Ramp Checks

[WLIU]

When I was an airshow performer, one thing I had to get used to was betting "tech inspected" before every show. The FAA airshow monitor checked the pilot and aircraft paperwork and looked at any obvious stuff like placards and compass cards. You get used to it. Your goal is to bore them. Once they have seen you a few times and they haven't seen anything exciting, they look for more interesting targets.

The FAA inspectors instructions on how a ramp check is to be conducted are in Flight Standards Information Management System FAA Order 8900.1 on the internet. There are things that they are directed to do, and there are things that they may not do. If you work with FAA a lot, it is worth your while to read their manual. You can help them stay on the straight and narrow and keep them from going where they should not if you know their internal rules and are diplomatic enough. I think of it as mental jujitsu.

Fly safe,

Wes
N78PS

[Mike M]

Read their manual. Always good advice. Think G C Scott as Patton watching the north afrika corps get waxed. "ROMMEL, I READ YOUR BOOK!"

[gbrasch]

This was posted awhile back by AOPA:

In my experience, FAA “ramp checks” are a bit of a mystery. We hear about them, but because there are so many airports and so many airmen, and not as many FAA inspectors, the chances of being ramp checked are not too big. Still, it can happen to you any time that you’re getting ready to take off or when you’ve just landed, so let’s look at the question, “What is a ramp inspection?”The FAA defines a ramp inspection as “surveillance of an airman, operator, or air agency during actual operations at an airport or heliport,” and it is a routine function for an inspector in response to notification or observation of a possible violation of the federal aviation regulations or as part of random surveillance. It is the FAA’s policy not to conduct random ramp checks at organized aviation events, though the inspector can still do so if he or she observes something that raises a concern.For the most part, ramp checks are conducted professionally, cordially, and without much consequence. If an inspector approaches you at your aircraft, be aware that a ramp inspection is being done and if there may be a reason for it. The FAA inspector is expected to have credentials and to be able to show them to you, so ask to see them. Then, upon the inspector’s request, you must show your pilot and medical certificates and photo identification, and you must present the aircraft documents, including airworthiness certificate, registration certificate, radio license (if you have one), operating manual, and weight and balance information. If you’re required to carry a pilot logbook with you on a flight, the inspector will ask to see it. If you happen to have the aircraft logbooks with you, though we don’t recommend that any logbooks be regularly carried in the aircraft if not necessary for the flight, then the inspector may ask to review them. If you are carrying logbooks with you, make sure they are up to date.The inspector may hold and review the documentation that you provide, and maybe even make copies on a portable printer, but the inspector must return the documentation to you promptly. The inspector does not have any authority in a ramp check to confiscate your certificates or to ground the aircraft, and the inspector should conduct the inspection in a manner that avoids any delay to your flight. The inspector will likely walk around the aircraft, in the nature of a pre-flight inspection. The inspector may ask your permission to board your aircraft to check placards and charts inside the aircraft. If the inspector notices anything amiss during the ramp inspection, the inspector is to communicate his or her observations to you.When members of the AOPA Legal Services Plan/Pilot Protection Services call us about a ramp inspection, we advise the member to be courteous, remain calm, and be responsive. Listen to what the inspector has to say and avoid volunteering information that may be beyond the scope of the ramp inspection. If practical, have or invite a witness to join you during the ramp inspection. If the inspector is using the ramp inspection as an investigative tool because of a possible violation of the FARs, then the inspector is expected to provide you with a Pilot’s Bill of Rights notification that you are under investigation. Don’t be defensive, but be on guard because the FAA can use anything discovered during the ramp inspection against you.So, there is always a chance you may be ramp checked at random when you are out flying, and chances are that the ramp check will be a double check that your certificates and the aircraft documentation are in order. That is, you are doing your job as the pilot of the aircraft and the FAA is doing its job in making sure of our compliance.

[crusty old aviator]

I intercepted a FAA guy at the Camarillo Fly-in, back in the 90's, who was headed to the ramp to start working his way down the line, performing ramp checks. I informed him of the memo that had come down from FAA HQ, prohibiting ramp checks at fly-ins and other public gatherings. He hadn't gotten the memo and tried to blow me off, so I reminded him that there were quite a few homebuilts on the line that would be well suited for hauling his carcass out beyond the Channel Islands and dumping it into the open Pacific, and if that didn't happen, I would make sure he was terminated for ignoring the memo. As he pondered my admonishment, the local sheriff, who was standing with us, suggested he put his FAA cap back in his car and just enjoy the fly-in. I think he just left.

Not all ASI's are this dense, but I'm sure he and the fat-ass who went after Bob Hoover because he was skinny (and he stated to others that he hated all skinny people) were both cut from the same bolt of cloth. Why the FAA ever backed that arrogant jerk is beyond me. It delegitimized the FAA for quite a while.

[WLIU]

Well, I have avoided being quite that aggressive. I find the "dumb guy" technique works and keeps the blood pressure lowest. That is, if I have a copy of the chapter of FAA inspectors handbook that applies to what I am doing and I do the "Gee, I printed out the FSIMs chapter and I thought I had everything covered, but could you help me understand what this says here...." This approach is disarming and helps the inspector and I to have the correct dialog.

The truth is an absolute defense. If you know exactly what the high level FAA policy statement is, you can keep yourself and a less knowledgeable FAA staff member from straying into problem territory. Like you and I, the FAA folks sometimes get behind on their reading and training.

I know a pilot who looked at an FAA inspector at an aerobatic event once and, after hearing what the inspector had to say, replied "Oh! You think that Chapter X applies today. That is not correct and I have Chapter Y right here We can review it right now."

The more you know, the easier it is to solve problems.

Fly safe,

Wes
N78PS

[Rick Rademacher]

The day before the start of the 2012 Dayton, Ohio Airshow I accepted an invitation to fly in the show. As I was the only Piper J-3 Cub on the field to represent Cubs on the 75^th Anniversary of the Piper Cub, how could I say no when asked to fly? In my excitement, I totally forgot about an FAA ramp check.

Two nice young men presented their credentials to me and asked to see my paperwork and examine the Cub. Everything was going fine until they asked to see my medical. As I am now flying as a sport pilot, I only have a current driver’s license. Luckily, one of the show officials convinced the two FAA officials that I didn’t need a medical to do what was asked of me in the show.

They were easy to work with and even let me present my aircraft annual log books to them early next morning just before I flew in the show. As the air space, up to 18,000 was closed to everyone but me and the Blue Angles who were on next, I could do almost anything I wanted to do with my little Cub.

[WLIU]

A good point was just brought up. If you are one of those folks who regularly interacts with the FAA, it is to your advantage to make a copy of the entries in your aircraft logs that describe your last annual inspection, and carry them in the aircraft (airframe, engine, prop). Most folks do not need to volunteer this info during an interaction with an Aviation Safety Inspector, but if participating in an event where you need to show that your airplane is airworthy, the copy can answer that question and bound the discussion. If you present your entire aircraft logbook, the entire contents are fair game for inspection. As I recall, I carried the logs in a zipped up case for the event that an ASI really insisted on seeing the originals, but always presented the copies with the Airworthiness Cert, Registration, parachute data card, my pilot stuff, etc. Just trying to make their job easier and go quicker.....

Fly safe,

Wes
N78PS

[Gil]

I have had two routine ramp checks and one that was actually a demonstration for one of my students. All were uneventful and quite brief. During the first one, many years ago at Kalamazoo, the inspectors asked for "proof of a Flight Review if you happen to have it with you." I did at the time, but no longer carry my log book when I fly. A more recent one was almost like a second thought. It appeared the inspector was doing a review of the FBO and saw my airplane on the ramp with me and a passenger about to depart. He asked, very nicely, if he could do a ramp check. I asked in return, "Do I get a choice?" He laughed and all was fine... finished in about ten minutes. Certificates, POH, etc. He did not really look inside and did not ask to inspect the cabin.

I work at an FBO and my most recent ramp check was last year when an inspector was visiting. He saw my student doing a preflight and asked if he could do a ramp check of me to demonstrate to the student that it was no big deal.

[cluttonfred]

A nice gesture by the ASI and a reminder that law enforcement of all types are not generally out to get people trying to stay within the law, despite the occasional overzealous, bad-tempered or just plain nasty exception.

I work at an FBO and my most recent ramp check was last year when an inspector was visiting. He saw my student doing a preflight and asked if he could do a ramp check of me to demonstrate to the student that it was no big deal.

[steveinindy]

A nice gesture by the ASI and a reminder that law enforcement of all types are not generally out to get people trying to stay within the law, despite the occasional overzealous, bad-tempered or just plain nasty exception.

Right. A pilot friend and I was ramp checked once with one of those overzealous types. He was giving me grief until my friend (who was pretty high up at the FAA before his retirement) chimed up and said "Do you know so and so?"
"Yeah....he's my boss. Why?"
"I was his boss when he started with the FAA. Would you like to check the attitude or should I let him do it for you?"
His tune changed very quickly.

All of the other FAA folks I have met have been quite nice.