It seems almost every day this winter, we’re reading about ground damage to an aircraft. I don’t know if there in fact have been more instances of such damage or whether there’s just a lot more reporting on the internet. With the 24-hour news cycle, things that never used to make it into print media, find their way into online news sites.
But with the seemingly endless winter weather affecting such large swaths of country, from coast to coast, it’s possible that there really were more instances of ground damage.
And of course, with even minor damage costing so much money, it’s a frequent topic of discussion among airline and ramp workers.
I was talking to an airline safety director recently about all these instances of “ramp rash” – a euphemism that can include damage in the millions of dollars. He mentioned that in looking into several instances of ramp damage involving his airline, a number of possible measures were raised that could help reduce the number of instances. One issue that they had grappled with was the difficulty of attracting the attention of vehicle operators during aircraft movement.
He mentioned that they were considering the use of air horns or whistles to attract drivers’ attention in those circumstances. It sounded like an approach others might want to consider. Or maybe you have tried this and have some thoughts you could share with us.
