fdr;
SMS done as envisioned and conceived is better than the old enforcement and discipline approach by the regulator. However, because SMS hands over the responsibility for safety actions to the airlines, more specifically flight operations management, airlines, rather, operations people, treat this as the deregulation of flight safety and save costs where they can. Seen it done in a serious event where the airplane was kept flying for a week in spite of the flight data which indicated the a/c should have been grounded. The FAA's experience with some US carriers shows that airlines cannot be completely trusted to regulate themselves to the point where the regulator is retreats to merely an audit role. But cash-strapped governments like the program because it legitimizes the gutting of management ranks (read, "those who go out to look at airlines"), within the regulatory authority. The FAA has learned that SMS works when the regulator is looking. We haven't discovered this in Canada yet although there have been some quiet wake-up calls.
PJ2