Winstun....your apathy noted.
Boeings may be manufactured to be preflighted by pilots (an opinion, at best, that I'm not too sure will stand up in a court of law) but are pilots made to preflight Boeings??
And sure, call an Engineer when you have a problem...if they are still available on the line for you. This is the typical reactive response to maintenance operations as a whole....
What happens if the pilot on his pre flight (having done the Boeing Pilot Pre Flight course) notices a hydraulic leak that is within limits (because you have looked up the MM - which is of course available to you)???
Do you ignore it and wait until it fails providing someone else with the cost of the delay or do you write it in the A/C log so that the Tech specialists know there is a problem, can order parts, can organise tooling and down time at an appropriate port before it fails. Unfortunately once a pilot notes this in the log a LAME must certify the A/Cs release as it is a maintenance function under CARs. Remove the LAME from the system and this proactive response to airline operations is unavailable.
The type of operation without Engineering support can potentially lead to defects reported by word of mouth or on scrap bits of paper at the end of a shift. An efficient operation must have Air crew and Ground crew working together looking at the big picture...maybe an expansion of the Crew Resource Management logic should be looked at for airline operators.
As for the B767 quip....maybe we should have kept the Engineer and removed a pilot?? I wonder if your apathy would have been so apparent then.