If you think that Aerospace PM is bad, you try the rail industry
Was just thinking something similar - never been near an aerospace project (or a rail one!), but it's all very familiar. Think it's a "projects" issue, not an "aerospace" one.
Occasionally, just occasionally, you get a project manager who gets it and then you think "ah, that's why you get 'x' times more than me".
The rest of the times it's micro management by timewasters who don't know what they are talking about.