{"id":601,"date":"2024-06-24T05:23:33","date_gmt":"2024-06-24T09:23:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/?p=601"},"modified":"2024-06-25T03:45:02","modified_gmt":"2024-06-25T07:45:02","slug":"avoiding-the-pain-of-a-ramp-check","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/avoiding-the-pain-of-a-ramp-check\/","title":{"rendered":"Making a Ramp Check painless (with checklist)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <strong>EU Ramp Inspection Program (RIP)<\/strong> is still alive and kicking &#8211; or the<strong>\u00a0EU SAFA Programme<\/strong>, as it used to be called.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.easa.europa.eu\/easa-and-you\/air-operations\/ramp-inspection-programmes-safa-saca\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">RIP<\/a> is not exclusive to Europe. Your aircraft can be inspected under the program in 49 different countries around the world, including Canada, Morocco, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates.<\/p>\n<h4>Here are the key points:<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>Even though it&#8217;s now called the EU Ramp Inspection Program, ramp inspections for third country operators are still referred to as &#8220;SAFA ramp checks&#8221;. Yeah, it&#8217;s confusing.<\/li>\n<li>Ramp checks are possible in every country in the world &#8211; but follow a more regulated and common structure in SAFA countries &#8211; totalling 49 &#8211; see the map and list below.<\/li>\n<li>There is a <strong>standard checklist<\/strong> that is used by Inspectors in all SAFA countries, which you should be familiar with &#8211;\u00a0see further down.<\/li>\n<li>Three categories of findings have been defined. A \u201c<strong>Category 1<\/strong>\u201d finding is called a minor finding; \u201c<strong>Category 2<\/strong>\u201d is a significant finding and \u201c<strong>Category 3<\/strong>\u201d a major finding. The terms \u201cminor\u201d, \u201csignificant\u201d and \u201cmajor\u201d relate to the level of influence on safety.<\/li>\n<li>If there is a\u00a0\u201c<strong>corrective actions before flight authorised<\/strong>\u201d finding &#8211; then the inspector is concerned and a repair must be made before the aircraft is released to fly.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/SAFA.png\" alt=\"SAFA\" width=\"676\" \/><\/div>\n<p>Unless your aircraft looks like this, you have little to worry about.<\/p>\n<h4>Here&#8217;s how a ramp check normally goes down:<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>The flight selected will either be your last of 6 legs for the day, or\u00a0after a gruelling 12 hour jetlag-inducer, or at 3am when you were thinking about a quick nap during\u00a0the turnaround. This much is guaranteed.<\/li>\n<li>As you pull on to the stand, <strong>you will notice more yellow vests than normal\u00a0hanging around<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Two of these will be your friendly ramp inspection team (to be fair, they almost always are)<\/li>\n<li>A short time later, those yellow vests will be in the cockpit, and the first request will be for a look at your license, medical, aircraft documents (like Insurance, Airworthiness), and flight paperwork. Make sure you&#8217;ve done your fuel checks and there are a few marks on the flight plan.<\/li>\n<li>If you get a good cop, bad cop scenario, one will disappear down the back (this will be the nice guy) and check the cabin, while the first will stay and ask you tough questions about the TCAS system.<\/li>\n<li>Some time later, you&#8217;ll get a list of findings. The average check is probably about 30 minutes.<\/li>\n<li>You can be guaranteed they will always have at least one finding &#8211; which will probably be obscure.<\/li>\n<li>Sign off the checklist, and you&#8217;re on your way.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>Some interesting points:<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>The Inspectors can ask you for manuals, documents, or guidance &#8211; but they are not supposed to test your knowledge of procedures, regulations, or technical matters. <strong>This doesn&#8217;t always happen in practice<\/strong> &#8211; so if you get a tough question &#8211; just say &#8220;I don&#8217;t know&#8221; &#8211; and let them note it if they want to. This isn&#8217;t a classroom test.<\/li>\n<li>This guidance is given to Inspectors:\u00a0Delaying an operator for a non-safety related issue is not only\u00a0frustrating to the operator, it also could result in unwanted human\u00a0factor issues with possible negative effects on the flight preparation. <strong>They can (should) only delay your flight for a safety related issue<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Remember, it&#8217;s not you that&#8217;s being inspected. It&#8217;s your aircraft. If you&#8217;re uncomfortable with the questions, get them noted and allow your operator to discuss later.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Every inspector is a little different<\/strong>. Work with them and you&#8217;ll find that 90% of your ramp checks will be over in 20 minutes with little issue.<\/li>\n<li>Private Operators &#8211; especially in GA (even more so under the 5700kg mark) &#8211; are <strong>far less likely to get ramp checked<\/strong>. EASA guidelines do apply to General Aviation, but they are far more interested in Commercial Operators.<\/li>\n<li>The items checked during ramp checks are based on a risk based approach and can differ from operator to operator (for example depending on findings raised during previous inspections). Meaning that\u00a0operators who get ramp checked with findings will most likely <strong>get ramp checked again<\/strong>, to see if they\u2019ve sorted out the problems!<\/li>\n<li>EASA regulations requiring <strong>alcohol testing<\/strong> during ramp checks will take effect across all SAFA countries in <strong>Aug 2020<\/strong>. But some countries have already started doing this: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, UK, and Singapore. <a href=\"https:\/\/nbaa.org\/aircraft-operations\/international\/region-v-europe\/operators-airports-begin-alcohol-testing-ramp-inspections\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">More info<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>Common Findings:<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/ramp-check-top-5\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone 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>\n<p>See article: <a href=\"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/ramp-check-top-5\/\"><strong>SAFA Ramp Checks: The Top 5 Offenders<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Ramp checks cover <strong>52 inspection items<\/strong>\u00a0spread over 5 areas:\u00a0<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. A DSAC\/IS-BAO study found that the <strong>top inspection items by number of CAT2 and CAT3 findings for business aviation<\/strong>\u00a0were 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:\u00a0<strong>Flight Planning, Documents, Defects, Charts, Cabin Safety.\u00a0<\/strong>Get these right, and your \u201csweatin over a ramp checkin\u201d days are over, partner!<\/p>\n<h4>The Countries:<\/h4>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-9922 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/SAFA-RIP-countries-map-1024x536.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"536\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/SAFA-RIP-countries-map-1024x536.png 1024w, https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/SAFA-RIP-countries-map-300x157.png 300w, https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/SAFA-RIP-countries-map-768x402.png 768w, https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/SAFA-RIP-countries-map-1536x805.png 1536w, https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/SAFA-RIP-countries-map-2048x1073.png 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><em>The 49 Participating States engaged in the EU Ramp Inspections Programme are:<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong>Europe:<\/strong> Albania, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Republic of Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, The Republic of North Macedonia, Turkey, Ukraine, and United Kingdom.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong>Rest of world:\u00a0<\/strong>Canada, Morocco, Singapore, United Arab Emirates.<\/p>\n<h4>The Checklist:<strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/OPG-2020-SAFA-ramp-checklist.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"attachment noopener wp-att-9921 noreferrer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-9921\" src=\"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Screen-Shot-2020-06-04-at-14.28.45-796x1024.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"772\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Screen-Shot-2020-06-04-at-14.28.45-796x1024.png 796w, https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Screen-Shot-2020-06-04-at-14.28.45-233x300.png 233w, https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Screen-Shot-2020-06-04-at-14.28.45-768x989.png 768w, https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Screen-Shot-2020-06-04-at-14.28.45.png 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Download by clicking above, or here: <a href=\"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/OPG-2020-SAFA-ramp-checklist.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Opsgroup Ramp Checklist<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If you want to delve deep into each item on this checklist to find out exactly what inspectors should be looking for, check out <a href=\"https:\/\/www.easa.europa.eu\/sites\/default\/files\/dfu\/Inspecting%20instructions%20and%20PDFs%20-%20Issue%203%20-%20Corrigendum%201.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">this document<\/a> published by EASA in Sept 2019, which has the inspection instructions in full. For all things Ramp Inspection Program related, check EASA&#8217;s dedicated webpage <a href=\"https:\/\/www.easa.europa.eu\/easa-and-you\/air-operations\/ramp-inspection-programmes-safa-saca\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The EU Ramp Inspection Program (RIP) is still alive and kicking &#8211; or the\u00a0EU SAFA&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9927,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[426,1554,423],"class_list":{"0":"post-601","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-special-report","8":"tag-ramp-checks","9":"tag-ramp-inspection-program","10":"tag-safa"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601","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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=601"}],"version-history":[{"count":34,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25556,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601\/revisions\/25556"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}