Ryanair are subject to the same rules, regulations and inspections as any Irish carrier and also are subject to SAFA inspections, the same as any other carrier.
This statement tells me you are not a pilot. This is the spin that Ryanair excrete ad nauseum to the media. It is utterly false.
Faire d'Income, as this thread is running at the behest of a journalist trying to discover the facts, who may have little depth of knowledge on the issue and is searching for information and accuracy, your unenlightened comments simply fan the flames of sensationalism.
Firstly, don't make statements you can't possible validate as fact: whether you believe that I am, or am not, a pilot is an
OPINION and irrelevant when we are discussing regulatory issues. Secondly, you will no doubt wish to retract your erroneous statement that Ryanair is not subject to SAFA inspections and that the rules and regulations Ryanair operates to are somehow different to any other Irish carrier. My remark, was then, accurate and factual.
Airlines are self regulating. They submit an Operations Manual outlining their own rules and regulations for approval by the relevant authority and when approved they ( are supposed to) operate accordingly. The airlines have different Operations Manuals and as such operate to different rules.
Airlines do indeed submit a suite of Operations Manuals to the Authority for approval: this would be done during the initial application for the AOC and subsequently whenever a variation is applied for. However,
the operating procedures outlined within the manuals do not constitute rules and regulations which will be at variance with the umbrella of statutory requirement. In this case the JAA regulations, the Irish SIs and D of T requirments.
Obviously there will be many similarities ( mainly to stay within manafacturer and JAR regs ) but your statement is deliberately misleading.
The vast majority of start ups base their Ops Manuals submission either on the manuals of an existing carrier, JAA if applying to a JAA member state, or on the template manuals available, at a price, from the Authority. Where there are variations these will be
more restrictive than the existing legislation, as no Authority may approve operating procedures
less restrictive than the prescribed requirement. For example, a carrier may wish to operate to a Decision Altitude of 100ft on a Cat 1 approach and include that text in their Ops Manual: that would plainly be rejected. Hence, they do
NOT write their own rules and regulations. The one single area where the Authority is permitted to allow a degree of latitude is in the company FTL scheme, which may be more restrictive than the legislation but cannot be less restrictive. The company normally submits this for approval, and if accepted, it becomes " the company's approved scheme". The company then "self regulates" this scheme: as this is not unique to Ryanair or the IAA, I fail to see how you can justify your statements.
There are a tiny number of audits carried out by the IAA. It is not unknown for an IAA audit to consist of an IAA officer flying as the Captain of a line flight with only a Ryanair co-pilot in the cockpit. This system is completely insane.
As someone who has been on the receiving end of IAA audits, not I hasten to add with FR, let me assure you that they are neither tiny in number nor superficial. Moreover, an audit is technically different to an inspection; an audit tends to focus on the compliance of the carrier with written procedures ( JARs, SIs and Ops manuals ) and the conformity of the paperwork generated with those same requirements, and normally is the precursor to an inspection. During the audit the Authority may well invite changes to be made and new or revised procedures to be introduced and offer assistance and advice. Whereas the inspection is a formal rigorous process more akin to an examination.
It is normal practice within the majority of licensing authorities, JAA or otherwise, to have an Authority inspector current on the type of aircraft "his" carriers operate. The Authority usually requires any carrier to provide a conversion course, line training and line flying to allow the inspector to "get up to speed" if the aircraft is new to the register. As the inspector normally flies as Commander your insanity remark is simply inflammatory.
An inspection flight involves the IAA Ops Inspector observing from the jump seat; routine flights to retain currency and inspection flights are completely different and separate.
The flaws are many but it is worth pointing out the conflict of interests where the IAA officer is effectively completely responsible for the operation he is supposed to be impartially auditing. It is also worth pointing out that this does not happen with other carriers
Perhaps you would care to be more specific?
Ryanair bashing is a popular pastime on this board, however, when a journalist is chasing fact perhaps a considered response would be more constructive.