OK , so as controllers and professionals you agree. As always its easy for us to identify where the problems are. Lets be sollution orientated. I can only hope that professional conduct and common sense will prevail and I hope that we all know when to call the line and when to throw away the books/ beraucratic arse covering and get the job done.
Striving for mediocrity is not the sollution.
Air Crews are not exempt from this mediocre behavior either. I continue to see exactly what is being discussed manifest itself in flight decks , as crews also make decisions in favour of covering their arses rather than allowing common sense to prevail. The "Fear culture" and "Big Brother" culture that is modern aviation is a very real threat to safety in itself.
The worst example I have heard of this is of a well known Australian Airline (that occured a few years back) was preparing to ditch off Perth as the city was fogbound and below cat 1 minima and they had no fuel to go anywhere else. Had it not been for a positioning crew member who told them to Autoland off a Cat1 ILS beam( without any protection and certification and breaking every bloody rule in the book) we would have had a ditching!!!
Blindly following rules and procedure is a huge threat. Common sense is the professionals burden. Doctors , Architects , Pilots , Controllers etc fit into this group for a reason. They are accountable people, may common sense prevail.