In Oz. Our Ops Manual (the worlds largest company) opening statement was "These instructions and procedures are mandantory for all aircrew." Two paragraphs on it says "This manual shall not supercede or countermand any Regulation, Orders or Instructions issued by the Civil Aviation Authority. Compliance only with the terms of this Manual shall not absolve any personnel from the responsibility of abiding by such Regulations, Orders and Instructions."
Civil Aviation Regulation 138
Pilot to comply with requirements, etc of aircraft’s flight manual, etc
(1) If a flight manual has been issued for an Australian aircraft, the pilot in command of the aircraft must comply with a requirement, instruction, procedure or limitation concerning the operation of the aircraft that is set out in the manual.
Penalty: 50 penalty units.
(2) If a flight manual has not been issued for an Australian aircraft and, under the relevant airworthiness standards for the aircraft, the information and instructions that would otherwise be contained in an aircraft’s flight manual are to be displayed either wholly on a placard, or partly on a placard and partly in another document, the pilot in command of the aircraft must comply with a requirement, instruction, procedure or limitation concerning the operation of the aircraft that is set out:
(a) on the placard; or
(b) on the placard or in the other document.
Penalty: 50 penalty units.
(3) An offence against subregulation (1) or (2) is an offence of strict liability.
Note For strict liability, see section 6.1 of the Criminal Code.
The Ops Manual did contain erroneous advice. When we changed from the 76A to 76C it retained the A model collective bias failure procedure for some 18 months before ammendment. The Cat A chart produced in the Ops Manual only took into account the reject mode and not the continued take off (failure after CDP). Despite the discrepancy being pointed out, over a period of some eight years or so it never was changed, and possibly remains so to this day. My advice is know your RFM and read the Ops Manual with a jaundiced eye (212man excepted).