In response to this information the Reporter advised that the autopilots were often unserviceable for up to five months and despite pilots Reporting the issue it was not addressed. They also advised that some of the freight aircraft only have seatbelts for the left seat, so having a co-pilot was never a real option. The ATSB advised CASA of these ongoing concerns.   Regulator Response 2: CASA is examining the additional concerns raised…

The reporter advised that crews at foreign ports do not have access to the internet during their pre-flight preparations and hence cannot download the current charts from the Jeppesen website. In response to this the operator advised that they subscribe to a service which provides access to Wi-Fi hotspots throughout their international network and allows crews to logon and access a variety of operational information including updates to charts referred to in the original report.…

The following further response was received from Airservices Australia: Consistent with our response dated 28 March 2014, Airservices has published a National Information Circular (NIC 15/2014) to all controllers reminding them of their obligations regarding the provision of FIS to pilots including the provision of Hazard Alerts.

The ATSB clarified with CASA how the procedure should be applied: If an aerodrome is not marked on an aeronautical chart then the area frequency should be used If an aerodrome is marked on an aeronautical chart, but does not have a discrete frequency, then the multicom frequency, 126.7, should be used.