Originally Posted by
Speed Pilot
Depending on the station, I'll take the ramper's word any day of the week over the pilot. But I'm biased. I used to load bags for Horizon before getting hired to fly at XJT. Hub rampers suck but most outstation employees are usually way more educated than you think. The majority of our rampers in Boise held bachelor's and master's degrees in technical fields. They were just there part time to get flight benefits or insurance for their families if they ran their own business.
I never questioned the general intelligence of rampers, just their specific knowledge on aircraft. I no some get the Dash 200 and 300 mixed up. I wouldn't be surprised if a ramper heard a Q200 couldn't take all the bags and then retold that info as a Q having to leave some bags behind causing the next person assume they meant a Q400.