Piggy backing on 4th Amendment thread... I wonder how many of us have actually been ramp checked? The Alaska guys are many times more likely to get checked it seems. I have somewhere around 3000 landings all over the contiguous western states and have never had a ramp check. I've spoken to a lot of fellow pilots and that's their experience also. If you have been ramp checked, how many years/landings did it take? In other words... what are the odds?

In Chicago there is no rhyme or reason to it. I've only been ramp checked once, but we go through phases of increased activity where it seems everyone knows someone who was checked in the past month or two. No one can explain why and the FSDO was kind enough to send someone to one of our club meetings to talk about the FAA and he couldn't really explain it either. He said that all he could figure was that occasionally all the guys would get enthusiastic about them coincidentally at the same time. There hadn't been anything particularly interesting going on or commandments from higher ups to increase checks.

FWIW, the guy who checked me was a super nice guy. Went above and beyond to explain not just what he needed to do to satisfy himself but also what the boundaries were of what he was allowed to do so I understood them and could exercise my rights in the future. The whole thing took about ten minutes because we ended up BSing on the ramp for a while.

It's far more likely at an airshow or an event in which you are an active participant. I've taken my Wilga to about 20 or so airshows and was checked three times.

Really, if you're ducks are in a row, it's not a big deal. I've never had a request for logs or anything not required to be on board. I don't think they would request any further information if your on board docs are in order and the aircraft looks sound.

I have 14,000 hours and was checked only once, at Toke Alaska.

Since 1977, in the USA, never. Kenya, whenever they needed money for coffee.

Crossing the border is like a ramp check also. Plus going into Mexico they want to see proof of Mexican insurance. Coming back to the US they ask for all the same stuff for a ramp check. No big deal.

Other than Border crossing in 7.5 years 1300 hours no checks.

G'Day

OregonMaule wrote:Crossing the border is like a ramp check also. Plus going into Mexico they want to see proof of Mexican insurance. Coming back to the US they ask for all the same stuff for a ramp check. No big deal.

Other than Border crossing in 7.5 years 1300 hours no checks.

Fair enough. If we count border crossings then I've been checked more. The Mexicans seem nicer than the Americans. Perhaps it's because the Americans are lonely. In the US it's always one guy who comes out to the plane. In Mexico I've never had fewer than two and once had five (not including the dogs).

Actually, maybe it's the dogs. Dogs do tend to make people happier, I've never had a Mexican team without a dog and I've never had an American with a dog. One of the Mexicans in Saltillo looked like he was 14 and his braces glinted in the sun when he started laughing at my use of a shoe as a chock.

In S Calif you will always be ramp checked if you participate in the flying portion of an an airshow. This seems to apply even if the same fellow ramp checked you at another show a week earlier, so it must be a matter of policy. Other than that, it's extremely rare. My only experience with it was at a small non-towered strip near los angeles, where they seemed to be mainly interested in people flying w/o medicals. I've seen a couple of people checked at airshows that were just fly-ins for static display, but that's extremely rare. There the focus seems to be on experimentals (which must carry the operation limitations letter as part of the airworthiness certificate). The focus here was education, not enforcement.

Been ramp checked checked 4 times in 27 years, and 2 of those times were in the *middle of nowhere* (Monticello, Utah, being one of them).

FAA ramp checks are what you sign up for when you get your license. They have always been very brief, very to the point, very humorless, and hardly worth remembering for me.

I've been asked for my license by an LEO on a couple of occasions, mostly believing that airports were somehow sacrosanct places where camping was prohibited, and not believing I belonged to the airplane when I was a teenager, and trying to invoke the idea that "Authorized Persons Only" somehow meant persons other than me.

I think "Authorized Persons Only" emblazoned on a 4-wire fence at a grass strip in BF Idaho means having a pulse unless otherwise stated.

To me a ramp check means a random inspection-- IMHO checking your doc's for a border crossing or before flying in an airshow doesn't qualify as random. Now if you had just flown in to watch the airshow, that'd count.

11,000 hours, once in the US, twice overseas. Like the other guys said if you don't attract attention it is unlikely. Years ago when the FSDO would show up almost monthly, mainly for the 135 guys, some joker landed in marginal VFR conditions and the whole FSDO team was all over him. It probably didn't help that he cut an IFR flight off on short final and his airplane was a greasy mess either.

I have only about 600 hr, ramp checked once about two years ago in California City L71, no one else around , stopped for gas, he was more interested in the Data Tag on the aircraft than anything else, pleasant and professional.

delete

Well, I just got word from a friend in TC (Canuck FAA) that they're now too broke to send the troops out to harass GA pilots.
Too bad, 'eh?

I've had one "near miss" ramp check in 40 1/2 years & 2400+ hours. I had stopped for fuel at Newcastle, WY, in the Fall of 1973 before flying on to Sundance to spend time with my folks. I was just finishing refueling when a fellow landed in a Bonanza. He came over and asked where I was going. When I told him Sundance, he launched into comments about how tough Sundance was, etc. I told him I'd been in there many times. He then asked if he could see my certificate and the airplane documents. I told him I'd show him my paperwork if he would show me his ID, and in any event to make it snappy, because it was getting late and I couldn't land at Sundance after dark. He just laughed and wished me a good flight.

I've certainly chatted with many FAA folks since, but I've not had any other ramp checks.

Cary

Once at Stead Nv . 7am on a Sunday. Went there for gas ,got ramped . No big deal , as long as you have the stuff you are required to have. I assume that I will get a ramp check every time I fly.It's part of flying your own plane around.

The only time I ever got ramp checked in 35 years as a pilot was at an air race in Albuquerque in 1988. We were putting my little Cassutt together, the day before qualifying, and here come two guys in neckties with clipboards. We were essentially building the !(#*$ airplane in the hangar, with everything from duct tape to model airplane parts, mixing 5 minute epoxy on the asphalt, sticking flush pop rivets through Tinnerman washers through oversize holes in fiberglass and then a washer on the end before pulling the rivet... and a hundred other things that could have caused severe death and destruction... and all they were concerned about was the aircraft registration paperwork, which I didn't have. I asked one of the guys if they knew which end of the airplane pointed forward, and the reply was "we're not concerned with that..."

Once, sort of, at Salmon Idaho. But as he had illegally opened the door of my plane to stick his head in and roused the ire of a local pilot who had "issues" with this inspector, it quickly changed into a different situation.

As the Fed walked towards us, the local threatened him with bodily harm if he didn't turn around and walk off, a baseball bat was mentioned. I kid you not This had the effect of the Fed's attention switching from me (no name or ID was ever asked or offered, so I skated on the whole deal) to the baseball bat owner and his personal wellfare, and he did indeed get the heck out of there posthaste. One of my scariest moments in aviation, I was just the innocent bystander and never said a word! I'm NOT saying threaten them with a bat, not at all, brown nosing works better is my guess, but the local had good results that time with his particular approach. I never heard back on this, don't know what happened, but I got out of there ASAP. I still can't quite believed it happened like i just told it, but TRUE STORY. 15 years or more ago or so.

So, for me anyway, none times since '88 (licensed) flying since '72 but just hang gliders and ultralights.