Well done Mike & Russel, your efforts are appreciated.
I am not shocked by the minutes though... it will take time. I think we all know plenty of organisations (even some well funded IT groups within some large investment banks I could name!) where projects go wrong, take a lot of time to set right, and yes people come to meetings not fully prepared!
As irksome as it may seem, rather than pour scorn onto this particular hapless / incompetent (strike out which ever emotive word you prefer to - it makes no difference) lot, the more productive way forward in my view is to recognise that it will have been difficult for them to have come forward to admit their mistakes and/or weaknesses; and that it is a very good sign that they have engaged at all with us as outsiders (ok, customers!)... it would have been easier for them to refuse the meeting and just issue statements that they were dealing with it!
So I say lets not scare them away from the table, lets be thankful that M&R are energetic enough to engage on our behalf, and thankful that the regulator too hasn't hesitated to get involved. Who knows what pressures these poor b*ggers at the coalface may be under in terms of lack of budget, lack of training, lack of expertise, or whatever.
I know the need for blame is strong - I feel it too as this fiasco has exposed safety issues and could have been avoided with better planing and better software than that which oozed from somewhere in the bowels of Thales [yuk!] To see how it could/should be done for contrast, take a look at the facilities provided in
Airservices Australia Brieifing Service which includes a full area listing combining both wx and NOTAMS (this example is for the southern half of NSW):
http://www.airservices.gov.au/brief/.../avreq?area=21 - an easy "one-stop-shop" for all the briefing info needed for a flight within that region (vast - at least as big as the UK!).
But my main point is that even though what has delivered to us been is sub-standard and frustrating in the exteme, I believe that we have to take a positive attitude at this stage in order to have people do what we want them to do. Its M & R's positive and constructive engagement that seems to have made progress thus far - lets not take the easy route of just pointing out the obvious which I fear may be counter-productive.
And no, I don't work for NATS
