And what I find amazing is that they have to 'study' the problems, get some 'committees of enquiry' going, appoint investigators etc....as if most of the problems aren't blindingly obvious. I suppose it's easy to complain.
And to add to the the topic, I think SRT nailed it there - be picky about who you work for. Nobody likes to be forced into working against their principles, and having to fight your company all the time just makes you the enemy. Find somebody who's mostly on your side, and you'll save yourself a lot of headaches. The SOP thing always rears it's not so pretty head I've found, again, a good company should have a competent CP and training department, not only to keep up with all the proff checks for guys out in the field, but to provide clear and relevant guidance for the difficult conditions and produce (and ensure adherence to!) useable SOP's. The best I've dealt with was the last CP of Rossair (RB) who was a very good example of how to do something like that. In my humble opinion.