"We're from the FAA and we're here to Help"

[onebadjudge70]

The FAA is out and performing Ramp checks. Remember that they are there to "Help". You'll know this because they will tell you repeatedly during your conversation. They will possibly have a trainee with them learning how to "Help" you.

They "Helped" me at PAMR a couple days ago. I don't ever remember feeling this "Helped" before in my entire life.

If your out at the airport and see a car with government plates, wave them over and get some "Help"! Get some use out of your tax dollars. It's an experience you will likely never forget.

 

[Float Pilot]

That may be fall-out from bird herders thread....
http://forums.outdoorsdirectory.com...SB-recommends-FAA-review-certain-AK-operators


I ran into an buddy who is up to his neck in that agency and he intimated that everyone was already scrambling to figure out who they could rat out so as to ingratiate themselves with the big muckety-mucks from down south...

Remember the old movie where the base commander tells the XO that the General is inspecting at 10am, The XO tells the ops officer it is at 0900, then he tells the next guy it is at 0800, and by the time the Sgts and corporals put out the word all the troops are standing outside at 3 AM...
And of course the general never shows up...

Oh well maybe worrying about the FAA will take my mind off of loosing my Cadillac medical benefits, for which I paid and worked for 30 years...

 

[Mr. Pid]

A properly prepared pilot with a properly maintained airplane has nothing to fear from a ramp check. If you're in a hurry it may be an inconvenience but a manageable one in my experience.

 

[AK-HUNT]

A properly prepared pilot with a properly maintained airplane has nothing to fear from a ramp check. If you're in a hurry it may be an inconvenience but a manageable one in my experience.

That's a fact. I've been ramped 4-5 times. 135 checkrides, base checks….. I can't think of one bad experience. The guys are doing their job.
Gonna have to find another "boogie man".
If you have anything to fear during a ramp check, get it fixed cause its gotta be pretty dang bad! A lot of marginal aircraft get ramped.
Its not like they dig very deep fellas. "AROW"

 

[onebadjudge70]

Guess everyones experience is different. My A&P IA used to work for the FAA as an ASI. There's more to what's happening but it will wait until it's all over and done. Just giving a heads up, they are doing OJT with new ASI's.

 

[Float Pilot]

All the times they have hit me up, I have found that they are either new to the state or maybe visiting. The last couple guys had northern east coast accents and totally east coast clothes that did not fit the wind and weather. They were cold and miserable.
So I kept on talking about new subjects and asking about new issues until they started to get blue around the lips. Hopefully they went out and bought some better clothing and dumped the little low cut leather Yankee office shoes.

Actually they are a great resource for CFIs because they usually have a box of airport marking cards or other cool stuff in their car. I like to give those out during BFRs.

But having been a government employee in law enforcement for twenty years, I know for a flipping fact you have good guys, bad guys and apathetic yahoos, in any government enforcement branch. It is just the way it shakes out. And even us good guys occasionally had orders that rubbed us the wrong way. The mood and focus of my last dept changed every time an election was near or when the new Governor had appointed new Dept and Division heads as political favors.



BY THE BY,,, The FAA snagged one of my former clients last year because he was out of BFR. (retired airline pilot who could afford to see me every two years, so too bad for him) The story of how they found out is a little hazy.... I think he pulled a boner while visiting Anchorage and came to their attention.

All they told him to run out and get a BFR within a few days and he basically got off with a warning. No big deal......

 

[AK-HUNT]

All they told him to run out and get a BFR within a few days and he basically got off with a warning. No big deal...... [/COLOR]

Could've made his life hard for a bit…..I don't remember getting any breaks with FSDO of 10 years ago.

I stand by this: If you don't pass a "Ramp Check", its likely not the FAA's fault. Its the most basic of checks but a lot of guys get over-excited about them. Nothing there to get excited about.

On a side note: I have a couple friends that work for the FAA now. They don't make rules. They typically don't like the same ones I don't like. But they are paid to do a job. I respect them for that…..A little like a police officer. He didn't make the speed limit either…..
Sure, there are D-bags. Everywhere.

Gotta go burn avgas! Beautiful days are making me poor.

 

[mit]

A properly prepared pilot with a properly maintained airplane has nothing to fear from a ramp check. If you're in a hurry it may be an inconvenience but a manageable one in my experience.

You better be sweating if you think you have all your I's dotted and your T's crossed.

 

[Mr. Pid]

No sweat here. Let 'em look.

 

[pipercub]

Wait till you run into one that has a case of the azz for you....get your phone out and record everything....

 

[Mr. Pid]

It's funny how many guys say the FAA isn't happy until you're unhappy. Some guys look for things to be upset about. You guys sound like you're already there. You can have it. Life's too short.

 

[pipercub]

Ignorance Is bliss...

 

[avidflyer]

I have never been ramped, but I have had a couple dealings with the ANC FSDO and I have to say that they have been very positive! One time was getting my experimental looked at after a rebuild and the former owner did not have the original airworthiness, only a copy. The inspector came down and looked it over and handed me a new pink slip, he had nothing negative to say and was actually very pleasant and knowledgeable. The second one is actually in progress, but in less than a week of me calling and talking to an inspector, sending him pictures and a few follow up emails, he will be at the house Wednesday when I get in from the slope to look at the issues and help sort things out. I know these guys have a huge work load here yet the response time so far has been very quick and positive. Hopefully I will be able to post Wednesday afternoon that the actual meeting was positive LOL.

 

[retiredinhomer]

It's funny how many guys say the FAA isn't happy until you're unhappy. Some guys look for things to be upset about. You guys sound like you're already there. You can have it. Life's too short.

the quote was" we're not happy till you're not happy" they used to laugh about it.

 

[Tcraft]

There's more to what's happening but it will wait until it's all over and done.

Are you saying that your that your ramp check resulted with you having to provide some more documentation to satisfy the ASI request?

 

[Grizzly 2]

I was once approached by two very rude FAA reps while on the ramp at Palm Beach International. I was replacing an O-ring in the brake system master cylinder in my new turbocharged C-206 Wipline amphibian.. Their first question was to ask for my pilot license. Since they were so very rude, I simply refused. They insisted that they had the right to ask for my certificate. I told them they couldn't see it until I started the engine and began "operating" the airplane. They simply turned around and left.

 

[brhrdr]

Years ago, I flew for an air taxi in Alaska that the Feds were trying to shut down. Company management told us that if we were ramp checked by the FAA, we were to say, "I do not wish to participate in this conversation", then contact the company (who would call their lawyer).

That said, later on I flew for another air taxi in Alaska where several of our pilots ended up going to work for the local FSDO, because the pilots wanted a stable job with retirement and benefits. It's hard to think of FAA inspectors as *****holes, when you know some of them personally and you know for a fact they are good folks (though we did joke with them about going to Oke City and getting brainwashed). Like Float Pilot said earlier, there are good ones and bad ones. I've been fortunate that I've had good ones on my ramp checks, though I think my attitude towards them went a long way to making it a good experience for both of us.

 

[FL2AK-Old Town]

I was once approached by two very rude FAA reps while on the ramp at Palm Beach International. I was replacing an O-ring in the brake system master cylinder in my new turbocharged C-206 Wipline amphibian.. Their first question was to ask for my pilot license. Since they were so very rude, I simply refused. They insisted that they had the right to ask for my certificate. I told them they couldn't see it until I started the engine and began "operating" the airplane. They simply turned around and left.

And, had I been the FAA in that scenario, my next question would have been "Where is your A&P Certificate" and where are all your maintenance manuals? Where is your record of purchase certifying these parts as FAA-PMA?" To my knowledge, pilots are only allowed to change oil and filters and paint prop tips.

I've dealt with the FAA many times as an A&P. I always thought it funny how mechanics always freak out about having the FAA in the hangar. They're usually the same ones who argue with me for sticking to the AMM and not taking short cuts, or refusing to put NAPA parts on the plane.

Stories like the one above are silly peeing matches and make no sense; the guy in authority (the FAA) is going to win. We had an EPA inspector visit our hangar one night, and the lead mechanic thought it would be funny to make him wait outside an hour until a supervisor showed up. Before that night was over, the EPA inspector spotted a brown stain in the gravel outside the back door, where the guys had been dumping stale coffee for years. The airline had to pay to dig that up, have it tested, and prove it was not a chemical spill. We had to "remediate that area." Would have been cheaper just to let the guy in the door.

I'm with Mr. Pid; if you're doing what you're supposed to be doing, the way you're supposed to be doing it, you have no problem. But like I said in the other thread, folks up here think that, because this is AK, they're somehow exempt from the regs.

 

[pipercub]

I personally witnessed two seperate ramp checks where the Feds falsified what took place and tried to hang a person out to dry. They did it because they could...give a fool some power and authority and watch what happens. Pretty sorry if you ask me...like I said previously, pull your phone out and start recording...

 

[Lowrider]

I was brought up saying "yesir" and "yesam" and that usually works pretty well until they prove they don't deserve it. As said above...if you got your sheet together, it ain't no big deal. I will make an exception for Customs, ICE or TSA wanting to search my plane...for that they need a warrant.