Originally Posted by
Ozgrade3
Speaking as someone who had 9 years operating on the ramp at YSSY, domestic, international aprons. Every ASIC holder is instructed to challenge anyone in a secure area who is not clearly displaying an ASIC. Now at Avalon which has no airbridges, mobile steps are used and there would have been a stair puller at the ready. How did someone who "looked" look like an engineer get past plod at the bottom of the stair, especially when pax are on board.
Now I say "looked" in a loose way. A real engineer looks like an engineer. There is no way a loopy 17yo could pull that look off authentically. How many 17 year old LAMES have you seen?
In any case, Avalon is a small port, it only takes 1 or 2 shifts to know the faces who are regularly on the ramp. You know the guys from engineering because they are around all the time, you know their faces. But they still don't get up the steps without displaying their ASIC. A pimply 17yo "boy" trying to pose as an engineer (a LAME no less), should have stood out like you know what.
My oh my, how have standards fallen.
From day one at JQ it was the practice for the 'stair puller' or another remaining ramp person to do a 'duty of care walk around' double checking panels, etc. are closed and flush to save the Engineer doing it so likely their attention was elsewhere until the stairs were ready to be pulled. There are of course some smart arses at larger airports. On more than one occasion when I challenged someone for their ASIC I got an annoyed look. I just said "Well, you can show it to me or I'll get FedPol here and you can show it to them. Your choice".
When the tasks are so compressed that time is of the essence and staffing levels low, people can't have eyes in the back of their heads so something gets missed. Hopefully, this incident will create a reassessment or a mandating of a presence but I won't hold my breath.