How would this checklist item been responded to in the SOPA/SMAC world:

Exterior/Interior preflight......... (insert response) C

Not to mention the mandatory 3-truck ARFF escort.

+1 ...............................

"You did it, right"

Not from what I heard with my own ears. I was questioned as to how the captain could answer "complete" because he personally did not do the walkaround. That is the kind of rigidity that is not needed. It is ridiculous and parochial.

Still seems to be enough pilots/cabin crews willing to work at Ryannair wages for them to launch the first well funded and supported LCC across the Atlantic.

Flights to US will cost just ?10 on Ryanair ? O'Leary - Independent.ie

Don't know how many customers will enjoy crossing the pond in Ryanair style, but at $10 each way (well actually $7.38 going west) I'm sure a few will try.

Thanks for the link. Here's the part I found most interesting:

Barring a global aerospace slump, Boeing should be able to place the reworked 787s with bargain-hunting airlines seeking twin-aisle jets to fly shorter, densely traveled routes, said Douglas Kelly, senior vice president for asset valuation at Chantilly, Va.-based aviation consultant Avitas.
“Asia seems like exactly the right place,” said George Ferguson, senior analyst with Bloomberg Industries in Skillman, N.J., especially if Boeing targeted sales to potential customers of the re-engined A330 contemplated by Airbus. “You can see it as a competitor to the A330.”
Buyers would probably pay less than half the current $211.8 million list price of the 787-8 version, Kelly said. The 787 teens have a market value of $115 million each for a single-unit or small lot sale, according to Avitas estimates. Airlines will probably demand 10 percent to 15 percent discounts, bringing the price closer to $100 million, Kelly said.
The upgraded Dreamliners will boast the same warranties as new planes, 10 percent fuel savings over Airbus’s A330-200 and creature comforts such as greater cabin humidity and dimmable electronic window shades, Kelly said. Their range will be about 1,000 nautical miles shorter than later 787s.
For carriers that don’t need to fly 7,850 nautical miles nonstop, as Boeing promises the 787 can do, the teens “still represent a good value,” Kelly said. “It’s just a matter of what price are you going to be prepared to pay for that versus a standard-build 787.


Anyone remember what the 10 A330's Richard ordered cost, per airframe, just to compare to these, at $100M each? I heard Richard said he would consider any used widebody, but at $80M (or less) each.

That was my point. Unless the captain does the walk around, programs the FMS and does everything associated with the preflight, he has to assume that his other crew members have performed their assigned duties. It has nothing to do with Sopa/Smac or whatever else you want to call it.

So, you have never done one flow, or checklist or flight using SOPA/SMAC, yet "That is the kind of rigidity that is not needed. It is ridiculous and parochial."

That, Bub, is ignorant.

SMAC/a HO for the 787:

BEFORE START CHECKLIST

1. Battery Master......... ON
2. All Fire Bottles......... Discharge
3. Battery Master......... Off
4. Aircraft................... Evacuate
5. ??????
6. Profit