Refocus on 'walkaround'/preflight post AAIB intertim
PLS refocus here as this (after AAIB interim) is about the 'walkaround'.
As commander/PIC, I was trained aka my early trainee days by a very grey-haired chappie who took great 'glee' in 'sabotaging' certain pre-flight 'things' to see how vigilant I was.
I felt a bit like 'Inspector Clouseau' in a Peter Sellars movie sometimes....wondering what 'Cato' had been up to...
That eventually transposed in my long airline career into the following fundamentals as follows;
1) If I was taking out a directly inbound flight after turnaround with no defects, I always did the walkaround myself...irrespective of skills of my F/O man/woman...unless I could remember specifically doing a full walkaround with them (and with intensity/focus) before.
2) If I was taking out a flight that had some ground time before departure and I was in the remotest unsure about my co-pilot (as, in not having done a walkaround/preflight with me before)...I insisted that he/she do the preflight walkaround with me. I would then make my own decision and discuss after in the FD. This often was a sharing to the F/O....however...in all bias....it was feedback based and I claim a few minor but significant misses myself. Fuel leaks were missed, Hyd fluid 'misses', Landing light whole sides missing (aka bulbs smashed/inop...kinda easy to do with boarding steps sometimes hiding wing-root obscuring lights there. Any ambiguous answers to the walkaround meant me or ground engineer asked to inspect. Despite any delay incurred.
Any 'newbie' got a 'bond'...de facto walkaround.
3) Any aircraft having had maintenance overnight or longer had the engineers log/worksheets poured over by me. Perhaps sad to say but my career will show that I had various serious snags coming out of engineering /maintenance checks....that is the plain truth and in my long experience. Any a/c coming from the various degrees of maintenance for me to operate quite often did not leave on time as I would find significant 'snags' (or would be found by my known/trusted F/O).
No particular 'dissing' with engineering...rather, as I saw it engineers fix what they're told to. My job is to double-check that what it says has been done.
So Golden rule of a long no-incident/accident career was the paramount first check(s) as above.
Second backup after walkaround...I asked :[A]Is the aircraft 'flyable'Will any deferred defects stop/hinder me to where I'm flying via/to to get their safely?(WX/Airport/ATC issues etc and et al.,).
So, data calculations [B]beginfrom there with fuel and pax/cargo load.
Never ever will be any rush or time-slot factors. Company delivers us to aircraft to do our checks. Those checks save lives, full stop. They end when all has been done exactly to the book...no more...no less.
No lazy practices...no reliance on somebody you do not trust in all the human chain. As Commander/PIC...that 'trust' was only ever delegated to someone I had personally shown how to do a 'proper' walkaround/preflight external checks. After pre-flight confirmation, I asked pertinent questions to those I trusted. To make extra-sure, I often was at the a/c while the F/O was checking wx and gathering the paperwork. So, I used to do a good pre-flight before they got there and noted any discrepancies. (A bit like my early training-as above). If the F/O's walkabout (used to be F/E) didn't match mine...then we'd have a CRM chat and then go look at the issue.
example:
9 times out of 10 any discrepancy was possibly minor like 2 landing light bulbs out on one wing....however....on a NBO-LHR sector, for example, the best lighting focussed 'ON' the runway was IMPO the safest....as various 'beasts' are well known to sit (to get warmth) on the tarmac. For those that knew me on the 747-1 and 2 hundreds takeoff full loads were 'critical' on some days. Every beam of light was crucial....as any 'beasts' eyes shone back clearly. So, full takeoff lighting usually helped to see 'eye twinkles' and get the NBO runway team to go scare them off....as they were very likely to just run in any direction....incl. right 'at' an aircraft on takeoff.
I can only hope that the above is helpful to any current aviators. I haven't saved the world in my flying career....I just possibly may have added a few mins of delay (not a minute of which I regret) to make sure that the above had been completed properly....whatever it took....good weather or bad...made no difference.
The proper pre-flight cannot be circumvented and is always fun (come hail/snow/whatever) as it makes sure...as far as humanly possible...that all that is needed to get the aircraft safely airborne is in place! Get 'intimate' with your aircraft and know its faults and foibles. If in an iota of doubt....get it checked out...re-check in any hindrance of doubt.
That is what a 40-year+ flying career is all about and despite what anyone says...whatever their name badge says.....the PIC/Captain is responsible for the safe conduct of any flight. No go anywhere if you aren't satisfied. EVER!
The 'pre-flight' stage is right up until decision to take-off. Icing etc...long taxis can denigrate safe flight possibilities, too.