Dodger :
Well, I agree with you about WS. And I agree with you about paying salaries late.
I agree that nobody or company is faultless.
(Don't think that I ever said that NJI were - Don't know where you got that one from.)
I am well aware of who the AOC holder is and where they are located.
Under ones obligation as a pofessional, one should be reporting significant safety issues with the CAA via the MOR system if one does not get a satisfactory reply from internal channels (i.e. from NJI) (or any company for that matter).
Whilst I was at NJI we faxed the Safety reports to BWA, with the flight reports, discretion reports etc. This procedure may have changed, however. But I find it incredible that reports were not sent to the AOC holder !!!
I am well aware of the fuel spillage incidents (which were the fault of the refuelling company, due to faulty equipment) among other incidents. Wrong tow bars being used and incidents like the fuel spillage are not airline specific safety issues more like ground handling problems.
Please don't misunderstand this as me saying that this is OK - it is not. It is just that it is not the airlines fault if some muppet tug driver connects the wrong tow bar. This does not make NJI unsafe alone. (Unless of course NJI specifically asked the tug drivers to use the wrong bars.)
No offence intended to tug drivers (or muppets for that matter!!)
As for operating outside FTL's (whoevers, it doesn't matter) - Just say no.
Failing that, tell the person who is putting the pressure on you to extend your duty outside the permitted scheme that you will do the extended duty - but you need them to fax you with written confirmation allowing you to operate outside the companys and/or the CAA's legal maximum requirements.
That normally takes the pressure off you and puts it on the person making the impossible commercial demands. I have to date, never recieved a fax from anyone authorising me to do this.
BTW, I considder the person standing next to me to be as reliable a source as an SMS text message.
AS far as I know NJI still don't have their own AOC (JAA or Italian). But I could be wrong.