Originally Posted by
immolated
If finishing your walkaround at D-40 doesn't leave you enough time to find a path around a thunderstorm and read through MELs, you're pretty bad at your job. Arguably "applying your eyes" over the aircraft itself on a walkaround is just as important as anything else you mentioned. Maybe more so, with icing or CSFF considerations. If every mission is a helmet fire you're doing it wrong.
The airplane doesn't even pull into the gate until D-40 and then the off load, FA brief, etc. The walk around takes me 10 minutes and we are down to 30ish and the other NFP stuff along with flight plan review and MELs. The FO has more than enough time to walk around.
The ipad has made reviewing stuff at the gate before the plane arrives easier but I don't have access to the log book yet either. I guess I'm just bad at my job because I generally don't go the extra mile or rush.