Chug,
I don't speak the same language as you clever guys, I don’t read Grown-Up newspapers and I don’t drink G&T’s. I only have vocational qualifications (none of those degree things) and some 38 years of experience.
But I do understand what goes on around me and I am where I am by putting the intent (not the letter) of regulations into practice. Some may call that 'doing the right thing'. I have some strong influence in some air & ground ops, maintenance, design and production organisations.
Whilst working in a relatively senior position for a large contractor I saw how bad the latter day RAF had become and decided to wait for H-C to come up with some sort of alternative path in his recommendations. If he had said he was happy with the RAF way of doing airplane stuff - I'd have resigned immediately and then looked for new work.
However good or bad you see his report, the way H-C described the way forward was (to me) a logical step on the path to MOD's redemption and I supported it (and I still do, however wrong the details of the report are/were).
Since then I've seen the MAA try to mould new regulations around their old practices and I've also seen how it can't and doesn't work. I saw what they wrote and heard what they told their Shop floor - and then I saw what they really wanted to happen and how they can't operate without (their term) 'work-arounds'.
I gave up after a few years of driving myself mad with frustration. Even now, some regulations are ignored if not recently removed because they meant actually changing a 'traditional' policy.
In my opinion the MAA is now changing the rules to revert back to where they were pre-H-C. I believe the MAA will soon become just another Dept. of MOD, more worried about its budget than doing anything right, effective or productive.
I now work with people who live for and with airworthiness and continued airworthiness, and not doing their utmost to get around 'difficult' regulations (ironically, it's my job to see what Directors want to work around - and I almost always reject it). I work where doing the right thing is normal, the easiest path and is cost effective - because that's the way it is and we budget/work to that cost.
Oh!....and you couldn't have this standard of conversation on Facebook. That’s one reason I’m on here.
Fodfather,
To which improvement are you referring? What part of MOD aviation are you working in to see that improvement?