I've had a foot in all the camps stated above and whilst I agree with a lot of the narrative so far I think a lot of the failings are due to a lack of integrity by key individuals in the airworthiness chain. When I see very senior people making knowingly false claims regarding airworthiness to protect their own personal interest or professional standing I cringe. When I see no enforcement of standards or no action against those who make false statements I cry.
I do not think it is fair to lay the blame at the pilots in RTSA. Day in and day out I see them challenge the actions of DE&S. They seem to clash heads regarding the integrity and honesty with the same few senior individuals in DE&S on a routine basis. As described above I still see DE&S recommend 'switch-on only' clearances with no evidence, only to see these uplifted to full clearances after a period of use with the frontline with little or no independent evidence. RTSA catches some of these, but not all and the suggestion of adding engineering knowledge to the RTSA team is well made. But my point is that no action is taken against those who repeatedly subvert the airworthiness system. At times it seems that some in DE&S are playing games to see what they can get away with. I wish we had a system where a tally was kept when false airworthiness claims were made - 3 strikes and you are out kind of thing.
As we stand a number of senior people in DE&S are continuing the same self-serving agenda noted in the H-C report. RTSA and MAA should not be called upon to be the DE&S police, especially when the only punishment is a wry smile for those who are caught.