I note that Mr. Forsling failed to mention the duplicity present in many flying squadrons.
On one hand, maintainers are told that they have every right, are expected to call BS on unsafe practices and situations.
On the other hand, if a maintainer does, they are often overruled and in some cases, end up falling on their sword so to speak if they stand their ground. Ratings are impacted which can impact potential promotions. I was an engine mechanic during Desert Shield/Desert Storm and can attest, that although the following may be perceived as anecdotal, I witnessed similar or was involved numerous times in similar incidents during my 20+ year career.
One evening, one of our F117s returned from a mission over Iraq with a bird strike in the number 1 engine. The Expediter didn't want me to borescope the engine per the technical order because he believed the grid tore the bird up good enough that it couldn't possibly have caused damage. I was "being too conservative, just inspect the fan blades (some were slightly dented and required some corrective action) and call it good." I told him "Nope, not gonna do it." He ordered me to. I refused and told him "If it was that damned important, you sign off the Red X." (Something very few, if any are willing to do, they don't want their names anywhere near something like that.)
Needless to say, it turned into a pissing match. An E9 (not a Chief by definition) overheard the rantings and intervened. I won the battle, but lost the war. I was cleared to borescope the engine to verify there wasn't any other damage downstream. The E9 reamed me good afterwards and my next performance report reflected a "insubordinate attitude" towards higher ranking NCO's and a downgrade in my rating. That rating was instrumental in prolonging my subsequent promotion.
Attending a Mishap Investigation Course was an eye-opener for this maintainer...maintenance is the primary cause (95+%) of all aircraft mishaps...almost entirely unintentional.
The atmosphere of the organization dictates how safe that organization will be. If the organization places "production" (sortie generation) as the top priority, then safety will suffer. There's just too much pressure brought to bear in generating those sorties...incidents will happen that don't always involve loss of aircraft or crew.
