FAA ramp check, reverse extrapolation???

[FN FAL]

I only over gross an aircraft with the understanding that for every extra pound that I add I'm shorting my glide distance in single

REALLY?

 

[dingo222]

ramp check

Just ask him for some sort of official ID before you start asking questions! THrow him the whole "TSA-Homeland security" line. I did it once and the guy had to go back to his car to get it At that point, I made my way to run-up and was on my way. No bull story there, but I sweated all the way back home hoping that he didn't catch the tail #. A better though, just keep it undergross!

 

[JonJohn82]

What do the "ramp checkers" look at and ask for when one gets "ramp checked"?

 

[Lead Sled]

...Most of the time aircraft will fly ok outside of CG, just like many will fly just fine up to 10% over gross...I only over gross an aircraft with the understanding that for every extra pound that I add I'm shorting my glide distance in single or reducing my abality to climb with just one fan turning on a twin...If I run an aircraft at gross for a few flights and get a good feel for it then I usually have no problem going 30 or 40lbs over for a single, but for a twin you really have to watch your weight limit, its there for a reason. They perform crappy enough under gross on one engine, if you have a twin over gross and you loose and engine you need to be looking for a close spot to land. Fly safley

Thank you FlyJordan for sharing the wisdom and gained from your vast (less than 200 hours) experience. If I sound sarcastic, I am. I'll be the first to admit that running 30 or 40 lbs over on a light single won't cause it to fall out of the sky... However, when you start down that path you're really starting to walk in a mine field if you know what I mean. Not all aircraft have loading and flight characteristics as benign as the trainers you've been flying.

"Sled

 

[minitour]

What do the "ramp checkers" look at and ask for when one gets "ramp checked"?

Whatever they want.

Certificates and documents, weight and balance perhaps, maybe takeoff and landing field lengths (I doubt it), the bigger the equipment, the more there is to see...MELs, Manuals, D-Cell Battery flash lights, fire extinguishers...

If they want to be a pr*ck about it, I'm sure they could ask to see anything they want...but they have more important things to do with their time than to harass everyone on the ramp for 20 minutes per plane...so I'm told

-mini

 

[igneousy2]

What regulation under 91 requires you to have the Weight and Balance anyway? Yes sir, I did it, once I saw I was in limits, I chucked it in the trash. The regulation doesn't require you to have it on your person. I doubt any attempted violation of an individual for simply not having a W&B wouldn't make it past the region corp counsel office.

Later

 

[minitour]

What regulation under 91 requires you to have the Weight and Balance anyway? Yes sir, I did it, once I saw I was in limits, I chucked it in the trash. The regulation doesn't require you to have it on your person. I doubt any attempted violation of an individual for simply not having a W&B wouldn't make it past the region corp counsel office.

Later

I agree, but if they were anal enough, they could make you do one right there.
Just some of the things they could want to see is all...

Oh and that compass...make sure it's full of fluid...Acid Free White Keroseen...no air bubbles...gotta be full

-mini

 

[JAFI]

I think I missed something here. Why would you want to fly an aircraft with a compass (only half full of fluid) that didn't work to mfg. specs?? If some one pointed out a problem in your aircraft shouldn't you be happy? With your entire 100 hours of flight experience are you saying you know more about that compass than the designer or general airworthiness standards?

The attitude displayed by some (during a ramp check) does not serve them well and may bite them hard. I wonder if they also play with matches while sitting on top of a keg of gunpowder.

Be professional, knowledgeable, and calm even though the others around you are not. Some call it maturity.

Getting advice on how to act during a ramp check from a BBS is sometimes like getting advice on how not to get a girl pregnant from a high school locker room. It doesn't always work.....

You guys crack me up.

JAFI

 

[minitour]

I think I missed something here. Why would you want to fly an aircraft with a compass (only half full of fluid) that didn't work to mfg. specs?? If some one pointed out a problem in your aircraft shouldn't you be happy? With your entire 100 hours of flight experience are you saying you know more about that compass than the designer or general airworthiness standards?...

Where did I say I would be upset if someone pointed out that my aircraft was broke or otherwise unairworthy? Would I want to fly an aircraft that isn't airworthy? Nope. Would I want to get "busted" for something stupid like an air bubble at the top of the compass? Nope.

I was merely offering up some advice on information which I have picked up during my "entire 100 hours of flight experience".

The compass doesn't have to be "only half full of fluid" to be unairworthy. I'm surprised you don't know this with your over 100 hours of flight experience.

If there is even a bubble at the top, it can be determined that the compass is not full of fluid, therefore making your aircraft legally unairworthy.

Honestly, I was just trying to help out a fellow-aviator with something that (from what I've read/heard from more experienced pilots than you and I combined) can easily be overlooked, and an inspector who is having a bad day (or whatever) could bust you on it.

...but then you already knew that.

-mini

PS
If it seems like there's some attitude in this post, there is. Next time make sure you inform me earlier which posts have a prerequisite of 8000 hours to attempt to help...then I can just sit here and study some more.

 

[JediNein]

But does that compass have a dated correction card?

As for throwing things into the trash, depending on the state, that stuff becomes public domain once it hits the rim. All a determined Fed has to do is pull it out and have fun.

Put yourself in a 3-letter agencies' investigator position. You have someone you are trying to bust for whatever reason. In the trash you know are the documents that will finally let you make that bust. You will be able to use that evidence in court without any threat of it being thrown out, it's public domain.

Even if that paperwork is shredded with week old egg salad on it, do you think any agency is going to let that stop them?

The trash is not a safe haven. Shredded paperwork in the trash is an invitation for someone to look there first.

Fly SAFE!
Jedi Nein

 

[A Squared]

(Diamond Aircraft POH and Weight and Balance are all in Metric, I HATE THAT SO MUCH!!! Wouldnt be so bad except I'm so used to inches and pounds, not meters and kilograms).

Good grief, please tell me you're not serious. They are just numbers, the arithmetic is no harder or different in metric than it is in our system.

 

[apcooper]

Actually in a single you will get the same glide distance regandless of the weight. You will just use a higher speed for best glide. If flying a piston twin say 10% over gross and I lost an engine after takeoff at 500ft I'd simply pull back the good engine a few inches of MP, pitch for VYSE +3 kts and set it down in a field just like a single. You could glide a lot further in this scenario than in a single since I'd use the good engine to MINIMIZE DRIFTDOWN, NOT to maintain altitude and end up in a VMC rollover and be killed forsure!! If Taking off from Aspen even well under gross I'd do this same thing because no non-turbo piston twin has a chance of climbing at 10,000ft density alt on one engine!

 

[FlyJordan]

Good grief, please tell me you're not serious. They are just numbers, the arithmetic is no harder or different in metric than it is in our system.

Its just a pain

 

[A Squared]

Its just a pain

Hmmm, so you really are serious. OK I'm fascinated by this.

Explain this to me because I'm really not seeing it. Let's say that you's adding moments in this airplane your weight is 70 kilos andh the pilot seat has an arm of 96 cm. Please explain in detail how it is substantially more challenging or difficult to multiply 96 X 70, than it is to multiply 155 X 38 (the same weight and arm in our system)

 

[FlyJordan]

Its not that, your gross weight is in kg, fuel is in kg, payload in is kg. So many kg's of fuel do you have, how many kg's do all your passengers weigh, how many kg's of baggage do you have? Once its in metric I dont care if they figure it in slugs, its just converting all the weights that is a pain, Its not like I think its impossible, its not even hard, its just a pain to do.