I have recently been to a CAA presentation on Safety Management and Maintenance Error Management Systems. Their research has shown an upward trend in maintenance error related accidents. If the trend continues there will be 1 significant hull loss every 8 days by the year 2012. This is also supported by major manufacturers and the FAA. This is not to say that Engineers are worse than they used to be, possibly in a number of instances are/will be better. But the whole system of A/C maintenance and the massive growth in air transport presents us with more opportunities to get it wrong ie. more aircraft = more opportunities for failure. The CAA promote the sharing of maintenance error details between companies and airlines, and a NPA145.60 which will be incorporated into JAR145 requires a maintenance organisation to keep a database of reportable incidents (MOR's). Errors not neccessarily the making of the inexperienced but of the numbers and the system!