Originally Posted by
Feathered
The ETOPS A320 has undergone ETOPS maintenance procedures, minimum equipment, and a certification process. The non ETOPS aircraft has not.
This is not true, the A320 as a type is certified to conduct ETOPS, every A320 built is capable of flying ETOPS. Some may or may not need additional customer options to be installed.
When you buy an A320 however, you simply cannot go out and start flying them ETOPS, you need to obtain APPROVAL from your regulator. Some operators fly A320 that are perfectly capable of flying ETOPS, however they choose not to have them approved to save some costs on maintenance.
The aircraft in question had no idea it was over water or over land.
This is an error on part of the scheduling and dispatch, there should be a process in place that prevents these aircraft being scheduled/dispatched for these flights. It’s too late when you have 200 pax waiting to get onboard to have wait for someone to do a walk around to notice something painted on the fuselage.
Personally there are better ways to do this, change the color of the tech log/ipad for ETOPS aircraft. One black, one orange, mechanics and pilots know the drill at a glance.