Dave Unwin
I enjoyed reading that. Well said.
It is 5 years since I last spoke to the MAA; they seem to be going backwards. However, if that is backwards to the correct starting point (refusal to implement regs, not the regs being wrong) then it may be for the best in the long run. The tragedy is they’ve existed for 6 years and simply will not acknowledge facts. Some of their papers resemble the old, discredited, CDPIs from 1993/4. They were cancelled because DPP, having immediately got definitions wrong (e.g. the process that maintains the Safety Case and airworthiness), they immediately went off at a tangent. The MAA’s equivalent document makes precisely the same mistake. You can implement it to your heart’s content, but you won’t achieve anything. That’s the situation you describe, perfectly.
I do not know the official reason for disbanding the Chief Engineer post in the late 90s but with hindsight, and now the various ARTS from 1992-98 have been released, it would not be unreasonable to link it to the abysmal job the 1991-96 incumbent did. The Nimrod ART of 1998 is infinitely more critical than Haddon-Cave ever was. You may recall these reports were buried by the CE until revealed during the ZD576 campaign. You mention Haddon-Cave’s confirmation (not revelation – he was told this in evidence) that unqualified staff were let loose. That was stated policy under that CE in AMSO/AML in 1991, and became so in MoD(PE) in 1996 under the Chief of Defence Procurement. Both systematically ran down airworthiness and safety in general. It may have been directed from above, but their subsequent rulings and attitudes suggest not.
Finally, composites. While I know nothing about the gliders, I do know the officer (retired Sqn Ldr, now in his 70s) who oversaw the award of the original contract. (He also lectured on Air Legislation). He assures me that having the necessary certifications only got them to our door. Each and every engineer was then required by MoD to go back to school and retrain on composites. The regression you describe is not unrelated to the CE/CDP policies I outlined above. They may have been issued 25 years ago, but if nobody challenges them they remain.
Best wishes