One frankly I think in the current political / economic climate doesn't seem likely. Still I can hope for it - we've been advocating for dispatch inspectors, I'd love to see that happen.

I know it seems like TC picks on one operator over another - but the simple fact is, you can be a fine operator but if you're not in compliance, you're not. As for the fly by night operators people bitch aren't getting nailed - who's willing to give evidence to that affect? Not too many. Otherwise those kinds of operators tend to be VERY good at hiding it. Did any pilot DARE speak out about Keystone *before* one of em put a plane down in the middle of Winnipeg? Yeah there's a LOT more paperwork to staying compliant these days and that can be a good and a bad thing. I think the concept of SMS is great, I think the implementation and reality of it needs some work - there's a problem when the only thing being inspected is the paperwork.

The industry has evolved to a general distrust of TC and TC of operators and maybe the nature of business will always be adversarial with the regulatory body - and maybe I can understand that from an airline standpoint - but from a pilot standpoint - you may not think of em as your friend, but you don't wanna go to a place without em. I saw what happened to the Australian aviation industry when Dick Smith was appointed to the board of the Australian Civil Aviation Authority in June of 1988 and he decided that 'regulations were killing the Australian aviation industry, and the airlines should be left alone and allowed to self regulate in order to encourage dynamic growth and investment and profit in the industry.' (Yes I'm paraphrasing there - but that WAS the attitude of the day). Do you really want your employers deciding what is a fair duty day? Flight time? Time off? Hell the amount of bitching I see about trying to keep their employers to treat duty time fairly now - tells me 'no'.

[Widow]

Air Mikisew grounded, no charters

Posted 1 hour ago

HOLLY MIYASAKI

Today staff

A local airline is now not permitted to provide any flights to its clients — but the rationale isn't clear as the governmental agency responsible for the demand can't come up with a reason why.

Air Mikisew, which was temporarily grounded on April 22, is now not allowed to continue offering chartered flights for its customers.


"(Transport Canada) approved outsourced aircraft from other companies," said Dale Monaghan, chief operating officer of the Mikisew group of companies. "On Monday they were overwritten by the Canadian Transport Agency, who said that plan, although approved by Transport Canada, is not appropriate."
While he called it "puzzling," he suggested liability was a reason for the agency to put a halt to the chartered flights.

"... if something unforeseen happens, who does Transport Canada or the other authorities turn to?" he asked, adding there would probably be conflict between the charter company and Air Mikisew when it comes to liability issues.

The problem becomes more convoluted thanks to confusion on the side of the Canadian Transport Agency. When contacted today, communications advisor Marc Comeau outlined the reasoning for the airline forfeiting its aviation license, but said he "wasn't familiar with that issue" when it came to grounding the outsourced flights.

While he said he didn't have information regarding the specific incident, Comeau suggested issues that could cause the complete grounding of the airlines chartered flights include using an unlicensed operator or having different regulations from Transport Canada.

"They have a role in approving air operations and we have a role, just because they approved something doesn't mean this agency will, and vise versa," he said.

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He said he planned to look deeper into the situation.

Currently the company is scrambling to fulfill orders from Transport Canada, which came about after an inspection April 19-22 ended with the company surrendering its air operating certificate.

At that time, Susan McLennan, regional director of communications and marketing with Transport Canada told Today the inspection revealed safety deficiencies in the company's maintenance control system. This system ensures regular and required maintenance on company aircraft is done.

But Monaghan says the wording makes the situation sound worse than it is — the airline simply must provide paperwork regarding its planes. Paperwork that has been filed away for some time and the company is working to come up with it for the government agency.

Monaghan said the government can request an aircraft's history predating the company's ownership of it.

It's been over a month since Transport Canada came down on the company, and they have yet to meet the requirements to get their operating license back.

Those looking to travel to Fort Chipewyan should try Fort McMurray Aviation and those going to Edmonton have a number of options such as Air Canada and Westjet.

In the meantime, he said the airline is providing full refunds to passengers who have purchased tickets for upcoming flights.

Financially, these new developments are a "significant blow," said Monaghan.

http://www.fortmcmurraytoday.com/Articl ... ?e=2605285