Plus Expenses said:
"Look at maintenance companies where the senior engineers are upstairs doing paperwork while the unsupervised trainees are doing the actual work, has this improved safety?"
Thats a really interesting statement. A bit like "Lots of pilots watching the telly today".
If you really saw this happening you should ask what the Senior Eng might be signing-off, or complain. Or are they really cheap? In which case - you get what you (don't) pay for.
I also find it interesting that VH would prefer pilots to be "stopped" rather than being prevented for erring in the first place. Be careful of what you wish for...you might get it.
Whilst I agree that SMS for small operations can be a bureaucratic system, it is often the only way to record errors and events made by those people that need to be monitored, because "they" always do it wrong, or to prove that some "systems" just don't work!
The whole point of SMS is that, if you can think of a better way to do it - suggest it! It is supposed to encourage an open reporting system. See if it works.
Yes, it may mean that pilots have "something else to do" - the same happened when someone introduced compulsory weather forecast checking or MORs. Get over it.
We are all trying to get to a "best practice" for our particular operation. Try joining it instead of sneering at it.
Rigga
A smallish heli-operator and maintenance QA and SMS manager.
Now that's what I call a rant!