Originally Posted by
Sunfish View Post
Experience has taught me that you CANNOT successfully manage something you have no experience of, no matter how slavishly you follow procedures and policies and all the other theories in vogue that day. You need actual hands on experience. Not necessarily very much but exposure to the way the business works.
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Sunny,
How true, but many in our industry ignore the absolute need for practical experience in managing safety regulation. That is not to say the DAS needs to be experienced in aviation, per se - experience in transport safety regulation will be fine, as long as the domain specialists have relevant experience.
At least one of the aviation safety regulatory agencies in the Pacific is operating with a leader with no regulatory experience except for the past four years in their current appointment. The organization operates without an FOI and with the majority of staff having no domain experience in the areas over which they exercise surveillance; AN, AIS, AGA, DG, FA inspectors all have two degrees but none of them relevant to their "day jobs". To argue with them on the basis of "experience" or examples from other States is to risk censure and adverse findings.
And a classic from the head of the organization who delights in threatening punitive action; "It is not the role of the regulator to promote "just culture"..
Gne