First ramp check

LDJones

LDJones

Touchdown! Greaser!
Gone West
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Sep 6, 2011
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Twin Cities, MN
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Display name:
Jonesy
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!
 
Good to hear you escaped unscathed. They hit us all the time in MEDEVAC at very remote locations. We have so many people that get paid just to make sure our stuff is in order that nothing ever comes up...knock on wood. ;)
 
Had a bunch of 'em during my 135 & 121 career. Worst ones were when they thought they found something not correct on the plane, like safety wire on a wheel nut for instance. Always had to call back to ATL maint, get pics taken, send pics back to ATL etc etc to prove the plane was airworthy. Passengers always suffered as we always left late. Had a few arguments w/ a couple inspectors. usually inadvisable, but if you know you're right....
 
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I'm the only person I know who got ramped as a student pilot. On the day my CFI forgot his wallet and didn't have his certs on him.

He managed to slink around the side unseen while the FAA guy was walking out. He gave me his card, and I asked if I needed some kind of license or something to fly one of these things. He didn't even blink. Total deadpan... "Not really, no, it just means more paperwork for me if you don't."

It would have been a total non-event, had the club not had a policy that ALL the logbooks be kept in a zipper case... in the baggage compartment. Absolutely horrible idea, I know, but there it all was for FAA Guy to browse through. Fortunately a Part 135 King Air arrived and they decided they had a bigger fish to fry.
 
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Happens every so often for me at work with the airline, the FAA will come on, check me and my first officers certs and docs and usually they just stand aside and let us do our thing, then join us in the jumpseat for the flight. All the ones I've ever had have been a non event, they are usually nice guys going to or from an assignment. Every now and then they'll go a step further and join the FO on his walk around, or take a look through the maintenance log. They even on occasion check the FA's and ride in the cabin to watch them!
 
Wait, what? - they can ramp you when you are just sitting in the lounge?
Maybe they could make a case that you were in the process of preparing for flight?
Just wondering what the limits are on where and when they can check things; only on the airport? What about the restaurant if the pilot area is fair game?
I've always understood it to be when you were seen in or around an airplane ie; on the ramp; cf the term "Ramp" check.
 
Yeah, just government trying to remind you they are "there"

I've had two, both not really a event, one the dude had some crazy notion that we had to placard every seatbelt position, nope.

But hey, they are just here to help, protect the children, 9/11, and all that stuff.
 
Only ramp check I ever had was in a diesel 182 on the ramp in Abuja, Nigeria. The Nigerian CAA inspector didn't seem like he conducted many checks of French registered piston singles. The only thing he got a bee in his bonnet about was the under-wing courtesy lights; the ones you can turn on to stop you tripping over the wheel. They didn't turn on, but I told him they were optional and not required for flight; he asked me to show in the POH where this was written.

The POH was entirely in French so I gambled that his French was worse than mine, and flipped to a random list of things and pointed at it. My gamble paid off, and all was good.
 
I was ramp checked by two inspectors at Camarillo in my experimental gyroplane. It was so windy I had to have them help me secure the aircraft. 27kts gusting to 39kts as I recall.
I was ramp checked once at Santa Paula by a lone inspector.
Airworthiness, registration, operating limitations, weight and balance, pilot certificate, medical and pilot log book with flight review.
Everything was in order and it was a nonevent taking about 45 minutes both times.
The inspectors were all pleasant.
 
Jonesy, you were that close to 6Y9 and didn't stop by to say hello? I sure you could get a CJ in there at least once!!!!
 
First (and only) time I was ramp checked was back in 1996ish. Everything was in order, and it was a complete non-event.

The Tiger in front of us wasn't so lucky. The owner had to rent a car and drive back to wherever he was from.
 
Vance Breese said:
I was ramp checked by two inspectors at Camarillo in my experimental gyroplane. It was so windy I had to have them help me secure the aircraft. 27kts gusting to 39kts as I recall.
I was ramp checked once at Santa Paula by a lone inspector.
Airworthiness, registration, operating limitations, weight and balance, pilot certificate, medical and pilot log book with flight review.
Everything was in order and it was a nonevent taking about 45 minutes both times.
The inspectors were all pleasant.
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Since when are you required to produce your logbook? I'd be screwed, I never have mine.
 
JustinD said:
Happens every so often for me at work with the airline, the FAA will come on, check me and my first officers certs and docs and usually they just stand aside and let us do our thing, then join us in the jumpseat for the flight. All the ones I've ever had have been a non event, they are usually nice guys going to or from an assignment. Every now and then they'll go a step further and join the FO on his walk around, or take a look through the maintenance log. They even on occasion check the FA's and ride in the cabin to watch them!
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I've had FAA jumpseaters before, and they're required to do a basic check whenever they're up there...or so I was told. I haven't had one join me for the walkaround. That would be interesting.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
Wait, what? - they can ramp you when you are just sitting in the lounge?
Maybe they could make a case that you were in the process of preparing for flight?
Just wondering what the limits are on where and when they can check things; only on the airport? What about the restaurant if the pilot area is fair game?
I've always understood it to be when you were seen in or around an airplane ie; on the ramp; cf the term "Ramp" check.
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Good question. They actually commented that they didn't know this was a crew swap, so only expected to be ramp checking the inbound crew. They seemed happy to be bagging a two-fer!
 
I routinely got ramped back in my blimp flying days. I think most often it was some inspectors wanting a reason to go get a blimp tour...
 
I've been ramp checked three times and all three were at small airports. One was Erie, CO. I can't remember where the other two were but they were in Nebraska. All were non-events. The one I had doing 135, the inspector asked where I was from. I must have given the correct answer because that's the only question he asked. He said, "Congratulations, you've been ramp checked." He was more interested in having coffee with the FBO guy.
 
On my 2nd or 3rd lesson a guy came up to me while I was preflighting the 152 and asked to see my paperwork, I kind of stared at him until my instructor came over. CFI showed him his certs and asked me to grab the registration, w/b, and airworthiness cert out of the plane.

I did, the guy looked at them, said thanks and walked off.
 
Whenever I was ramp checked in the air ambulance, I would just tell the FAA person that we just transferred a meningitis patient. Of course the next question would be, "What does that mean?"

Well, meningitis is a highly contagious disease which includes meningococcal meningitis and meningococcal sepsis, and is defined as any infection that’s caused by the bacteria meningococci. Although rare, (I always left that out) it’s very serious and potentially life-threatening. It can potentially kill an otherwise healthy person within 1 day after the first symptoms appear. You are more than welcome to go inside the aircraft, if you have been inoculated specifically for meningitis.

Uh... that's Ok, I just need to see your certificates.

Ok, remember that I may have the bacteria on my person.

Hmmmm.... Ok... just hold your certificates so I can see them........thank you and have a nice day.
 
Had a female FAA inspector once who came into operations, introduced herself, and asked to see certificates of myself and the FO, our Jepps (checked revisions), and then rode the jump seat to wherever we were going. She loosened up a bit eventually and even cracked a smile one time. So damn serious, geez, it's just a plane.
 
Only been ramp checked when our 141 POI happened to be in town doing a CFI ride or an inspection. Just handed him my stuff and my students stuff to which he seemed satisfied.

What's more fun is walking into the plane and seeing the FBI and Secret Service waiting to greet you. :eek:
 
Several years ago flew into San Antonio (KSAT) to pick up my kids. I was early and while sitting in the FBO a man sat down and started a conversation. Turns out this is the FBO that the Spurs basketball team uses and they were about to arrive. The guy was from the FAA and said he was there to see if anyone broke the rules. He said when the Spurs are there people sometimes do dumb things. I promptly excused myself and walked away.
 
Vance Breese said:
I was ramp checked by two inspectors at Camarillo in my experimental gyroplane. It was so windy I had to have them help me secure the aircraft. 27kts gusting to 39kts as I recall.
I was ramp checked once at Santa Paula by a lone inspector.
Airworthiness, registration, operating limitations, weight and balance, pilot certificate, medical and pilot log book with flight review.
Everything was in order and it was a nonevent taking about 45 minutes both times.
The inspectors were all pleasant.
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Log? We're you a student pilot at the time?


Zeldman said:
Whenever I was ramp checked in the air ambulance, I would just tell the FAA person that we just transferred a meningitis patient. Of course the next question would be, "What does that mean?"

Well, meningitis is a highly contagious disease which includes meningococcal meningitis and meningococcal sepsis, and is defined as any infection that’s caused by the bacteria meningococci. Although rare, (I always left that out) it’s very serious and potentially life-threatening. It can potentially kill an otherwise healthy person within 1 day after the first symptoms appear. You are more than welcome to go inside the aircraft, if you have been inoculated specifically for meningitis.

Uh... that's Ok, I just need to see your certificates.

Ok, remember that I may have the bacteria on my person.

Hmmmm.... Ok... just hold your certificates so I can see them........thank you and have a nice day.
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Had you already offloaded the pt?
 
Well my BFR is in my log book and I never carry my logbook with me so if he requested it I would ask for it to be done formally as I am not required to keep a log book on my person or my plane.
 
James331 said:
Had you already offloaded the pt?
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Oh yes, they have always waited until the ambulance had left. A couple times I just rode in with the ambulance and when we got back the fed was gone.

A ramp check is usually done when you are at the airport at just the right (or wrong) time.
 
I'm
Vance Breese said:
I was a private pilot at the time.

I still carry my log book to keep it accurate.

What do you feel is the down side of having my pilot log book with me?
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Because there is zero benefit to bringing it with you, you could loose it, and it has information that you might want to check over before release (like the government does).

I have never received a cash reward for revealing more than the legal minim of personal information to "officials", however plenty of folks have provided non required information which has caused them trouble and expense.

Not doing anything "wrong", but I'm experienced in life enough to know that people who are paid to find trouble will always find trouble, even if it's not there.

I log every flight, simply make a note of each flight in my phone or scrap paper and update my log when I get to my desk, even though I don't carry that type of information with me, my logs are accurate to the tenth.

Carrying around information/official docs is just the same as carrying around large amounts of cash/diamonds/gold, exactly the same, and very rarely does it make sense to do so.
 
ARFlyer said:
Only been ramp checked when our 141 POI happened to be in town doing a CFI ride or an inspection. Just handed him my stuff and my students stuff to which he seemed satisfied.

What's more fun is walking into the plane and seeing the FBI and Secret Service waiting to greet you. :eek:
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Were you at LAS with Bill and Loretta at the time> :D
 
James331 said:
I'm


Because there is zero benefit to bringing it with you, you could loose it, and it has information that you might want to check over before release (like the government does).

I have never received a cash reward for revealing more than the legal minim of personal information to "officials", however plenty of folks have provided non required information which has caused them trouble and expense.

Not doing anything "wrong", but I'm experienced in life enough to know that people who are paid to find trouble will always find trouble, even if it's not there.

I log every flight, simply make a note of each flight in my phone or scrap paper and update my log when I get to my desk, even though I don't carry that type of information with me, my logs are accurate to the tenth.

Carrying around information/official docs is just the same as carrying around large amounts of cash/diamonds/gold, exactly the same, and very rarely does it make sense to do so.
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I find filling out the log book is a cathartic part of my aviation afterglow and I do it as soon as I have completed the after flight check list.

I use my logbook as a reference for my clients to fill out their log books before I add my notes and sign it.

Managing scraps of paper in an open aircraft can be challenging for me.

My Garmin 196 keeps a nice flight log so I suspect it is not necessary to keep a paper log book as I am not working on any additional ratings or applying for a job. It does not have a place for notes that I know of.

Every interaction I have had with the FAA has had either no impact of a positive effect on my flying.

Perhaps as my experience grows I will develop a more adversarial relationship with the FAA.

I find joy in looking through my old log books and recalling the flights.
 
One thing you could do is copy every page in your logbook and keep that (the copies) somewhere safe. That way you could reconstruct your logbook if you ever lose it.
 
Vance Breese said:
Airworthiness, registration, operating limitations, weight and balance, pilot certificate, medical and pilot log book with flight review.
Everything was in order and it was a nonevent taking about 45 minutes both times.
Click to expand...


Did they just ask to see the weight and balance sheet or did they want to see your calculated W&B for the flight?
 
mscard88 said:
One thing you could do is copy every page in your logbook and keep that (the copies) somewhere safe. That way you could reconstruct your logbook if you ever lose it.
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I keep a copy in the hangar but I am not good about keeping it up to date often lagging behind as much as a week.
Thank you for the helpful suggestion.
 
JC150 said:
Did they just ask to see the weight and balance sheet or did they want to see your calculated W&B for the flight?
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At Camarillo they asked to see weight and balance and show them I was inside of the weight and center of gravity limits so I did a full fuel and me calculation.
At Santa Paula he just asked to see it.
I was solo both times.
 
Scott@KTYR said:
Several years ago flew into San Antonio (KSAT) to pick up my kids. I was early and while sitting in the FBO a man sat down and started a conversation. Turns out this is the FBO that the Spurs basketball team uses and they were about to arrive. The guy was from the FAA and said he was there to see if anyone broke the rules. He said when the Spurs are there people sometimes do dumb things. I promptly excused myself and walked away.
Click to expand...

Were you planning on doing something dumb?
 
Vance Breese said:
I find filling out the log book is a cathartic part of my aviation afterglow...
Click to expand...

Same here. I keep mine on me. I back it up electronically and have all the pages from my student days photocopied for nostalgia, so if something were to happen to it, I still have what I want and need.
 
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