L337;
Safety comes first always, but it needs to be commercial as well
Succinct and absolutely correct post. Well done.
My point on this need has always been, commercial viability but with safety paramount, (and pilots realize this far better than the beancounters).
It has to work commercially. The "insurance policies" for doing this safely are:
a) highly-trained and motivated workforce,
b) leadership by, support of and defence by the CEO for expenditures on "non-profit-making" safety programs, (I know an airline that termed the Safety Department a "Profit Center" for god's sake, solely in keeping with an MBA's view of the corporate bureaucratic world) and
c) a willingness to continously examine and accept the nasty bits of aviation so they don't bite one in the ethical, corporate and legal ass, and finally,
d) an abiding, clear and firm intolerance straight from the top of the organization, for departmental trading off of commercial priorities with safety priorities. I've seen that occur and accepted as far up as the CEO; it is dangerous work when that occurs.
In other words, if the organization is concerned for it's profitability and he leadership broadcasts to employees that "cost" as the organization's biggest concern and, because survival in the bureaucracy works that way, that is precisely what department heads will begin to tell their subordinates and what they will extract from their people. Nobody wants to look bad at meetings or in the numbers. The CEO is the person to ensure that that doesn't happen.
Mudman;
If the engines flamed out as some folks have theorized would no electrical power from the engines mean that the FDR and CVR would stop working? Is there an alternate power source for them?
Correct; the FDR/CVR would stop working should the AC1 or AC2 buses lose power. It is presently an issue within the safety and regulatory community. Swissair's recorders were lost at about 6000ft due to the rapid degradation of the electrical system, most of the relays, computers and controls for which were located in the cockpit and under/cockpit area. Control of the aircraft is assumed to have been lost at that point.