How does the FOM address maintenance discrepancies found during pre-flight checks?

The Flight Operations Manual (FOM) emphasizes the importance of addressing maintenance discrepancies found during pre-flight checks through outlined procedures for reporting and resolving these issues. This approach is essential for ensuring safety and aircraft reliability, as it mandates that any discrepancies are documented and communicated to the appropriate maintenance personnel.

By following these procedures, the flight crew can ensure that essential maintenance is completed before the aircraft takes off, thus promoting a culture of safety and adherence to regulatory standards. Following pre-flight checks, addressing any findings is critical to maintaining operational integrity.

This systematic process contrasts with the idea of ignoring minor discrepancies, which could jeopardize safety, or postponing maintenance until post-flight checks, potentially putting passengers and crew at risk during a flight. Additionally, the requirement for immediate replacement of an aircraft would be impractical and unnecessary for less critical discrepancies, as many issues can be resolved through proper reporting and maintenance actions rather than outright replacement.