To put that another way, how would you like to be a Director of a company that just defaulted on 7 billion of debt? Compared to that I’d rather by flying in a thunderstorm.
The difference is that no one has died defaulting on a loan, except maybe to the Mafia
. While what you say about being on a board is true the real difference between board decision making and flying decision making that there is no real pressure on board decisions. They are always rested and refreshed. Business Class Travel. VIP Lounge Membership. There's always a platter of sandwiches available. Still or sparkling. The room is quiet and air conditioned. The table mahogany. There is lots of time to consider their deliberations they get copious amounts of information and can go back for more if required. They can also talk to experts if required for more advice.They can even delay their decisions if needed. Whilst the decisions are inherently difficult, at the end of the day you only have to make a decision on the merits of what you were shown at the time and you get away Scot Free. The only thing you can get done for is for doing something that is criminal. And even then it has to be pretty obvious.
To draw the thunderstorm analogy even further the board had the forecast 5 years ago that there might be a line of storms coming and they needed to set a course of action to divert around them. Instead they decided to just keep on tracking straight at them hoping they might be able to go over the top. In end they few straight into one.
After watching the 4 Corners my only real question is why the board didn't have the guts to bone JB 5 years ago? He did a great job with the product and it was a good airline but it just couldn't go on forever like that and everyone knew it, so why didn't they just be pragmatic and sort it out 5 years ago? Why wait another 4-5 years to take action and risk getting caught out in the meantime?
It sure will be interesting to see where the Australian members of the board pop up next. I'll bet they will all have board jobs within a year. Screw up like they did as a pilot and if you actually live to tell the tale good luck getting further employment.