Ramp Check Stories?
 

Well thankfully the most I have got was a wrap around the Knuckles from my companies safety officer after doing some circuits and forgeting to take my licence with me!

Some pilots like in the story below have been caught out!

I heard about this story some time back where a guy from CASA was attempting to nail a IFR pilot on a ramp check and he could not find any faults. Nevertheless he got him on a technicality as the WAC chart he had in his bag was not the current edition. :E

Rather unfair but I guess if you get someone from CASA that follows the rules to the letter you can't say anything!

Has anyone else been given a hard time by CASA during a ramp Check or a ramp story they would like to share?

You need a current WAC to fly IFR? I'd better go and buy a whole stack of them..:mad:

Circuits wouldnt actually require you carrying your licence... as long as you could produce it quick-smart. It would already be at both the departure and arrival aerodromes, so no worries.

And, completely aside to the non-requirement to carry WAC charts on an IFR flight - where on the WAC does it mention an expiry date? :ugh:

Pressure packs?
 

One of my aerplanes was carrying the usual pressure pack for cleaning windscreen etc. and we had a ramp check that resulted in some paperwork, and removal of the pressure packs from the aeroplane.
One of the pressure packs was insecticide and was labeled as suitable for use in aircraft at top of descent.
It was ok for use in international airlines, but not in lighties that have about the same cabin pressure. We also saw Conquests carrying packs of fuel additive (nasty stuff) in the un pressurised nose locker.
Things like this selective and illogical treatment are the cause of lack of respect for our regulator and it's regulations.

I believe it is always possible to find some regulation that has allegedly not been complied with.....if the spirit so moves.

WAC's dont have expiry dates however they do have editions...if you dont have the current edition, I guess its out of date. Not that anything ever changes on them.

Sunfish, of course one can allege anything one wants. I can allege you are not wearing shoes right now, but that doesn't actually mean you aren't.

takeonme, you are correct- they are updated editions released periodically. This is NOT the same as being out of date.

Lasiorhinus Are you sure about that? When I did my Air Law exams three things CASA hammered into my brain were as the pilot in command you must have..

1, Pilot License/Medical
2, Aircraft Flight Manual
3, Maintanance Release

..On board the aircraft

So if it was just circuits according to your reasoning I can leave the other things in the office too? :confused:

As for WAC charts and the like. If you get someone from CASA that has something against pilots and is out to get them, like sunfish says Very interesting post about Pressure Packs bushy :) Keep the stories coming everyone.

About 7 yrs ago I was at Horn Island with a B200 on an aeromed evac. Hanging around waiting for doc/nurse/patient I was standing 'out in the cool!' CASA, ramping everyone in FNQ for a few days. Two guys wander over : "We are from CASA, can you show us........" Everything produced no probs. Then 'show me your w&b for when your pax show up. ' Me: I have an approved load system: all covered in AFM. CASA: But show me your W & B. Me: It is an ALS....repeated a couple of times. CASA: How do you know you are in balance. Me: getting frustrated: It is proved by my CASA APPROVED load system. CASA: adopting aggressive attitude...But prove it to me. Me: Its in the AFM, its approved by you, what part of this do you NOT understand. Prove it yourself. Start walking away shaking head in disgust. Another CASA guy who has been standing outside then pulls problem FOI aside, has quiet words, comes over to me and says: "sorry, have a nice flight'. Moral: always remember: they have to prove you are wrong, they cannot force you to prove it yourself. Secondly: If you are in the right, stick to your guns and don't be intimidated. They are human, with the associated attitude problems sometimes found in humans. NB I was fortunate to be employed by an operator where all the T's were always crossed and i's dotted. I had also been around long enough not to be intimidated. :}

CAR 139 (in part)

(1) ... the pilot in command of an aircraft, when flying, must carry on the aircraft:
(d) unless CASA otherwise approves, the licences and medical certificates of the operating crew

I stand corrected.

If ramped checked they will give you a ticket for something, faded sign or similar will do if they can't find anything real . Can't put the ticket book back in the bag unused :E

Yep, hard as it is to say, they're not all bad.

But ridiculous, petty, nonsensical traffic cop behaviour is common (are you reading this CASA, or better still do you even give a stuff?) and gives all a bad name. As someone said earlier - breeds disrespect and contempt.

Had a failed engineer turned CASA FOI (the best kind! :ugh::yuk:) give me a fist full of tickets during a "visit". Some of these were laughable, including

"rusty screws in the tail cone of a C210"
"faded AVGAS decals"

and my favourite

"sticking / fouled control column - AOG" on a machine that had been flying all day safely. As it happens the remedy in this case was a tin of Inox.

Well done mate, good days work. Have the rest of the year off. Better still go on stress leave and get paid out of the public purse.

:yuk: Parasites.

CR.

Classic CASA
 

Ramp checked some years ago.

CASA FOI looks at my W&B sheet and complained that I hadn't used the standard weight of 87 kgs for each male. One look at my group of miners, all them well over 95kgs, would have told you not to use 87 kgs. Told by the FOI to go back to the office, do another W&B sheet with the standard weights. After all that he still didn't like what he saw and issued me with a non compliance. :rolleyes: Common sense is sometimes lost in the fine print.:ouch:

TLA

Darwins finest!
 

CASA Darwin fly an intrepid team across a state and territory (at taxpayers expense) to meet and ramp an aeromed King Air. Couldnt find anything wrong with aircraft or paperwork so our favourite dyslexic FOI at the last minute decides there isnt enough meat on the brake pads (thats right, the FOI, not the airworthiness bloke) and makes the aircraft AOG.:mad:

Engineering send copies of the job package to his boss showing a new pair of pads had been fitted in the days preceding the ramp check. :ugh:

No apologies, no gestures of misunderstanding to follow. Just an arrogant silence that had to be pursued so the aircraft could be finally returned to on call status.

Clown..........:(

I've been 'ramped' 3 times. The last was a few years ago at a regional airport during an enroute refueling stop.
FOI sticks his head in the cockpit and asks to see the load sheet, maintanance records and the usual. There was a fairly obvious error on the load sheet. The FOI was very experienced on the aircraft type and had spent many years as a line captain on it, so as he explained how in his day he used pencil so it it could be rubbed out, he ripped up the load sheet and completely redid it.

I have never had a hassel during a ramp check (touch wood):E

:\Ramped Parafield 3am. Exit light over rear door had a blown globe. grounded until fixed.......9.30am.
Taxi light blown at YSTW, 8pm........refused clearance to vacate rwy until fixed??? landing lights worked fine...but not good enough......departed to YARM. ho hum.

I know of a CP that was ramped and was asked for his ASIC.
Apparenty the conversation went a bit like this;

" can I have your ASIC"
"I don't have it"
" if you don't have your ASIC can you go get it"
"no I don't have it"
"where is is? "
"I don't have it"
"what do you mean you don't have it?"
"Well I don't have one"
"Why not?"
"I haven't applied for one"

:}

Another:

FOI: You can't do this.

Rampee: Yes I can.

FOI: But you can't.

Rampee: Yes, I can and to prove that I can, I have already done it many times and am about to do it again.

FOI: Well, I will rephrase that - you are not permitted to do this.

Rampee; Oh, but that's not what you said; you said I could not do it, and I claimed that I could and admitted that I did, so what's your problem?

Was ramped at Meeka once while refuelling a Kingair everything checked out with the aircraft, ops, w&b, procedures etc..etc.

Then I was asked for my flight plan and wx/notams, which I produced. The FOI then questioned why I hadn't kept an updated ETD log for some of the waypoints on the plan. I explained that those points were inside of radar coverage and didn't require a position report. This FOI, obviously not impressed with my previous answer, then preceded to ask me what all the symbols were on my SIGWX chart and how to decifer several NOTAMS.

Go figure, I still shake my head over that ramp check......!!!!!!!