Originally Posted by
Uplinker
If turnarounds or maintenance procedures mean that cowls need to be opened AFTER the walkaround has been completed, then write ASRs and get the procedures changed.
The walkaround is the final check that the aircraft is secure, safe and ready for flight. Engineers should not open a cowl after the walkaround has been completed and the tech log has been signed. If they do, they should inform the flight deck, write the reason in the tech log and sign it again, and it should be confirmed without doubt that the cowl has been relatched and checked.
Sound advice, which if followed would no doubt have prevented some of those 40-odd cowl loss events.
But worth bearing in mind that the above circumstances (opening the cowls after the walkaround) aren't what happened in, for example, the BA incident. Nor was that a simple case of engineers "forgetting" that they had not latched the cowls.