While I've been prepared for one over the last 38 years, I've never actually had one! Our crew had a noon show time at one of the smaller airports with commercial service in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, KIMT.
Our inbound plane hadn't arrived yet when we reached the ops lounge. Out the window we saw a couple of guys just standing around looking out towards the runway. One looked over his shoulder and spotted us in ops. He immediately turned and headed for the door.
Upon entering he greeted us by flashing his FAA inspector creds and announced they were doing ramp checks. We fished out our certificates and medicals which he reviewed and made note of our names.
Once the plane arrived one went on an exterior inspection of the aircraft while the other sat down with our flight attendant and started reviewing her ops manual, checking that it was up to date. Once the exterior inspection was complete the other guy came inside and started reviewing our maintenance logs. Everything was in order.
Once satisfied they continued in to do the certificate review for the inbound crew.
So, in the end pretty much a non-event, but still a little surprising at such a remote location, especially since they were out of the Chicago FSDO office. My theory is they had planned a fishing trip up north and this got them there a day early on the gov't dime!
Our inbound plane hadn't arrived yet when we reached the ops lounge. Out the window we saw a couple of guys just standing around looking out towards the runway. One looked over his shoulder and spotted us in ops. He immediately turned and headed for the door.
Upon entering he greeted us by flashing his FAA inspector creds and announced they were doing ramp checks. We fished out our certificates and medicals which he reviewed and made note of our names.
Once the plane arrived one went on an exterior inspection of the aircraft while the other sat down with our flight attendant and started reviewing her ops manual, checking that it was up to date. Once the exterior inspection was complete the other guy came inside and started reviewing our maintenance logs. Everything was in order.
Once satisfied they continued in to do the certificate review for the inbound crew.
So, in the end pretty much a non-event, but still a little surprising at such a remote location, especially since they were out of the Chicago FSDO office. My theory is they had planned a fishing trip up north and this got them there a day early on the gov't dime!