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.
It is my opinion that anyone who regurgitates Ryanair spin is a manager and unlikely to be a pilot. It is very relevant to the other readers of a Pilots Website.
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.
I did not say Ryanair was not subject to SAFA inspections. The Operations Manual is the de facto rulebook for any airline's pilots. Ryanair's OM is different to other carriers ergo Ryanair operate to different rules. For example this thread is about the new 'rule' at the 500' gate. No other Irish carrier, that I am aware of, has that rule. Different rule.
For operating pilots most of 'the rules' are contained in the Operations Manual. Certainly the Statutory Instruments and various Jar regs must be complied with. BTW it is Ryanair that feel the need to repeat the original statement publicly, I have heard no other airline doing it and while my point is probably pedantic it is not incorrect.
As the inspector normally flies as Commander your insanity remark is simply inflammatory.
The inspector
never flies as Commander in my airline and there is always a full crew with him/her and if they operate one is always a training Captain. Anyone from another airline like to comment. Do the regulator's inspectors fly only with a co-pilot at any time with your airline?
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.
Your view of the rules seems to constitute only what the absolute state limits are. That is not the case for us flying the line. We are certainly bound by the state limits but we must remain within the parameters of the Operations Manual otherwise what is the point in having one? Surely one wouldn't just print it as an exercise merely to satisfy the Regulator, would they?
Until recently Ryanair boarded/disembarked passengers at Dublin while refuelling without taking any special procedures ( i.e no one on a headset and no one supervising the refueller ). The other operators all followed what we understood to be the correct 'rules' ( contained in our OM ) for that situation and were always amazed to watch your guys. I note this has changed now.
Ryanair bashing is a popular pastime on this board
You do seem to have a magnetic attraction for negative attention, I wonder why?