As a old bloke, with 50 years experience, flying the Tiger Moth to a 747/300, I am delighted to see we are getting better. In my years of flying obviously things have changed a lot in flt deck management, communication and of course the A/C themselves, however one thing has not changed and that is our total reliance on good engineers. It does not matter how bloody good you are, you are still up the creek with a u/s A/C especially if airborne. So my point is, we can get better all we like, but the current erosion of engineers especially in QF, and the breakup of what was one of the finest engineering outfits in the world, all in the name of the mighty dollar, concerns me greatly. Aviation in Australia if it is to go forward, needs top class engineers and pilots, who are not under the control of some D$@#head beancounter, who wouldn't know a APU from a camels A$#@. The only advantage we old blokes had over you, is that the airlines were run by management pilots and engineers, I understand that is not practical today, but there should be at least a couple of senior pilots and engineers included at each board meeting, to put the case of safety and training over the mighty $$$$$$.(I wish)!!
I understand I am preaching to the converted here, but if there ever is a smoking black hole, it won't be management blamed, it will be the poor bloody driver or engineer when the witch hunt starts.