Oh, but that is half of the problem .. some people do take themselves terribly seriously on here .. to those "telling" me how their industry saved the world from Y2K ? .. ahem, yes I believe you !
I will now read rather than delete all of those very urgent FWD emails outlining in terrifying detail the latest virus wiping every hard drive, whilst fearfully contemplating having survived 20+ years on the internet sans anti virus.
In my line of business, adopting, absorbing and implementing new company procedures is 90% of the job: if one decides to depart from SOP there had better be a very good reason, justifiable in terms of that departure being ABSOLUTELY essential in order to save the day in a situation that one had not been prepared for within company training or the company SOP framework.
Doing so without fully understanding the likely repercussions is something is beyond comprehension, the rules are the rules.
Thus in my experience, one fuming UK CEO was left to find another way home, after all, they were top of the pyramid that wrote the SOP, and reinforced it with NOTAC's ..
Not my problem squire.
In contrast, it is both pleasant and mutually informative to sometimes have our (European) management on the jump seat as they return from their various meetings, and to have the latitude to extend that invitation written into our SOP's.
Born, bred and trained in the UK, the aviation mentality is one I no longer recognise, nor wish to be a part of. I hope it changes, meanwhile ...
VIVA EUROPA
TR