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The "staff" you mention that does the walk-around of the major commercial airliner is/are also the person(s) who will be piloting the plane, IIRC.

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I just flew on an a320 and watched the plane taxi to the gate. Someone on the ground crew in an orange vest walked around the plane and did a visual inspection using a flashlight. At no point did someone from the flight crew leave the plane.

Curious as to what airline and at what airport? Usually pre-flight is before the plane taxis "from" the gate not when it arrives "at" the gate.

Are you referring to only the first flight of the day?

A plane lands, taxis to the gate. Passengers disembark, the plane gets cleaned and refueled, people on the ground checked it out, new passengers board (me), and it taxis from the gate. At no point did the pilots leave the airplane to "walk-around".

This is typically what happens during our hot seat evolutions in the Navy, as well. As Aircrew, I'm more concerned about performing my own walkaround if any maintenance had been performed between flights and/or it's the aircraft's first flight that day.

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