And let us not forget that a proportion of the obscene fees paid by industry for less and less effective service is diverted to providing the working capital operation of "CAA International", an organisation which competes with the very people who pay the charges, and whose working capital comes from their shareholders.
It is quite galling to be confronted with CAA International's glossy brochures and unlimited funds for marketing when they are competing directly for business with the companies that fund them.
The CAA's fee-payers will wish to know that CAA International's staff do not suffer when travelling; those I have observed are strangers to the back of the aeroplane where the fee payers lurk. This is a matter of entitlement, of course; very important to Civil Servants, even when playing at business with other people's money.
Apart from CAAI, how does the CAA use their funds? Readers of CHIRP will know that the money is not spent on running an efficient licensing service; this is now so bad that it's a Human Factors issue of some magnitude.
What productive activities, exactly, are carried on in Kingsway and Gatwick? "Safety" regulation is now a matter of applying EASA rules by ticking boxes and avoiding responsibility. Blatant safety infringements are allowed to continue if the culprit has enough clout. Economic regulation is toothless and has been for a long time. Its advice to Government is ignored, usually because its a meaningless fudge.
So what is the CAA for, precisely?