hcmcmcclown; just because the rest of the world do something a certain way does NOT mean that it is necessarily the best way. Blindly following what everyone else does because some boffin deems it "world's best practice" is short sighted and failure prone at best.
The way we do it here in Australia has served us well for many a long year. Change can be a good thing if done constructively, however, change for change's sake bears an ill wind.
Sounds very much like the Dick Smith Vs Flight Service battle to me.
The Flight Service outcome:
- Big fight ... logic against "World's Best Practice"
- Bullied through
- No one has died ... the world has kept revolving ... but general Aviation Professionalism has certainly taken a beating
- Some very happy Redundantees
The (predicted) Qantas Outcome:
- Big fight ... logic against "World's Best practice"
- Bullied through
- No one has died(hopefully) ... the world has kept revolving ... but Engineering Professionalism has certainly taken a beating and engineering delays have increased (but Company happy to live with that)
- Some very happy Redundantees
Hope I'm wrong ...