Aviation began in an era of derring do and the terrible beginnings of modern warfare.
Those magnificent men in their flying machines were drawn to trip the light fantastic with their lives in frail wood, wire and canvas contraptions because risk gave you an adrenalin rush, status and admiration by your peers. Back then the nanny state was less inclined to intervene to save us from ourselves. Today those pioneering hero's of aviation we so admire would more than likely be in jail.
Forever so the younger generation will always seek whatever form of risk taking is the fad of the day.
As it matured aviation became useful, efficient and vital as it grew into what it is today.
The safest mode of transport on the planet.
This did not happen by accident. It was driven by a developing professionalism within the industry and a recognition that safety was of paramount importance to the industries wellbeing.
Driving that safety ethos was the determination to investigate every accident. To forensically examine every facet of human frailty, design, error or omission that lead to that accident until a cause was found. Once the cause was known, valuable lessons could be disseminated amongst the industry and steps taken to minimise the chances of it happening again.
I agree with Dick, somewhere along the way this ethos to discover what really happened in a timely manner seems to have been left behind by our ATSB. Their determinations are increasingly subjective, heavily influenced to predetermined outcomes dictated by others. Instead of objective analysis of facts they increasingly rely on subjective innuendo and unsubstantiated rumours. All that achieves is a deep suspicion that the ATSB has been high jacked, is no longer an independent investigator and more inclined to follow political imperatives than seek the truth.
If lessons are to be learnt from accident investigation, conclusions must be available in a timely manner. Two and a half years is too long to wait for a report on an incident, the lessons from which could have prevented a fatal accident.
Eight years and counting for the Norfolk report is positively obscene.