With the knowledge, that the problem is rooted deep in the training, now in the open, I leave it to you boys and gals to do what is necessary to safe the reputation of the SA-licence-standard.
Setron,
That may well prove to be more difficult than anyone thinks. Sadly the CAA is now a typical Guvmunt department with the same personnel issues as all the others, all thanks to AA and our old nemess BEE. Consequently, the long time serving white guys have taken packages or retired, leaving a new generation whose sole "passion" is a job in government with all the associated pension, health etc benefits and only a very secondary interest in their jobs. Once most of them got this plum post, I'm sure they were horrified to realise that they actually were expected to put some effort in and that they had to make decisions too
.
The recent spate of accidents IMO is confirmation to me that my theory is valid. Our new "system" is supposey based on the JAR in order to facilitate commonality and maybe in the wishful future to allow for inclusion, but had anyone upstairs actually known what they were doing they would have realised that having a bunch of manuals and regulations in place was the easiest part of it all.
The difficult part of it is having the vision to forsee and plan for eventualities and knowing how to implement those changes effectively.
Another stumbling block I feel is the lack of control of the system. In the "old days" I had my then DCA inspector walk into my hangar completely unannounced for a "quick look-around" and that kept me on my toes. Since the revolution the element of surprise is over, the CAA guys insist on the operators buying their tickets (business class), booking hotels (3 star minimum) and per diems, all carefully arranged in advance so the element of surprise is long gone.
Add to this the perception that the CAA has APPARENTLY become available to the highest bidder as far as accountability/enforcement/exam papers is concerned and you have a system teetering on the brink of collapse and subsequent ridicule in the international arena.