Of course our dear CAA did the industry no favours with an attitude to noise reduction that saw people having to take silencers off of imported aircraft before they could go on the G reg.
Now it's no secret that I'm not the CAA's greatest fan - but I really wish this piece of oft-repeated rubbish would be put to bed. CAA could not approve ONE silencer installation, because a German company with a secrecy obsession refused to provide them with copies of the evidence (already provided to the German authorities) that showed it was safe. I know the chap at CAA who was forced into this decision and he bent over backwards to try and approve that particular silencer - then got vilified for it.
There is much to criticise CAA for (Shadow groundings would be a good start this month, and if the hi-viz jacket thing is really something to do with CAA, that as well), but declining to approve an engine mod because the designer of that mod had refused to prove to them that it was safe, is not a hanging offence - criticise the nameless paranoid German who wouldn't provide some simple Engineering reports where it was him or her to blame.
Mind you, developing new aeronautical products in the UK has become almost impossible and unafordable and something does need to be done about that.
G