HS125 said:
Ramp Inspection Checklist
Ramp inspections or checks are customarily conducted as a normal surveillance activity, however, they may be conducted if an unsafe operation has been observed or ATC notifies the inspector of an unsafe operation. In any case the inspection must be conducted by an FAA aviation safety inspector who carries a photo identification card attesting to his status (ask to see it). Other important points:...
..."The inspector should also bear in mind that he or she may not be able to complete all items on every ramp inspection," according to the Inspector's Handbook. In actual practice the ramp check usually involves a casual walk-around inspection and a fairly detailed inspection of the paperwork mentioned above.
I was riding 135 FO in a Citation once and we got ramped, in fact they were gunning for us. The nice lady got everything she wanted and she stood with both feet on the tarmac to get it.
She got to see the life jackets, the manifest with weight and balance, our pilot credentials, the airworthiness certificate, the radio license, aircraft registration, the flashlight.
She never stepped foot on the Citation...nor did she ask. This story is funnier than I can say here...but if you come and jump out of plane with me and have some drinks, I'll tell you what Paul Harvey says is, "the rest of the story".
My current operator is pretty good, we do things by the book and "safety before schedule" is not only the creedo, it's how we git'r done around here.
One day I land at my usual layover with the Caravan and out pops a guy in a suit from around the corner. I'm thinking its either a mooney driver that don't know where to park his plane or it's, EGADS the dreaded RAMP CHECK!
Sure enough, suit walks up and pulls out his credentials and states he's doing ramp checks. I ask if he wants to see a wt/bal, some aircraft credentials, my 135 manual, a flashlight?
He says no...I just need to see your pilot's certificate and medical. As he stands safely on the ramp, he writes down what he needs from my pilot stuff. He then hands those things back and then points to the "FedEx" logo on the tail of the Caravan and tells me, "We're real familiar with your operations...you guys do a great job!"
He then points at the Superior Metro getting fueled and says, "But I would like to talk to those guys! Have you seen them around?"
I have been through quite a few ramp checks, including one where Maintenance Inspectors were also there to look at the airworthiness of aircraft. Guess what? After landing there, the post flight revealed a broken exhaust bracket on the caravan stack. The call in contract mechanic was repairing the aircraft as me and the fed did a weight and balance on the load being put in my aircraft. The inspector never even asked what was going on and the airworthiness guys had already gone through three of our other caravans and were bored. So they were over at some poor 135 pax guy's plane that had just flown in long enough to drop passengers...and it looked like things were getting pretty interesting over there.
Back to the original questioners problem or hypothetical...first of all, I don't advocate breaking the rules, nor do advocate "hassling the man". But I have never been asked to light up an airplane during a normal ramp check during Part 91 or 135 operations and if I was flying privately part 91, on general principle alone, I would refuse the boarding of my aircraft during regular ramp check operations.
Nothing rude about it...I don't waive my Fourth Amendment rights for nobody and as far as issuing statements; the Fed can't make you say a word you don't want to. You have the right to excercise the Fifth amendment by keeping your yap shut. Just don't expect to get your enforcement action tossed out on appeal because you felt your Fifth Amendment rights were violated during the ramp check...because it's too late then. You don't have to say nothing and if you do say something it can come back to haunt you.
In my day to day flying of 135 operations...if they got the form filled out to board my plane, more power to em, "welcome aboard!". We don't fly broke or overweight planes, so most likely they will find themselves bored and most certainly they will not enjoy that pilot ass smell in them caravans.
As a post script, do you really think I care if some FBO gets it's aircraft sanctioned in a seizure by the feds after a ramp check? Think about it...I can walk away from that plane with it's doors locked and Mr. FBO can deal with it.
