Whilst I'm not condoning what was done, I suspect you all need to back
away from this man, and look at the company, and perhaps the wider
industry.

Firstly a 'safe' culture is not just created. It is built over many years
by the contributions of many. Young pilots watching older ones take the
most conservative course of action builds that into the up and coming.
Instant F/Os and short time captains almost certainly don't think that
way. New airlines, almost by definition, will not have that sort of
culture, and the operators are very likely to be vulnerable to outside
influences. A safe culture takes years to build, and yet can be very
fragile. A CEO who declares his brand new airline to be 'safe' almost
certainly has no idea what he is talking about....

Companies can bring great pressure to bear against crews. Even simple
things like the clocks that Virgin Blue have attached to the gates, which
count down to departure time, don't enhance safety....they just push the
idea of going, come what may. Minimal fuel loads, wishful thinking in
flight plans, or witch hunts following diversions or termination of a
flight all contribute to a reduction in safety. All are common in the
industry. I recall one friend telling me that when he flew for a couple of
years with a northern carrier, he diverted; and the F/O spent the entire
divert muttering to himself 'XXXXX doesn't divert'. One very major airline
considers that as all of its pilots are 'at least' as good as the Boeing
test pilots, then they can consider the Boeing crosswind limits to be
recommendations only. Given that their F/Os are instant, their actual
record is poor, but their marketing is brilliant, that's faith I consider
misplaced. I'd like to consider myself a decent driver, but if the Boeing
guys consider it a limit, I'd prefer to be nowhere near it.

The media are also constantly working to reduce safety. The rubbish
printed by them almost defies belief. So, what they are likely to achieve
is a secretive industry; nothing will be given out as it is twisted by the
media to whatever ends they have this week. This is the opposite of that
has been aimed for by safety people for decades, in which errors are
freely admitted, because the next bloke might learn from them.

We're hearing the same sort of gibberish about the accident in Spain.
Nobody really knows what happened, but I see today that people are saying
the jet should have been replaced when it went back to the gate for a
temperature probe problem. Well, firstly spare jets don't generally grow
on trees, and yet passengers seem to be very unforgiving about
delays....even when they're needed. If you want to fly on a perfect jet,
well, you aren't going to do much flying. Even brand new ones come from
the factory with issues... I expect that this will prove to be the
standard chain of events, and I also expect that the actual cause will be
nothing that's been mentioned by the media so far.