What is an SOP?
Just to clear a point, there is a check list, then there is the standard operating procedure (SOP).
Companies are allowed to alter the manufacturers' checklist, provided all the points are safely covered. Mostly they stick to it.
The SOP is what happens outside the checklist and varies greatly from company to company. Now and then a (non checklist/QRH item) bad situation arises which makes the flight managers think hard and put a new item in the SOP. Unfortunately the reasoning for this gets forgotten over the years and other operators either don't have it or have dealt with it a different way.
After a time the SOP gets unwieldy and unpracticable.
I think this is a very good thread, having been in the position of writing SOPs myself and suggest that an operators' SOP meeting should take place to rake over these items and boil them down to a mininum. The manufacturer should also be involved in this process.
FC.