Seaton; I'd apreciate an PM on your experience with GCNS, I have been in contact with them recently and had the feeling that the earlier teething problem were sorted a long time ago. It may be that those who frequent this forum may still harber the discussions about the earlier problems with the formatting of the first clutch of study materials.
On the matter of lobby groups, 'we are few and little understood', save for those who have worked in ops, I have found that many in the industry still do not really understand the nature of the ops officers role. Any lobby group would be small and I suspect rather ineffectual- not that it wouldn't be worth a try EM. I do think however, that this is a perfect example of where UKOMA should be mixing it with the CAA and their FOI's and, as a group, speaking with a collective voice in their airlines response to formal questęonaires from the CAA on the matter (if indeed they haven't already done so, perhaps OpsBod or one of the other UKOMA members can update us).