Flying Kiwi...look back through that rubbish bin. Better to agitate from the inside than yell from the outside. PPRUNE isn't read much by the GC...well it wasn't when I was on it...who has the time! If you want to be heard, join up...adn join us non-voters/abstainers;-)
Five Green...
statistically speaking, you can get a very accurate prediction of the total vote from a sample as small as 30people...I think it is called the "Student T distribution" or some such mumbo jumbo. Point is...700...70...1700...you can always 'spin' the numbers. I think Nick said only 15% or something voted against it...technically true as over 50% could not vote as they weren't in the AOA, and anther 10% chose not to vote even though they were in the AOA. You can always spin numbers...the facts are that out of those that bothered to vote, 57% voted yes, 43% voted no to RP07.
Onto the training system...both you and ACMS make good points. I have to agree with ACMS on being smart and playing the game(I don't and it has cost me). But there is hardly a business out there where there isn't kiss arse and politics. Its just that in our profession, honesty in the cockpit is paramount. We are not alone in this working dichotomy. Just watch one of the plethora of medical dramas...the surgeons are all gung ho, honest go getters and tehn leave the operating theater and suddenly it is politics and financial pressures! It is their train set...so play smart.
What I do STRONGLY disagree with ACMS on is the training system...how is it that we have gone from pass rates into the 90+% 5 years ago to such high failure rates? Is it the recruits? The system? The trainers? The syllabus?
I think they(management) recognise there is a problem, but like any good tail wagging any dog, they are solving it with more checks on the candidates, pre command sims etc. Big picture...at least they are reacting to a problem...little picture...it sucks trying to get an upgrade nowadays.