In 2006 I was discussing the Toronto accident with an Airbus employee. He suggested that a major change resulting from it might be making the use of AT compulsory unless inop or recommended by ECAM/paper procedure. Obviously Airbus has thought better – introducing this kind of major change to the way the Buses are operated could be very costly!
Today there are already rumors that insurance companies might have to foot a bill of up to 750 million USD. And they have to recuperate the money themselves from somewhere… Correct me if I am wrong, but I have a certain gut feeling that this nuclear sub is roaming the depths not to find the FDR and/or CVR but to MAKE SURE they are not found by the right people, that need them so badly.
IN a world where MONEY MATTERS you and me are only pawns on a huge board.
No government/regulatory agency will stipulate that an a/c must be 100% safe. Because it will never get off the ground and make money. So most a/c are 99.99999999999999999999% safe. Or this is what we are told. And in order for everybody to make MORE money, we got rid of the flight engineers, we accept ab-initio CPL holders to fly FBW a/c with less than 500h career time, we accept maintenance outsourcing, etc. etc.
I don’t intent staring the blame game. But we, professionals should help the general public become more and more aware of the issues facing our industry, like THE GUY who spoke up after he landed successfully on the Hudson….