The airport parking lot

By Dale Nielsen

The airport ramp is a parking lot. Parking lots have few if any rules, but a great many hazards. One would think that common sense would rule, but what is common sense to one person seems to be nonsense to another.

One Cessna 152 student pilot at Boundary Bay, B.C., tried to squeeze her aircraft between another aircraft and a hangar to get to what she thought was a suitable spot to complete a run-up. The left wing of her aircraft contacted a metal post at the corner of the hangar. The contact was at very low speed and the dent was small, so the student departed for a training flight and reported the dent after landing.

A Piper Tomahawk PA 38-112 pilot at Manassas, Virginia, misjudged the clearance between her right wing and a fuel truck. The wing contacted the truck with enough force to bend the wing rearward, and pivot the aircraft into the fuel truck. The pilot escaped injury, but the refueller on the other side of the truck received minor injuries.

A Cessna 337 at Nelson, B.C., was observed to have both engines running while parked on the ramp with no one on board.

A PA-31 at Castlegar, B.C., was parked on the grass beside the fuel pumps, and close to a fence. On the other side of the fence rental cars were parked. Observers were amazed to see the pilots start the aircraft in that position, and add a great deal of power in an attempt to make a sharp left turn for the left wing to clear a metal stand pipe beside the fuel cabinet. The left propeller was over a gravel area and small rocks were blown toward the rental cars.

Even the big boys and girls make mistakes. An Air Canada Boeing 747-400 at London-Heathrow Airport tried to taxi past a Boeing 777 that was partially in the holding area for the active runway. The 747 clipped wing tips with the 777 damaging both aircraft.

A Boeing 737 Captain at Castlegar, B.C., attempted to overcome a stuck brake by adding more power. The result was a near tip over of a Cessna 150 on the far side of the ramp with two people on board.

Any time we have any doubt about getting by an object, we should shut down and manually reposition the aircraft so that we have more clearance from the object, or we should tow the aircraft by the object with aid of a wing walker, before we re-start and continue taxiing.

Fuel truck drivers are notorious for parking where it is convenient for them. This occasionally results in blocking off aircraft getting ready to taxi or returning to parking. This is frustrating. Frustration clouds thinking and leads to errors in judgment.

Leaving an aircraft unattended with engines running is a definite hazard and it is a violation of the Canadian Aviation Regulations.

We must pay close attention to our use of power on the ramp. The tires may have sunk into a depression in the grass, a wheel may be stuck behind a slight rise or lip in the pavement, or a tight turn may be required immediately to clear an obstacle. High power settings to overcome any of the above situations may create a hazard to people and other aircraft. Rocks can be sprayed aft. Aircraft behind may not be tied down or chocked, and may roll with the prop blast. People, especially children or the elderly, may not be able to keep their footing in strong prop wash.

The common sense solution would be to position the aircraft by hand before starting it so that a high power setting is not required. A pilot may get caught by surprise and need a little more power than necessary to make an aircraft roll forward. If so, that pilot must check behind before adding power. If a little extra power isn’t enough to move the aircraft, we should shut down and move the aircraft by hand.

We must choose run-up areas that do not create a hazard to persons or property.

Pilots have been observed to run-up their aircraft directly in front of, and close to, office windows, directly in front of open hangar doors, directly in front of other aircraft, in front of fences with on-lookers on the other side, and beside taxiways where aircraft would have to taxi through the prop wash. Once we have taxied into a run-up area, we should take one last look behind, before adding run-up power, to make sure the area behind is still clear.

Taxi speed is another ramp hazard. Too many of us do not slow down when we come to the more congested areas of the ramp. Aircraft do not stop on a dime and we can never tell when another aircraft will move into our path, or when a pedestrian will step out from between aircraft without looking. Pilots are often in a hurry to get to their aircraft and get airborne, and may have other things on their minds as they rush across a ramp. They may not be looking for moving aircraft.

Many pedestrians are not ramp savvy and are not being supervised by the pilot who invited them onto the ramp. Passengers like to help, and may volunteer to run errands while we are busy walking around the aircraft. They may decide to make a last dash for the washroom. They may back-up into the path of an on-coming aircraft while trying to get the perfect photo of the aircraft they are going to fly in. When we invite passengers to fly with us, we must supervise their activities to ensure their safety on the ramp.

Use your common sense in all situations on the ramp. Watch out at all times for nonsense.