john_t and that's the problem, isn't it.
There doesn't NOW seem to be a "standard" idea of what's the
go.
The "coprorate intelectual property" that used to exist has long gone when they saw the enthusiastic amateur trying to run the show with his voodoo ideas and economics.
My thesis is that when the major manufacturers left the marketplace in the early 80's the concentration of experience in training, maintenance and management went with it.
A bit like the effect of Holden, Ford and Toyota all shutting up shop tomorrow and abandoning the the market place to the usual suspects.
I know personally and was trained by the individuals who "own" the
original Australian "endorsements and ratings" for most of the GA types and had I an instructor rating, I too would have been one of those.
When those of us who were there get together, all too rarely, we all have new tales of well motivated but totally wild SOPS that have mysteriously appeared somewhere.
I call it the Prince of Wales Syndrome" from the song that sadly you and I can still recall.
It goes something like , "I danced with a man who danced with a girl who danced with the Prince of Wales.
Problem is most of the "endorsements and ratings" around the place may be hundreds of generations away from the factory or Flight Safety, including those who sell training, using illegally, the same Flight Safety material that has been photcopied down the same number of generations.
Australian organisations including the regulator, maybe now in the past, seem oblivious to the copyright or liability issues.
For example the manufacturers reps in Oz used to have to pay for the test flying and production of "P charts and other regulatory matters peculiar to Oz for any new type or models regbistration.
There was a significant cost to achieve this, often requiring in addition, the funding of a departmental entourage to the factory, which was retrieved as part of the sales process.
If you wanted to import an aircraft outside this system one of the hurdles was gaining the rights to use the proprietary information, usually requiring a "licence" fee to the owner of the info.
Unless of course you had a mate who would "lend" you his charts or a friendly departmental guy who would give you a Departmental copy.
We used to sell the CPC integtrated theory and training and train the instructors on it.
It was for the most part possible at that stage, to iron out any "guru", "aero club bar" and "urban myth" infestations.
When we endorsed or rated the original crews on their new equipment they got the benefit of learning the way the manufacturer had intended, and had spent several gazillion dollars finding out, that the aircraft should be efficiently operated.
Almost without exception, when an owner complained about alleged maintenance and operational shortfalls it was because someone in their organisation had decided that the "guru", "aero club bar" and "urban myth" tellers knew better, sometimes at considerable expense.
I hasten to add that the manufacturers were very keen followers of the Australain experience of their product, because we often used them for applications for which they were not intended and they were usually the lead airframes in fleet hours as a result of which they got early notice of any weaknesses.
Couple that with the department being then staffed with RAAF types who had never been near a GA type and the rest is history.