topendtorque, are you talking about making responsibility commensurate with authority? That's just crazy talk, man!
Oh, wait. I see you're in Australia. Here in the US we're not big into blame sticking to upper management.
Seriously, as long as the CP's can point to the place in the Big Happy Fun Book where it says that the PIC has the authority to terminate any flight, the responsibility will stick to the PIC and won't go uphill. They can make things a bit safer by raising the weather minima, but most won't as long as their competitors don't. The FAA can raise everyone's minima, as in the case of AO21 but they've already done it once and probably won't again for a while at least.
No, I still think it falls to the pilots - you have to be willing to quit when you feel that your safety margin has gotten intolerably thin, and you have to have a company that will back you up on that decsion - or you have to find another company. But if the alternate companies won't, the pilots' only alternative is a union.
Ultimately, it falls to us at the sharp end to be the final authorities on the safety of flight. The government can't do it, the CP can't do it. It comes down to the "C" word in the acronym PIC. Command is not just wiggling the sticks.
Well, I think the coffee's written enough for one day. Fly safe.
