On walkarounds

I've done a fair bit of international commuting and have always
noticed the pilots getting dropped close to the airport approximately
45 min or 1 hour prior to takeoff, whereon they simply embark the
plane and get down to business in the cockpit. I've not till date seen
even one pilot actually do a walkaround!

Do commercial passenger airlines have someone other than the pilot
perform the walkaround of the aircraft, if at all? And how important
is the walkaround in commercial jets? I remember reading the accident
investigation report of an Aeroperu 737 crash where it was suggested
that a walkaround may have helped detect the piece of duct tape that
was plastered in the wrong place, blocking the static port...

Ramapriya

Ramapriya wrote:
I've done a fair bit of international commuting and have always
noticed the pilots getting dropped close to the airport approximately
45 min or 1 hour prior to takeoff, whereon they simply embark the
plane and get down to business in the cockpit. I've not till date seen
even one pilot actually do a walkaround!

Do commercial passenger airlines have someone other than the pilot
perform the walkaround of the aircraft, if at all? And how important
is the walkaround in commercial jets? I remember reading the accident
investigation report of an Aeroperu 737 crash where it was suggested
that a walkaround may have helped detect the piece of duct tape that
was plastered in the wrong place, blocking the static port...

At most airports I've gone through, unless you were constantly
watching to make sure, it would be easy to miss the pilot's walkaround
from the gate area. However, I have had flights where it was obvious
that someone who looked like he was a pilot (he was wearing an
appropriate-looking uniform), was doing a pretty thorough walkaround.
I've also had a flight where a problem was reported to the captain by
the baggage handler, who had felt a drip where he didn't expect one.

Rich Lemert

I know from a retired captain that they had specified on their work
schedule which flights required them to inspect the plane themselves. On
a lot of flights an aircraft technician would do the walk-around.

Rich Lemert wrote:
Ramapriya wrote:

I've done a fair bit of international commuting and have always
noticed the pilots getting dropped close to the airport approximately
45 min or 1 hour prior to takeoff, whereon they simply embark the
plane and get down to business in the cockpit. I've not till date seen
even one pilot actually do a walkaround!

Do commercial passenger airlines have someone other than the pilot
perform the walkaround of the aircraft, if at all? And how important
is the walkaround in commercial jets? I remember reading the accident
investigation report of an Aeroperu 737 crash where it was suggested
that a walkaround may have helped detect the piece of duct tape that
was plastered in the wrong place, blocking the static port...


At most airports I've gone through, unless you were constantly
watching to make sure, it would be easy to miss the pilot's walkaround
from the gate area. However, I have had flights where it was obvious
that someone who looked like he was a pilot (he was wearing an
appropriate-looking uniform), was doing a pretty thorough walkaround.
I've also had a flight where a problem was reported to the captain by
the baggage handler, who had felt a drip where he didn't expect one.

Rich Lemert

For airlines, maintenance personnel are required to perform a complete
inspection of the aircraft before it is released for flight.

A thorough external "walkaround" inspection by the flight crew is also
required on the first flight of the day or after external maintenance. On
subsequent flights it is not required if the crew/aircraft remains the same
unless maintenance is performed. If the crew changes, the new pilot crew
must do an abbreviated external inspection.

--

Darrell R. Schmidt
B-58 Hustler History: http://members.cox.net/dschmidt1/
-

"Ramapriya" wrote in message
om...
I've done a fair bit of international commuting and have always
noticed the pilots getting dropped close to the airport approximately
45 min or 1 hour prior to takeoff, whereon they simply embark the
plane and get down to business in the cockpit. I've not till date seen
even one pilot actually do a walkaround!

Do commercial passenger airlines have someone other than the pilot
perform the walkaround of the aircraft, if at all? And how important
is the walkaround in commercial jets? I remember reading the accident
investigation report of an Aeroperu 737 crash where it was suggested
that a walkaround may have helped detect the piece of duct tape that
was plastered in the wrong place, blocking the static port...

Ramapriya

I always did it as the F/E in the morning or crew change. It was often dark
then!!
VL

A friend of mine who is a captain for Continental said he rarely does his
own walk arounds, but he always has someone from his crew do it. He always
tells me "I worked my way to captain, now everyone else can do my grunge
work."
"Ramapriya" wrote in message
om...
I've done a fair bit of international commuting and have always
noticed the pilots getting dropped close to the airport approximately
45 min or 1 hour prior to takeoff, whereon they simply embark the
plane and get down to business in the cockpit. I've not till date seen
even one pilot actually do a walkaround!

Do commercial passenger airlines have someone other than the pilot
perform the walkaround of the aircraft, if at all? And how important
is the walkaround in commercial jets? I remember reading the accident
investigation report of an Aeroperu 737 crash where it was suggested
that a walkaround may have helped detect the piece of duct tape that
was plastered in the wrong place, blocking the static port...

Ramapriya





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Ramapriya wrote:

I've done a fair bit of international commuting and have always
noticed the pilots getting dropped close to the airport approximately
45 min or 1 hour prior to takeoff, whereon they simply embark the
plane and get down to business in the cockpit. I've not till date seen
even one pilot actually do a walkaround!

I haven't flown commercial for some time, but when I did, I used to try to get a seat
in the terminal where I could watch the action. When I flew Delta, I frequently saw
the first officer doing a walkaround.

George Patterson
If a man gets into a fight 3,000 miles away from home, he *had* to have
been looking for it.

"Ramapriya" wrote in message -
Do commercial passenger airlines have someone other than the pilot
perform the walkaround of the aircraft, if at all? And how important
is the walkaround in commercial jets?

Most airlines require that a crewmember perform an exterior inspection
before every leg. It is important to do this because the previous crew may
have scraped a wingtip or struck the tail and you don't want to be blamed
for their poor airmanship. Additionally, if it is a sunny warm morning
without an APU howling, I'll do the walk-around just to find something to
razz the mechanics about.

D.

I do a lot of big jet flying and have seen the flight crew inspection
many times. Obviously it's not the same as a GA preflight- alieron
hinge checks, rudder movement, etc, but they look for the big stuff.

Here is some interesting info:
http://www.swiss-aviation-training.c...pilotday-2.pdf
http://www.pilotmentors.homestead.co...csAirline.html

A good website for airline career stuff:
http://www.jetcareers.com/

-lance smith

"Slick" wrote in message ...
A friend of mine who is a captain for Continental said he rarely does his
own walk arounds, but he always has someone from his crew do it. He always
tells me "I worked my way to captain, now everyone else can do my grunge
work."

But is he surprised that no-one really WANTS to fly with him? I wouldn't be
his first officer, it sounds like I wouldn't get much stick-time.