Dave W wrote:I think there are two camps here: 1. Those whose daily lives bring them to understand as a matter of course the concept of a Just Culture, and who now live it without really thinking much about it any more, and; 2. Those whose lives do not operate naturally in that culture, who do not see it working and who therefore may be suspicious about "the establishment".
Camp 2 is, I think, an area for focussing information and education. It takes time to build trust; those of us in Camp 1 had that time taken some years ago in many cases, so we forget how long it can take to embed. Some of us (in either camp) can also forget how easily trust can be lost, and once lost how much harder it is to regain.
Solution: Open mind, everybody - and don't automatically think the worst of "the other". And accept - and continually remind yourself to accept - that the solution is not going to be an overnight affair; keep plugging away.
I don't think I'm in either camp. I think most people who work for organisations like the CAA, NATS and similar are genuinely well intentioned. However, that doesn't mean that I'm always going to agree with them on that best way to skin each and every cat. I can be in total agreement with the official line on some things, and throw my arms up in dismay at others.
We are all influenced by our experience, but it is important to think carefully before extrapolating that experience. As an example, some have suggested that the infringement courses are a money making exercise. To an extent, that thinking might be driven by our experiences of speed awareness courses where many people, myself included, think that the economics has overtaken the safety imperative. Even then, it isn't a binary issue - it is a bit of both. It isn't a big step to extrapolate that direct experience that many of us share to the infringement courses, but as the economics are so massively different it just isn't reasonable or logical to do so. Whether they will prove to be a cost effective decision is another thing, but in this case I'm more than happy to accept the intentions are good.
I don't think the CAA are out to get me. I think the individuals within it mostly want what is best for aviation of all types in the UK. That, of its very essence, though, means trading off the interests of some airspace users against others. That isn't an easy task.
Naturally, my own bias is going to be to look to my own personal flying interests first. So, there are always going to be times when I don't see eye to eye with decisions taken. The practical reality, though, is that the world doesn't revolve around me and what I want, but my own view is always going to influence how I think I'm being treated. Just culture is a nice buzzword, but when you break it down, whether I think I'm being treated justly depends to a great extent on what I want in the first place. It can't ever be all things to all men.
As Dave says, being open minded is the key thing here. Sometimes we have to accept that societal choices don't fall our way. We have to be open minded enough to accept that as being reasonable and fair, even when it hurts what we want or appears to infringe on our own personal freedoms.