Originally Posted by
TimmyTee
Are the covers/probes viewable when sticking your head out the window on the 330? Imo you’re crazy not to visually confirm at least one is off (with the assumption that if one’s off, it’s likely the ginger beer has done his or her job).
The engineers, walk-around pilot and pushback team should
all have
properly checked that the pitot covers were removed, but didn't, so where do you
realistically draw the line?
Originally Posted by
TimmyTee
It’s a 5 second effort.
A bit longer I think. 😉 It will take you 5 seconds just to
open the DV window on a Boeing 777. Then you will need to lean out and look down at the probes, and you'll have to be partially up and off of your seat, with your head and upper torso outside the window aperture to do that. Some ground-pounder with a Health & Safety qualification certificate, hung on the back of his door, will probably have a fit if pilots did that regularly. 😄
As an aside, in the 16+ years I have been flying airliners I cannot recall there ever being pitot covers fitted on the aircraft I have arrived at, in preparation for flight! Merely an observation. That doesn't mean I don't check carefully on the walk-around, I do. The 92 seconds this incident Captain spent on his external inspection, including 9 seconds at the nose gear, is a pretty poor effort.