Smoking Holes.
Grip pipe makes a valid point, we have had 'countless' investigations, enquiries and even the odd Royal Commission and nothing has happened, except, the determination to cover the incumbent ministerial arse. I hoped Staunton would do the trick, I hoped Lockhart River would make a dent, but alas, nothing but a more manic grip on the 'word' of the law, more useless hoops to jump through and all this, at a hell of a cost.
Smoking holes – we got several; a culture of fear, we have one of those too; hidden or ignored balmy SOP, yup, thanks, we got plenty; audit baffling paperwork, oh sure, lots of that; sweeping grandiose statements in Safety System Manuals, oh, yes those too; and they're very nice. Cue here for the castle speech from the "Holy Grail" (Monty Python).
I could live with that (just) but, the way the 'law' is be used beggars the imagination. It would OK if we got a safety outcome from any of it, other than some poor sod stripped of a license. That is not an outcome, it's a statistic to prove how, whoever values these things can say "we are making safer", which is absolute Bollicks.
There are things which have been rammed into (and out of) operations manuals, being dragged out of a half arsed idea of operational safety and foisted on the industry, decisions being made on very weird interpretations of that same law. I wish they were my stories to tell, but, they ain't. 
. But it's bloody scary behind the scenes and that's not bull. Ah, the things I've seen and heard children.
One thing for sure, if we want a healthy industry and pilots with at least some GA experience, in the airlines or regional carriers, something has got to be done. Tout de suite. And the tooter the sweeter.
Steam Off.
Last edited by Kharon; 7th Dec 2011 at 04:55.
Reason: P&Q's