Having been in the position of being "thumb screwed" for a moody sign off, i found my self 'almost' buckling ,after a series of phone calls, the straw that almost broke my resolve was a message from the QA manager (delivered 2nd hand so he didnt get his hands dirty)explaining my out if i was captured by the CAA !.As a regulatory body the CAA are pretty toothless having seen them accept replies from companies at face value.The only thing we have as engineers is the ability to say "no", when you are in this position you feel very isolated generally the only support i have received has been from fellow engineers.If i sound a little bitter its because i am !