The First Officer is as qualified as me to an external inspection of the ship. In some respects more so as he does more of them than me. When I was an FO I had a few skippers shadow me on walk arounds mumbling about how an FO got them in trouble by missing something 10 years ago blah blah blah. I understand that the Captain signs the log and its legal ramifications but we also have a reasonable expectation that others employed by the airline, either directly or by contract to perform their duties are trained a qualified to do so. So where do we draw the line? If I inspected everyone else's tasks to my total and verifiable satisfaction the jet would never move. When dispatched under a DDG, I read the specific deferral, confirm it is the appropriate deferral for the issue ( caught a few of them over the years) and if FD CB's should be pulled and collared the I verify they were done. I don't climb into the E and E compartment or open the APU cowl to inspect engineering tasks performed there. RESONABLE EXPECTATION.
Last edited by flite idol; 17th Jul 2015 at 16:06.