Man I wish this was the case where I work. I've had only 1 Captain set up the box while I was doing a walkaround. Never had a Captain do a walkaround. Saves time and makes sense for it to be done how your airline does it.

 

We just do the postflight on a terminating flight, not if we're swapping out, that's the next crews preflight.

 

Not to belabor the point...BUT:

Let's say you have a tail swap, and due to inbound delays, the crew taking your airplane is not there yet. On landing, one of your two nosegear tires went flat. Since you evidently aren't required to do a postflight inspection, you continue about your business and unknowingly leave the airplane sitting with a flat nose tire.

Next crew shows up 30 minutes later, and once the preflight begins the FO immediately notices a flat nose tire. Now, the already delayed flight is delayed even longer as maintenance is called to swap out both nose tires and get the airplane airworthy again.

This additional delay could have been vastly reduced if the flat had been discovered on a postflight inspection, and the crew who brought the airplane in wrote the flat up and called it in to maintenance control for repair. Now, lets replace flat tire with "engine oil leak", "hydraulic leak", "tailstrike", or any other number of problems that a quick runaround would have discovered - see the potential problems such a policy exposes your crew and company to?

When I was at AWAC, the only time I wouldn't postflight (even in the crappiest of weather) was if the crew taking the airplane was RIGHT THERE upon our arrival and I knew the FO would start the walkaround immediately.

Again, not bashing on you...just how the company has set their operation up for operational problems via policy (or lack thereof).

 

I was just providing some input, chill out dude...

 

It is essentially always delegated to the FO...FO's don't even bother to ask, they just do it. I don't ever recall seeing a SKW CA doing a walk-around unless it was IOE

I think they just put that in the manual so they can hold the CA responsible.

The post flight should always be done, and should be just as thorough as the pre-flight, especially at an outstation RON. It's good business sense more than a safety issue. I've had several airplanes grounded on the morning flight cuz the inbound crew didn't notice the bald tire spot, or bent flap that had been nailed by a goose.

 

I'm plenty chill, thanks.

You may notice that I specifically said I wasn't attacking YOU, but rather questioning the logic of your company's policy. I wouldn't ever attack somebody for following their FOM policies, but I'd happily debate those policies all day long.

And that's all I was doing.

 

Once upon a time I had a KSHV turn. We were an hour late AND swapping planes with another crew that was already there. Typical bayou thunderstorm when we park. As soon as we open the cabin door, the other FO starts his preflight. We are both 15 minutes late for departure at this time. I go preflight the other aircraft we are swapping into while the FO is still preflighting the a/c I just got off of.

Well next thing I know I'm sitting in the cockpit and an FAA inspector is reading me the riot act about how he watched me not do a postflight on the other aircraft. He didn't like my explanation for the reason for a postflight or why I didn't feel the need to do it hand-in-hand with the accepting fo. My post flight would have been AFTER his preflight! One of those feds that can't think outside the box.

 

That would depend where they were trained or flew for previously. If they are/were from a regional, once they put on the fourth stripe they probably stopped doing walkarounds unless you asked them to look at something.

At several majors/legacies, and a few that are no longer in business, both pilots took turns walking. Example; If it was your leg to fly, I'd walk and vice versa.

 

Last I checked, most company manuals were FAA approved as part of your op specs... as such, they would have the same force and effect as a FAR.

 

That's exactly how its done 99.9% of the time here at JBU. Whoever is flying programs their box while the other guy walks. Postflights are not required as they are a MX function. Both practices are drastically different than my previous regional RJ gig.