tuc:-
Lesson - it's all about people.
Spot on, tuc! That is the real conundrum. You can have all the committees and appointments imaginable but if the man at the top says jump, what do you do? That is why Regulators and Investigators have to be entirely separate from the Operator and from each other, lest that one illegal command comes down from above to suborn the regs and/or fix the investigation. Both have happened in the past under the present arrangement of all three in the same bed. The results are still with us and, arguably, now worse than ever.
Engines,
First, get a panel of experienced 'greybeards' to scrub the MAA regulations and restore the intent and the detail of the missing DefStan that Tuc so often (and quite correctly) refers to. Also, restore and emphasise the basic principle of 'Build Standard-Safety Case - RTS' to the regs.
The MAA in other words has failed utterly to do so in the last 6 years. Why? Because they are stymied by the very report that is their raison d'etre, Haddon-Cave's. There is nothing wrong with the present system because he commends it! Until that lie is faced up to, nothing will change.
have the public enquiry. Hang the guilty b******s. It will put the fear of God into those in the MoD who persist in failing to implement mandated regulations.
Which is the very reason that no-one wants to touch this with a barge pole; the RAF Provost Marshal, the civilian police, HoC select committees, HoL committees, the UK Government, MPs, Coroners Courts, FAIs, even the media. That just about ticks off the whole of the UK Establishment I think, but if it doesn't I suspect that those not mentioned would concur with the rest.
As tuc infers, any system is only as strong as its weakest link. That turned out to be people being forced to choose between their careers and their duty. Most chose the former, and so people died. We will go on being in disagreement on this key issue I'm afraid. Separation and Independence is what keeps civilian aviation safe. It could do the same for military aviation and thus maintain our Air Power for use in war (its ultimate purpose as you so rightly point out).