---- you are incorrect regarding AFM compliance and changes.
Bula,
Sorry, it's you who are wrong on this one, but you are far from alone.
We have a specific regulation requiring compliance with the AFM, quite black and white.
If an individual operator wants to vary a procedure laid down in the AFM, agreement of the TC holder ( and, defacto, the approval of the NAA of the state of certification) and (given our ridiculously restrictive regulations) CASA should raise a Legislative Instrument to cover the change, which will (normally) be specific to that operator and specific type.
From a legal standpoint, I do not know the status of an Airbus FCOM, and whether some or all of it forms part of the AFM (or JAA/EASA equivalent).
If you read the full details of this ATSB report, you will find the remarks by Airbus on this subject, they rejected the change and the notion that the operator could make this unilateral change.
How AFM required procedures (unchanged) are incorporated in the Ops. Manual of a particular operator is a separate issue, and is quite in order ----- ie: additional amplification in the writeup of a particular phase of operation.
Tootle pip!!