There are few people, not many, who have been senior engineering officers in the RAF/MoD and have subsequently gone on to hold executive positions in the airline industry as CAA Nominated Post Holders and even CAA Accountable Managers. These people thus have direct experience of airworthiness regulation and implementation in both the military and civilian arenas.
One might think that such knowledge and experience would be of direct relevance to the MAA, yet I am not aware of any of these people being contacted by the MAA.
Whilst I am sure that Baines Simmons, a respected consultancy, has provided the MAA with good advice (at what cost?) I can't help feeling that the MAA has missed an opportunity to tap into expertise that would have helped the organisation in its early years.