Ramp work advice.

727to7400 said:
Always stay clear of flaps and slats, both yourself and the equipment. It maintenance decides to drop them before clearing, a peice of equipment will trash them. If it's a Boeing with inboard leading edge devices that will droop with no A system pressure and you are mucking around them, you will lose whatever appendage is there when someone opens the interconnect and pressurises the system.
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I was thinking about that while the guy was showing us the walk around the other day. The other guy I was with was standing right under the aileron on a CRJ700. I just stood out in the sun. Not worth risking getting bonked in the head if somebody moves the yoke or something.
 
727to7400 said:
Finally and MOST important. Enjoy and learn. If you're smart about it, what you take away will make you a much better pilot and crewmember in the cockpit because you'll have an understanding of what it really takes to make a trip operate.
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I second this. But do not make the same unfortunate mistake one of our new hires made on his very first day. That mistake being to tell your new co-workers that you're only working here on the ramp so that you'll have a better understanding of what it's like 'for you little guys out here on the ramp when I'm working up there in the cockpit' (his exact words). Shockingly, he was not able to earn much respect from his new coworkers. As a result of that and a few other issues, his employment did not last long.

He did make a few truly impressive screw ups though which allowed the limits of his intellect to shine clearly. Some of them still make me laugh to this day when I think about them. He's the only guy I've ever seen give himself a JetA bath three separate times in sixty seconds. You'd think that after the second time he'd of stopped and listened to what I was telling instead of doing it his way because he knew better. That kid wasn't very bright.
 
ASpilot2be said:
Also watch out for the RAT door. The E-170s operating had them deploy while on the ground.
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Same for the CRJ's. The guy told me if it pops out and hits you it will kill you. Scares the bejesus outta me since the ground power (or something) thing is right next to it.
 
Had my first day on the ramp today. At first it was a little confusing and I felt like I was just doing what people told me (grab that bag, etc) but I caught on to things like luggage tags and what bags go in what bin pretty quick. Pushback and marshalling+ground power hookups seem really simple too. Definitely a baptism by fire since today is probably our busiest day at SDF due to Derby traffic. All the RJ's were replaced by MD-88s.
 
It's easy when you only have to do one airline. When I worked at horizon we had the Crj and the Q400, also we had Alaska MD80's, 737-400, 700, 800, and 900. Last but not least Frontier which had the ERJ and the A319. So learning different procedures is hard on the brain, but practice makes perfect.
 
SFCC/UND said:
It's easy when you only have to do one airline. When I worked at horizon we had the Crj and the Q400, also we had Alaska MD80's, 737-400, 700, 800, and 900. Last but not least Frontier which had the ERJ and the A319. So learning different procedures is hard on the brain, but practice makes perfect.
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:yeahthat: We have Boeing 737-200s, -700s, Boeing 757s, A319/A320, EMB-190, and have to know 777s, and 747s.:panic:
 
SFCC/UND said:
It's easy when you only have to do one airline. When I worked at horizon we had the Crj and the Q400, also we had Alaska MD80's, 737-400, 700, 800, and 900. Last but not least Frontier which had the ERJ and the A319. So learning different procedures is hard on the brain, but practice makes perfect.
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I wish I'd gone to AA but I didn't know they were hiring. Their website had nothing and you had to go to the station manager. Now I find out. :mad:
I fell for one of the stupid new guy tricks too today. They asked me to go in the cockpit and ask the pilots for a bin key. I knew about the bin stretcher joke but not this one. I had a funny feeling about it so I had to cringe when I heard the FO say "Yeah, they're messing with you dude." haha
 
KLOU117 said:
I wish I'd gone to AA but I didn't know they were hiring. Their website had nothing and you had to go to the station manager. Now I find out. :mad:
I fell for one of the stupid new guy tricks too today. They asked me to go in the cockpit and ask the pilots for a bin key. I knew about the bin stretcher joke but not this one. I had a funny feeling about it so I had to cringe when I heard the FO say "Yeah, they're messing with you dude." haha
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They'll also send you into the MX shop to ask for 50' of flight line or a bucket of prop wash to clean the plane with.
 
ah figures one last stop before the long boring ocean flight.

I never got picked on but one guy was told to wash the prop blast on a Q400.
 
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