I stumbled across this part one
Hi, I'm from the FAA, Can We Talk?"
by Dwayne Keating
A Legal Perspective
Your pilot's license?even your ATP license that you use to fly big jets for thousands of dollars a year?is just that, a license. It's not a right, and you aren't guaranteed by any law or constitutional provision the right to have it. If the FAA wants to take it away, they must follow certain procedures, but it is not anything like a criminal matter. They can revoke it based upon a showing that you are not fit to keep it or have violated the law, including the FARs. And the rules of procedure that most attorneys are familiar with may not apply! With this in mind, let's look at one particular issue?the ramp check.
So, exactly what is the FAA's power when it comes to the ramp check?or any other check for that matter? Well, much of it depends on what part of the Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs) you are operating under. If you are operating under Part 135, you might be surprised to know that they can ask you to do almost anything.
Let's look at a case that received national attention a couple of years ago. John Yodice, Legal Counsel for AOPA, wrote an article on it for his column in the AOPA magazine. It points out the all-encompassing power of the FAA inspector should he find something he either doesn't like or that indicates some carelessness in the pilot's preparation for the flight.
The pilot of a Lear made a short hop from his starting point to Smyrna, Tennessee. The FBO at Smyrna had the lowest fuel prices in the area by almost a $1.00 a gallon, so the pilot decided to stop. Unfortunately for him, there were two FAA inspectors at the airport when he arrived.
The pilot claims that the inspectors never identified themselves and were there specifically to ramp check him because of problems they were having with the company he was working for. The inspectors, on the other hand, say they were there to inspect a flight school. Regardless of whose story you believe, neither party denies that the inspectors conducted a ramp check on the hapless pilot.
The pilot had asked the FBO's line crew to top off the tip tanks. While this was going on, the inspectors asked to see the load manifest?the weight and balance determination?for the aircraft. They found some errors. Specifically, the weight for the crew was too light by about 220 pounds, and the load of the cargo was also incorrect by about the same amount.
Apparently, during the inspection, things got a little heated, and the pilot refused to turn on the master switch of the airplane for the inspectors to see how much fuel was in the main fuel tanks. At that point, one of the inspectors told the pilot he was going to do an en route check. The pilot basically refused to cooperate for several reasons?not the least of which was that he would have to burn off fuel to take the inspector with him. He walked off, leaving the airplane, the co-pilot, and the inspectors behind.
Under Section 135.73 (which governs inspections of 135 operations) ?Each certificate holder and each person employed by the certificate holder, shall allow the Administrator, at any time or place, to make inspections or test (including en route inspections) to determine the holder's compliance with the FAA Act of 1958...?
Section 135.75 goes on to say ?(a) Whenever, in performing the duties of conducting an inspection, an FAA inspector presents an Aviation Safety Inspector credential, FAA Form 110A, to the pilot-in-command of an aircraft operated by the certificate holder, the inspector must be given free and uninterrupted access to the pilot compartment of that aircraft...?
Seems pretty straightforward doesn't it? Notice that neither of the these sections states that the pilot must cooperate with the inspector. The pilot raised exactly that point in his appeal to the NTSB about turning on the master switch. They didn't buy it. The NTSB said this:
?The request was a reasonable and simple one. Inspector Williams testified that the FAA's general policy is to refrain from entering an aircraft or manipulating its controls without the operator' or owner's permission. [Pilot] replies that he is not required by the regulation to assist the FAA in its inspection. At the same time, his refusal to comply with a simple unburdensome request could fairly be construed as a withholding of authority to accomplish a task that was necessary to complete the inspection.... By refusing, the [Pilot] did not ?allow? the inspection to be completed and denied the inspectors free and uninterrupted access to the pilot compartment.? (Administrator v. Rogers, Docket SE-13914.)
I'm sure not convinced that refusing to do something is the same as ?not allowing the inspectors access? to the pilot compartment; they can go in all they want. It seems to me that the NTSB expanded the rules to require the pilot to assist in the inspection. But, again, the matter is irrelevant. Ultimately the NTSB suspended the pilot's license for nine months.
OK, you're saying, that's fine. That guy should have known he had to cooperate with the inspector, and why didn't he know what he and the co-pilot weighed? It's his own fault. On top of that, I only fly my airplane under Part 91?not for hire?and don't have to comply with all those rules and regulations that the Part 135 and 121 operators do. So what can they do to me? Well...plenty!
In preparing to write this article I talked with a couple of FAA inspectors, ex-inspectors and FAA attorneys, as well as some attorneys that defend actions against airman by the FAA. In every case, there was almost unanimous agreement that, by-and-large, FAA inspectors are really trying to do their job?without ?hassling you.?
Their job, by the way, as spelled out in the FAA's own Compliance and Enforcement Programs Handbook, is ?to promote aviation safety and security in civil aeronautics... The FAA's compliance and enforcement program is designed to promote compliance...? That same handbook goes on to define fairness:
?To be effective, the agency's compliance and enforcement program must be fair and reasonable in fact, and should be perceived as fair by those subject to regulation.... It also requires good faith efforts to understand the alleged violator's position and take it into account, as well as appraise the alleged violator of the agency's position in a timely manner.?
With all this in mind, what can inspectors ask you to do if you are just flying your airplane on a weekend to a local fly-in/open house? First, they would probably need a reason to even want to do a ramp check, but let's assume its been a slow afternoon and they?re getting tired of watching the birds fly.
First, since the FAA is charged with ensuring flight safety?whether it's you in your home-built or you and a couple of hundred friends in a Big Airlines 777?they have a ?right to inspect.? What can they inspect? Basically anything they want. There is some issue about whether they need a search warrant to crawl around inside your airplane, especially if there is the possibility they might find something that would cause them to take criminal action, but generally they are entitled to look things over.