Originally Posted by
Magplug
The CAA's priority is the continued prosperity of UK airlines. They have no interest in acting to ensure safe operations. So unless the Daily Mail presents them with a smoking gun (or a smoking hole) it's business as usual at the CAA.
Around 10 years ago the UK had a mature sensible FTL scheme. The regulations were formed over many years as a result of accidents, incidents and deaths where we promised the bereaved that we would learn from our past mistakes. Then one day we threw that ruleset in the bin in favour of a Pan-European system that bore no resemblance to either of the 'Gold Standards' of the UK or Germany.... All in the name of EU political expediency.
From what I can say after dealing with EASA regulations for 19 years, I can assure you that many UK CAA solutions were implememnted in EASA rules - I cannot say for FTL, but definitely CAMO/airworthiness management was taken pretty much from UK model. So pointing a finger in EASA is futile here I think. I would say that the whole Western aviation world is moving away from sensible towards minimum of minimums, that comes out as a result of bargaining between industry management and unions. The fact is, that aviation accidents are very rare in EU now, and this is a trumpet card for CAA /EASA folks, claiming that aviation in EU is safe. But I am concerned that this is the result of legacy - when things were done sensibly and internal corrections and goodwill of many people, that are quietly resisting dubious practices, guidances, etc. and are still doing things right - as much as they can. My personal opinion is, that Germanwings crash/mass murder was a direct result of this policy - pilots with huge debt from training around their necks, trying to get a decent job, but are forced into "pay to fly", "self employment" and other schemes, that should be prohibited in the interest of flight safety. No wonder that one day one pilot (A. Lubitz) succumbed under this pressure and did what he did. I am afraid he is not the last and - be realistic - there is no way to prevent suicide/mass murder when a pilot decides to do so. This industry is playing huge djenga game - see, if I pull this out, the structure still stands - so I saved a bit more money and the manager who did it, expects a reward. (only the structure is a bit more wobbly, but this is hard to measure - prove) This is what Boeing was doing for years and then one day djenga tower collapsed. I have some personal experience with such practices even it was not in a commercial world.