One of the most insightful posts I have ever read on this forum recently asked, from a safety point of view, if the aviation industry was actually ready for the low fares airlines (in general). For generations, the commercial aviation industry was policed by a model that we were familiar with. State run airlines, employing hand picked war heroes as crew, and money no object. Well folks, today the skies are now full of guys and gals who fulfilled their dream very differently. They didn’t have to clamber into a hawk or a hurricane but still had to endure the “old farts” from the old schools. The musty old warriors have to go somewhere and the reality is that they have ended up in the administration of the current system. They are in the local aviation authorities as executives or testers or examiners or AAIB’ers etc. but one thing is sure, they are totally out of there depth. They have no qualifications what so ever to police and govern the new environment, and what’s more they have no comprehension of what it takes to run a modern day commercial aviation business. They need to clamber to a dictionary to look up what a four-sector day means. A good dictionary will enlighten them that its not a three day, all expenses paid lay over at three different locations but a very tiring and trying days work. The fastest growing technological revolution to hit the modern age has left behind the very people that police it so the only alternative for most of them is to bitch about it. That they have such a ready made audience on these pages leaves me to conclude that most of you remember the good old days. Well let me tell you folks, while we havent been to war, we have had to work extremely hard to get here so push over and stop complaining.
So in short, my point being.....
Dispatches or any other programme is always going to target a sucessful model such as Ryanair because it has nothing to benchmark it against. It also has nothing to lose. It dosent tell you that many of its employees travell by Ryanair every week to get to its locations. Oh no that wouldnt be good journo. However, just remember, in Ryanairs history nobody has ever died - NOBODY (repete after me all the competition who can boast that fact - oops.. forgot that not many of you can, can you. Certainly not any of you in service for over 20 years, ..??? Pls do comment