34 GROUND SUPPORT WORLDWIDE FEBRUARY 2016
EDITOR'S NOTE
Editor - Alex Wendland
awendland@aviationpros.com
920-563-1644
I was talking with Ron Donner, editor of our
sister publication, Aircraft Maintenance Technology
and a longtime aviation professional himself, about
what might be causing these incursions that are
serious enough to make the news. The frst topic I
brought up to Ron was training. Are ramp staff be-
ing undertrained?
"Training for technicians and ramp employees in
airline environments is generally fairly robust and
ongoing," Ron replied. "So I wouldn't say the prima-
ry causal factor was not being trained. However, it's
hard to say if the training standards at a company
like AI are the same as say an American Airlines."
For its part, the International Air Transport As-
sociation (IATA) offers a Ramp Services training
course that includes a $75 discount for developing
nations. But Ron made another point, and he's right
– we don't know what standards international frms
are holding their employees to. Given some of the
issues Air India has had with ramp staff – I recom-
mend a Google search for "Air India gold smuggling"
– I have good reason to question the seriousness
with which some consider their work.
The larger issue is comfort. Complacency. Call it
what you will, but the ramp is a decidedly danger-
ous place. At the same time, there's a good chance
something will cease to feel dangerous if you do it
every day.
"I feel ramp employees do understand the dan-
gers but like anything, human nature causes use to
become comfortable in the surroundings, leading
to less focus, perhaps even intentional risk taking,"
Ron says.
There is nothing more important on the ramp
than the safety of everyone involved. We constantly
need to be reminded of situational awareness, even
to the point of patronizing, because the effects of
human factors can lead to errors, and errors can re-
sult in tragedy.
"Situational awareness is not just a pilot thing,"
Ron told me. "Working around noisy, fast-paced
environments like busy airport ramps requires ev-
eryone to have situational awareness."
Brutal winter weather has fnally found us here
in Wisconsin, so I'll leave you with an apt mantra,
cruel as it may be: Stay frosty, friends.
Safety in Mind Will
Save Your Behind
I
n just two weeks we had two major ramp incidents come across the
AviationPros news desk. An Air India technician was sucked into
an engine following a series of protocol breaches and a fuel truck
clipped the wing of a full aircraft waiting to take off at O'Hare.
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Ramp incidents are going to happen, but given the
severity of two recent incidents, we need to fnd the
"why" and increase situational awareness on the ramp.