wow, you have been flying a very long time (based on your profile) - what recent flight did you have to bring up this gear-grinder?

to your penultimate point, thats why the cabin crew is aboard... to your last point, they must have some where, some time or there would not be an entire industry around it for so long, right? I mean, government regulators wouldn't just create make-work and cause expense now, would it?