{"id":19739,"date":"2024-06-24T09:07:23","date_gmt":"2024-06-24T13:07:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/?p=19739"},"modified":"2024-06-25T04:11:19","modified_gmt":"2024-06-25T08:11:19","slug":"ramp-check-top-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/ramp-check-top-5\/","title":{"rendered":"SAFA Ramp Checks: The Top 5 Offenders (+Alcohol test)"},"content":{"rendered":"<h5>Highlights (updated 2024)<\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>The Top 5 SAFA Ramp Check Findings are Flight Planning, Aircraft Documents, Defects, Charts, and Cabin Safety<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>It&#8217;s not a knowledge test, so feel free to say &#8220;I don&#8217;t know&#8221;<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Alcohol testing is now common, see below for a guide<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Ramp check!<\/strong> Not our favourite couple of words in the aviation vernacular, but when your number&#8217;s up, wouldn&#8217;t it be good to know <strong>what things most of us are getting wrong<\/strong>?<\/p>\n<p>Well, here they all are, in a\u00a0handy little guide. Download, print, attach to wall-of-your-choice, and enjoy.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_19781\" style=\"width: 734px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Ramp-Check-Top-Offenders_compressed.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-19781\" class=\"wp-image-19781 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Ramp-Check-Top-Offenders-724x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"724\" height=\"1024\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Ramp-Check-Top-Offenders-724x1024.jpg 724w, https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Ramp-Check-Top-Offenders-212x300.jpg 212w, https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Ramp-Check-Top-Offenders-768x1086.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Ramp-Check-Top-Offenders-1086x1536.jpg 1086w, https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Ramp-Check-Top-Offenders-1448x2048.jpg 1448w, https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Ramp-Check-Top-Offenders-scaled.jpg 1810w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 724px) 100vw, 724px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-19781\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">This is a PDF: click on it to download!<\/p><\/div>\n<p>What do we base this on? Well, something pretty special happened recently. The French DSAC partnered up with IS-BAO to take a look at <strong>hundreds of de-identified ramp check findings<\/strong> in order to analyse <strong>the most frequent CAT 2 and CAT 3 findings in business aviation.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h4>This is &#8220;special&#8221; for three reasons<\/h4>\n<ol>\n<li>It&#8217;s great that an aviation regulator has actually shared this info because <strong>now we can see the top things we&#8217;re getting wrong.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>If we can see the top things we&#8217;re getting wrong, we can stop getting them wrong, and then <strong>ramp checks become faster and more efficient for everyone.<em>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n<li>It&#8217;s great that this specific aviation regulator happens to be the one from <strong>France &#8211; because that&#8217;s where a lot of ramp checks seem to occur!<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>So, all good. IS-BAO published the results <a href=\"https:\/\/mcusercontent.com\/fa16700e821822906fe5152ce\/files\/536efb6c-c054-cab9-9339-f0c1b60495c1\/Results_from_Ramp_Inspections_in_France_How_does_business_aviation_perform.01.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a>, and it&#8217;s worth giving that a read first before we press on&#8230;<\/p>\n<h4>The Top 5 Offenders<\/h4>\n<p>As the good folks from IS-BAO point out &#8211; EASA Ramp checks cover <strong>52 inspection items<\/strong> spread over 5 areas: <strong>flight deck, cabin, aircraft condition, cargo, and general\/other.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>But some of those 52 items generate more findings than others. The DSAC\/IS-BAO study found that the <strong>top inspection items by number of CAT2 and CAT3 findings for business aviation<\/strong> were these ones:<\/p>\n<p>1. Flight preparation (RI checklist item A13)<br \/>\n2. Mass and balance calculations (A14)<br \/>\n3. Manuals (A04)<br \/>\n4. MEL (A07)<br \/>\n5. Checklists (A05)<br \/>\n6. Defect notification and rectification (A23)<br \/>\n7. Navigation\/instrument charts (A06)<\/p>\n<p>So essentially, these findings all relate to five key areas: <strong>Flight Planning, Documents, Defects, Charts, Cabin Safety. <\/strong>Get these right, and your &#8220;sweatin over a ramp checkin&#8221; days are over, partner!<\/p>\n<h4>Have you been ramp checked recently?<\/h4>\n<p>Let us know! <strong>Where did it happen? How did it go? What things surprised you?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As always, we will de-identify anything you share with us before we tell anyone else about it. But we&#8217;d love to hear your stories, and other people will too! Our idea is to gather together as many of these stories as possible, and put them into a little book to <strong>help give other pilots and operators an idea of what to expect. <\/strong>So if you&#8217;ve got a story to share, send us an email at <a href=\"mailto:news@ops.group\">news@ops.group<\/a><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_19773\" style=\"width: 1034px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/SAFA-POSTCARD-3.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-19773\" class=\"wp-image-19773 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/SAFA-POSTCARD-3-1024x474.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"474\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/SAFA-POSTCARD-3-1024x474.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/SAFA-POSTCARD-3-300x139.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/SAFA-POSTCARD-3-768x356.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/SAFA-POSTCARD-3-1536x712.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/SAFA-POSTCARD-3-2048x949.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-19773\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Limited edition SAFA Ramp Check postcards.<\/p><\/div>\n<h4>In related news: the EASA RIM has been updated.<\/h4>\n<p>What&#8217;s the EASA RIM? Europe&#8217;s version of the Pacific Rim movie only with <strong>ramp inspectors saving the aviation industry from danger?<\/strong> Or just an updated version of a rather boring manual?<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_19754\" style=\"width: 1034px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-19754\" class=\"wp-image-19754 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/pacific-rim-1024x575.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"575\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/pacific-rim-1024x575.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/pacific-rim-300x169.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/pacific-rim-768x432.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/pacific-rim-1536x863.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/pacific-rim.jpeg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-19754\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">EASA Ramp Inspectors, heading out to work.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Sadly, just an updated manual.<\/p>\n<p>EASA have made some amendments, corrections and added some other details to their <strong>Ramp Inspection Manual<\/strong>, so here is <strong>our guide to their 131 pages of guidance<\/strong> (and an Appendix).<\/p>\n<h4>What\u2019s up?<\/h4>\n<p>The Changes to the RIM are contained in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.easa.europa.eu\/en\/downloads\/137196\/en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">131 page document here.<\/a> So this is the doc that <strong>crew<\/strong> might want to read. (The massive doc that ramp inspectors use is called the Appendix &#8211; we&#8217;ll get to that later).<\/p>\n<p>The big stuff to look out for (that we could see) is stuff on <strong>Alcohol testing<\/strong> and they\u2019ve changed the name of the <strong>\u201cStandard Report\u201d to \u201cSafety Report\u201d.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h4>Page 76.<\/h4>\n<p>Let&#8217;s start with something small.<\/p>\n<p>This isn&#8217;t actually a change, but just something we think might be of particular use. It is the Checklist for on-the-job training for ramp inspectors. Basically, it is a long list of all the stuff they need to check. Which means it&#8217;s <strong>a long list you might want to check so you know what you are going to get checked on.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h4>Alcohol Testing.<\/h4>\n<p><strong>Scroll to page 98 (section 10.3)<\/strong> and it lays out all the info on alcohol testing and how it should be carried out. There is a lot of info here (most of it for the inspecting agents rather than you) but still not uninteresting to read.<\/p>\n<p>The general principles are that<strong> it should be done somewhere private<\/strong>, out of sight of anyone else, and if you aren\u2019t happy with the spot they pick then chose another.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>They\u2019re testing to see if you blow<strong> more than 0.2 grams of blood alcohol concentration<\/strong>. If you blow below that then you pass. If you test above then don\u2019t panic straight out,<strong> they must do a follow up confirmation test<\/strong>\u00a0which mustn&#8217;t happen before 15 minutes, or outside of 30.<\/p>\n<p>Certain drinks can mess up the results:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cAromatic beverages\u201d like fruit juice<em> (never heard them called that)<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Mouth sprays with alcohol content<\/li>\n<li>Medical juices (<em>I don&#8217;t even want to know what that might be<\/em>)<\/li>\n<li>Burping on the test can create false positives.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Here is a particularly hideous flow chart of the entire process.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-19742\" src=\"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Screenshot-2022-09-05-at-11.29.10.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"745\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Screenshot-2022-09-05-at-11.29.10.png 1274w, https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Screenshot-2022-09-05-at-11.29.10-282x300.png 282w, https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Screenshot-2022-09-05-at-11.29.10-962x1024.png 962w, https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Screenshot-2022-09-05-at-11.29.10-768x817.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>We think it\u2019s easier to sum up stuff like this:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Don\u2019t ever go to work drunk.<\/strong> Most operators\/states specify a minimum time between drinking and working but if you aren\u2019t sure 12 hours is a generally decent one to work off.<\/li>\n<li>Of course even <strong>12 hours won\u2019t get you sober in time<\/strong> if you\u2019ve been on a mega bender the night before. So don\u2019t do that.<\/li>\n<li>If you wake up before you\u2019re report time and realise you\u2019re drunk\/potentially drunk then <strong>CALL SICK!<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>If you think a colleague is drunk, <strong>stop them from going to the airport! <\/strong>Report them if you need to.<\/li>\n<li>If you are at work, and get picked for a random test,<strong> make sure they do it correctly<\/strong>, in a private space following the right procedures.<\/li>\n<li><strong>If you blow positive then don\u2019t panic<\/strong> (unless you are drunk in which case do panic, you\u2019ve messed up bad, partner). Have a think if you\u2019ve maybe ingested something that could cause a false positive. Tell the inspector and wait for the confirmation test. They leave it at least 15 minutes, but don\u2019t push for more than 30.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h4>Moving onto The Appendix.<\/h4>\n<p>The Appendix to the RIM is a whole 304 pages filed with<strong> information on ramp check instructions and pre-described findings. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Many of which have just been updated.<\/p>\n<p>Now, you might be thinking <i>\u201cwhy do I care how they\u2019re instructing their inspectors on stuff?\u201d. <\/i>But you should care because if you know how they\u2019re inspecting stuff, then it makes it a whole lot easier to not mess up on ramp checks and getting told off.<\/p>\n<p>If you just want to scroll through<strong> the list of changes<\/strong>, then<a href=\"https:\/\/www.easa.europa.eu\/downloads\/119315\/en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> take a look here at the first 7 or so pages.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>If you want a<strong> full description<\/strong> in standard EASA English, then read the whole 304.<\/p>\n<p>If you want a <strong>summary of the changes<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scottipc.com\/news\/38-scott-ipc-blog\/327-easa-safa-ramp-inspection-manual-update\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">then check this out.<\/a><\/p>\n<h4>Other useful stuff.<\/h4>\n<p>We wrote<a href=\"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/avoiding-the-pain-of-a-ramp-check\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> a whole post on ramp checks<\/a>\u00a0a while back and the stuff we wrote in that hasn\u2019t really changed that much.<\/p>\n<p>While ensuring you are complaint is important, remember is works both ways.<strong>\u00a0Ramp Inspectors need to follow the rules and procedures as well.<\/strong> Particularly when it comes to not delaying you or disrupting your duties too much.<\/p>\n<p>The manual only recommends they must give you<strong> 8-10 minutes of quality quiet time<\/strong> to set up for a flight. If you need more for safety reasons then tell them the time you need them to complete their checks by.<\/p>\n<h4>Final note.<\/h4>\n<p>Ramp checks can be frustrating. The best way to reduce that is make sure everything is in order and be prepared for them.<\/p>\n<p>There are some airports we&#8217;ve heard are particularly\u00a0<i>vigorous\u00a0<\/i>with them:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Anywhere in France<\/li>\n<li>Florence, Italy<\/li>\n<li>Edinburgh, Scotland<\/li>\n<li>London Heathrow<\/li>\n<li>Copenhagen, Denmark\u00a0<em>(keen on the breath tests)<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Amsterdam, Netherlands\u00a0<em>(also keen on the breath tests)<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"mailto:news@ops.group\">Let us know<\/a> where you\u2019ve experienced them so we can update the list!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Highlights (updated 2024) The Top 5 SAFA Ramp Check Findings are Flight Planning, Aircraft Documents,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":19773,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[64,424,423],"class_list":{"0":"post-19739","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-briefings","8":"tag-easa","9":"tag-ramp-check","10":"tag-safa"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19739"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19739\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25564,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19739\/revisions\/25564"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}