You just cannot accept that an AFM may well explicitly say operators can modify the procedures as they see fit, will you?
Bloggs,
In short, no. Show me an AFM that says that !
In the literal legal meaning of the words you use, not some local constructive misinterpretation.
I have dealt with a lot of AFMs over the years, mostly( but not only) FAA or Transport Canada TCs, I have never seen one. I would go further, and suggest that such an AFM would not comply with ICAO Annex 8 and sundry ICAO docs. on the subject of aircraft certification.
If an operator has an aircraft, that the AFM says something that can be interpreted that way, it is a seriously deficient AFM. Given the amount of work and background information that goes into determining certified procedures, and the potential legal liabilities attached to deficient procedures, the likelihood of any manufacturer giving legal carte blanche to individual operators seems very remote to me.
This is quite distinct from the (say FAA) guidelines for company specific Part 121, 125 or 135 FCOMs, and acceptable and non-acceptable ways of incorporating normal and non-normal AFM operating procedures and checklists.
As the ATSB said, when the famous case of the almost disastrous A320 GA at YMML was finally investigated, Jetstar has made a change to the expanded operating procedures without the TC holder approval, and that had a significant bearing in this very serious incident.Airbus did not approve the change, Jetstar reverted to the TC AFM.
As I said before, CAR 138 and CASR 21 are quite clear.
Tootle pip!!
PS: What Thornbird is referring to, demands by particular FOIs, are creating a very dangerous operating environment. As to Bloggs example dealing with lights, that must be from a very old TC, in "more modern" aircraft, that would often not even be on the "expanded checklist/normal operating procedures", but just be expected of a normally competent and trained crew, who can tell the difference between day and night, or night with fog, where you decide not to use the landing lights for either landing of takeoff.
I am reminded of the "Preflight preparation procedures" on the B747 Classics --- some 400+ items that took the Captain, FO and FE about 20 minutes.
The Checklist call was:
Preflight Preparation Procedures
The answer was:
Complete -- P, F, E