Good Morning Lead Balloon,
I fully appreciate that you have intentionally provided a fairly extreme example, but I appreciate the opportunity, and i apologise for what may seem a rather lengthy answer to your question. For a more direct response i would refer you direct to OM5 of our Exposition being the Safety Management System, which deals with this, and can be accessed via the following link.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/tnxuwzu4il...V%200.pdf?dl=0
I want to go right back to the first lines of defense against that situation ever arising.
First, I had run a flying school for over a decade. That flying school had delivered an industry leading record of safety and compliance, and it had a large well funded safety department a decade before it had any legislative requirement to do so. The business never advertised, and grew quickly to become the second busiest school in the southern Region. All of that on word of mouth. From day one, I had the most exceptional, well intentioned, professional team of instructors that any flying school could hope for. The organizational culture was exceptional. The team all shared my vision, and they more than delivered. That is the same company and culture that morphed from MFT to APTA. Quite simply, the Fwit that you describe in your scenario would not have existed within the organization, because it would never have got through the front door..
Second, the management team that i surrounded myself with. Quite simply, i went out and got the best. They came from miltary backgrounds, airlines, and CASA. They were well intentioned, risk averse and all complete personality testing to confirm that as part of the employment process. I knew them well, had worked with most of them previously. The management team was the same size as the big international flying schools delivering 10 times the amount of hours that our Group was. The levels of supervision were high and that team roamed constantly between the bases, sometimes for consecutive days. They had built strong relationships of trust and confidence with the team at all bases, and would have identified such personalities and addressed that attitude, and to be perfectly frank, on some occasions they did.
Third. our induction process. We had a very thorough induction process, and i addressed that i a very early post with an attachment. Not in a position to track it down now sorry. (typing in car waiting or sons footy to start). All staff were thoroughly inducted into our systems and procedures as for any pilot commencing operations under an AOC. Human Factors training and safety training formed a large part of this process, and all staff underwent thorough, and i mean thorough proficiency checks. It sounds flippant but such a culture of flagrant disregard for rules would not exist amongst our pilot group.
Fourth- The Senior Base Pilots were all people who had worked with me for between 5 to 10 years, before taking on the role of SBP.. In the case of aero clubs, i paid the SBP salary, and in the case of commercial business i.e. MFT, LTF the SBP was paid by that entity. A bit more to it than that, but that pretty much summarizes it. APTA provided additional services to aero clubs without the expertise, and delivered at cost price via substantially subsidized rates.
Fifth- The fellow instructors. The instructors were all highly professional, and if such a person existed within the organisation, it would have been addressed way before the flights you mention.
The siren has gone, and i do want to sit in the car and watch my son, but i will finish with this.
I now work outside of aviation, I work with Victoria's most challenging men aged 18 to 21, and i work side by side with them, In Victoria's most dangerous workplace according to Worksafe. Everything in life is about intent. Its not what people say its what is the intent of what they say. Its all about intent.
Truth be told, despite all the procedures above, and the protections in place.
If I "found out" that instructors were low flying, and buzzing their families. The first principle i would go back to is "intent". If a team of instructors were deliberately disregarding the rules i know I am not dealing with good intent. I would place a cessation of all opaertions immediately, and i mean within 5 minutes of finding out. It is likely that such information would have gone to the Group Safety Mananger, or Group Head of Operations, and they would have acted the same before it got to me.
The due processes would follow, and i would leave that to the Safety Department, and Group HOO initially. CASA would be communicated with, and we would fully assist CASA.
Sorry folks, not prrofread at all, will do so at half time