Ancient Aviator
"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?", indeed, who does watch the watchmen. It is ever thus and a difficult conundrum to solve.
Tuc/JTO, yup, I agree. But as AA62 has pointed out, who would you use? If the CPS and HSE can't be trusted then I guess we are kind of stuck with it? Whomever pays for any independent regulator is always at risk of accusations of bias or narrowing down the scope of their investigation. FTRS seems like a neat solition but still involves post sponsors and lines of funding - also, when it comes to renewal, then if the individual has been a difficult SOB then renewal may be unlikely. As for career inspectors like the AAIB then again this has pros and cons - yes you may get consistency, but you may also get staleness after 5-10 years in the same role; plus also, if you get a twonk in the post you may be stuck with them for aome time!
I think we should accept the current slight imperfections as it may be 'better the devil you know'?
LJ