Originally Posted by CaveatEmpty
Don't ya just hate it when other kids broke your toys & then tried to hide em ??
In gen-av, the pilot's responsible for inspecting the a/c; when was the last time you saw a heavy pilot do a walk-around ?? They depend on (expect?) the ground-grunts to do that -- as you noted.
It's normal for the pilot to do a walk-around inspection as part of the check-list.
It happens, but if you're not looking for it, you probably don't see it.
I've seen many NW pilots (and pilots of other carriers) make their "walk arounds" to physically inspect the plane before it takes off. Usually before boarding the pilot will go out via the stairs attached to the jetway and make his/her walk-around as part of the pre-flight check and then get back on the plane and finish the pre-depature checklist.
Chances are you're not noticing a pilot doing the walk-around. I don't know the walkaround checklist for larger aircraft, but in general they probably look at the static port and a look at flight surfaces. They're certainly done though!
SDF_Traveler