What is a ramp inspection?

The basics

A ramp inspection takes place on the apron, between arrival and departure. Inspectors from the authority of the state where the aircraft has landed board it, check the documents and licences on the flight deck, look at the cabin safety equipment, walk around the aircraft and, where there is cargo, check the hold.

It is a spot check, not an audit of the operator. It shows how one aircraft and one crew looked at one moment, and its value comes from numbers: many inspections, recorded the same way and shared between authorities, reveal which operators and which aircraft need a closer look.

Inspectors are expected not to delay the aircraft without good reason. A good inspection fits into the turnaround, and most end with the aircraft departing on time.

EASA: the Ramp Inspection Programme

In Europe, ramp inspections run under the EU Ramp Inspection Programme, coordinated by EASA. The rules are in Regulation (EU) No 965/2012, Annex II (Part-ARO), Subpart RAMP, with acceptable means of compliance and guidance material alongside. The programme has two strands:

• SAFA, Safety Assessment of Foreign Aircraft: inspections of aircraft used by operators from outside the EU.
• SACA, Safety Assessment of Community Aircraft: inspections of aircraft used by operators under the oversight of another EU Member State.

Every participating state inspects against the same checklist, grades findings the same way and puts the reports into a shared database. Inspections are prioritised on lists EASA provides and on information that points to possible non-compliance, and the results feed into decisions on third-country operator (TCO) authorisations and the EU Air Safety List under Regulation (EC) No 2111/2005.

Part-ARO also sets out who may inspect: ramp inspectors need theoretical and practical training, and recurrent training to stay qualified.

ICAO: surveillance of foreign operators

The right to inspect comes from the Chicago Convention. Article 16 lets each state search aircraft of other states on landing or departure and inspect their certificates and documents. Article 33 obliges states to recognise certificates and licences issued by the state of registry, provided they meet ICAO minimum standards.

Annex 6 expects states to run a programme for the surveillance of foreign operators flying in their territory, and to act when they find a safety problem. Doc 8335, the Manual of Procedures for Operations Inspection, Certification and Continued Surveillance, gives guidance on how to do it. Many national ramp programmes outside Europe are built on these documents, often using the EASA checklist as a model.

FAA: the ramp check

In the United States the term is ramp check, or ramp inspection. FAA aviation safety inspectors carry them out under FAA Order 8900.1, on US operators of every kind, from Part 91 private flying to Part 121 airlines, and on foreign air carriers operating under 14 CFR Part 129.

The inspector will ask to see the pilot certificate, medical certificate and photo identification (14 CFR 61.3), and the aircraft documents: the airworthiness certificate and registration (14 CFR 91.203), the operating limitations and the weight and balance data. US pilots remember the aircraft documents as ARROW. The inspector may then look over the aircraft itself.

What the inspector checks

The EASA checklist groups the inspection items into five areas. Other programmes cover the same ground, even where they organise it differently.

Findings and what follows

Under the EASA programme, anything that does not meet the applicable standard is a finding, and each finding gets a category by how much it affects safety. The category determines the follow-up, called the class of action.

Category 2 and 3 findings are reported to the operator and to the authority that oversees it, and the operator is expected to answer with root causes and corrective action. Findings that keep recurring across inspections are what moves an operator onto a closer-watch list, and in the worst case towards an operating ban.

Being ready for one

Operators that get clean reports treat ramp inspections as part of normal operations: documents on board and current, crews who know what will be asked, defects recorded and dealt with, and their own internal ramp checks to catch problems before an authority does. When findings do come, they answer quickly, with corrective action that addresses the cause.

Our Ramp Inspection Awareness Training teaches operators exactly that in one day. The Ramp Inspector Training trains inspectors in three. SAFEJETS MS keeps the findings, the corrective actions and the evidence in one place.