Thank you for the question.
The reality is that there are very few direct inspections taking place any longer. They're very few and far between.
There are no unannounced inspections, which is very problematic. You give a company enough time to tell them when you're going in to do an inspection and they can make sure that they have the right things in the right place prior to the inspection.
The audit function is not an inspection function, and there is a conflict of interest, to be very blunt, when you give a carrier responsibility for a safety management system when their prime role is to make money.
When you don't have the right safeguards—in our opinion, with the direct inspections—you have problems. I fully support all companies having SMS. It's very important that they have it, but it should never be a replacement for the professionals who go in, inspect, and ensure compliance.