Oh, yes:
While I am on my soap box, I should point out that all of this is a symptom of the naughties* political structure in the UK and the US.
For some reason, the Western world became enthralled with spin, smoke and mirror politics in the naughties, and seemed to lap it up. Anyone with a grain of sense could see this as political spin (blatant lies, actually), but the populous seemed oblivious and lapped it up. "We don't need exports", I heard a UK politician cry. "I have ended boom and bust cycles", said the British prime minister. (What planet was that guy on?)
Unsurprisingly, out of this nouveau faux-political environment there emerged a number of companies who aped this style, including Easyjet and Ryanair. These were companies who just said they were marvelous and everyone believed them. They covered up poor employee relations, poor management decisions, poor safety records, poor safety cultures, poor everything - and replaced it all with smoke, spin and mirrors. As long as the Irish leprechaun played the fool, and the fat Cypriot gurned for the cameras, everything must be wonderful. And the media, the financiers and the CAA fell for the corporate tom-foolery, hook, line and sinker.
But everyone forgot that aviation is a serious business, with serious consequences. And the worst offender in all this was the CAA, who allowed 20 minute turnarounds at busy airports in any weather conditions. Were the CAA inspectors mad, or just looking for an easy life? Just how can one refuel, deice, ensure you are not overweight, get the performance calculation correct, and make sure you are correctly fueled for those pesky TSXXXs, BLSNs and BCFGs, and do all the checks in 20 minutes?
The CAA could have stopped this nonsense on day one, by slapping a minimum 35 minute turnaround time on flights. But no, they let report after report of Easy and Ryanair aircraft flying too fast, taxying too fast, hassling ATC to cut every corner enroute, hassling ATC to take off now or be number one in the queue - and still they did nothing.
Ryanair and Easyjet, flying too fast, cutting corners:
BBC NEWS | UK | Budget airlines' pilots 'cut corners'
BBC NEWS | UK | Ryanair denies pilots 'exhausted'
BBC NEWS | Business | Easyjet staff vote on strike
BBC NEWS | UK | Ryanair threatens to sack pilots
BBC News - Ryanair jet's 'rushed landing a serious incident'
Faced with these problems, O'Leary merely threatened to sack more pilots (see the links above). But the problem was not with the pilots, it lay with the impossible schedules and turnarounds they were being forced to achieve. So now Ryan and Easy pilots were between a rock and a hard place, because they could no longer rush, but had to maintain the same schedule or face the wrath of O'Leary. And still the CAA did nothing, when a minimum 35 minute turnaround would have solved many of these issues. So the culpable organisation at the root of all these problems, is not O'Leary or the fat Cypriot, but the CAA. Just what are they doing? Why do they repeatedly fail to do the job they are employed to do - maintain safety?
What is the problem here? Are the CAA afraid of O'Leary? Are they so fat, lethargic and comfortable in their plush London (or Gatwick) offices,** they cannot get off their arses to see what is happening in the real world?*** Do they have their commercial hat on, more often than their safety hat? Are they simply no longer fit for purpose? (I can never get a sensible answer out of them on licencing issues, as if they are all youth-opportunities workers nowadays.)
Whatever the problem, the government need to stick a rocket up the arse of the CAA's head honcho.
* 2000 to 2009.
** You will note that CAA employees are not strip-searched twice a day, every day, so what do they care about security? You will note that CAA employees do not have their food, drinks and cosmetics taken from them every day, so what do they care about security? You will note that CAA employees have a lovely subsidized restaurant, so what do they care about Ryanair pilots having to bring their own food, tea bags, coffee sachets, sugar and water bottles (that are stolen by security). It is about time, the CAA got off their fat arses and saw what happened in the industry they serve and control.
*** In a recent BBC interview, the dopey bird at the head of the CAA safety group said that only one pilot had fallen asleep while on duty in the last 10 years. And she sincerely believed this, and looked perplexed when challenged by the BBC reporter. Can you imagine any organisation quite so out of touch with the job they are supposed to be doing? What was that you said? "Westminster?" Yeah ok, I think Westminster being out of touch is a bit like Roman roads - it goes without saying....