Under the old system, I would say that there would have had been a remote chance that one of our inspectors could find a loose nut. He would have had to fall on it by pure accident, so to speak. The chances of that loose nut being observed by a mechanic and the mechanic signing before the aircraft had to go to meet the schedule were far less than with the SMS, because he would fear reprisal because he would delay the plane. The plane would be late an hour or two so he could fix this loose nut, maybe. With SMS, all those little problems will be reported without fear of reprisal by the mechanic or anybody who sees it.
On April 23rd, 2007. See this statement in context.