What this profile covers
Contact risk among aircraft, vehicles, equipment, structures, or people in congested ramp and stand environments.
Why it matters
Ground and maintenance activities involve many organizations, handovers, vehicles, tools, procedures, and latent conditions before flight begins. For ramp collision, useful analysis connects the immediate event with exposure, defenses, recurrence, and the wider operating system rather than treating one observation as a final conclusion.
Ramp movement, servicing, loading, de-icing, maintenance execution, and technical-error control.
Understand the subject before interpreting a signal.
In plain language, this profile examines contact risk among aircraft, vehicles, equipment, structures, or people in congested ramp and stand environments.
Build a multi-source picture
- Technical logs, work cards, and handover records
- Ramp, vehicle, servicing, and loading records
- CCTV or ground-surveillance evidence where lawful
- Aircraft data, reports, and physical inspection
Timing, relationships, and recurrence
Relevant recorded context may include normal acceleration, radio altitude, calibrated airspeed, roll angle, engine thrust. Use validated mappings and examine signal relationships over the applicable flight phase.
Do not turn an observation into a conclusion
Aircraft-recorded data usually captures only part of a ground or maintenance sequence; organizational interfaces and physical evidence may be more informative.
Keep controlling material visible
Apply the current approved manuals, procedures, authority requirements, investigation evidence, and validated organizational definitions for any operational decision.
Normal acceleration
Acceleration measured broadly along the aircraft's vertical body axis; its touchdown peak can help characterize a landing load when interpreted with other signals.
Open parameter guide ↗ftRadio altitude
Height derived from radio altimetry, normally representing the distance from the aircraft to terrain directly below within the system's operating range.
Open parameter guide ↗ktCalibrated airspeed
Indicated airspeed corrected for instrument and position error, as provided by the aircraft data system.
Open parameter guide ↗degRoll angle
Aircraft bank attitude about the longitudinal axis.
Open parameter guide ↗% / ratio / aircraft-specificEngine thrust
One or more recorded measures of commanded or produced propulsion; the correct signal depends on engine and aircraft type.
Open parameter guide ↗discreteLanding gear status
Command, position, lock, and ground-sensing states associated with the landing gear; these are separate signals with different meanings.
Open parameter guide ↗From a broad topic to a defensible safety review.
Define
State what ramp collision means for the aircraft, operation, authority, and organization in scope.
Verify
Confirm the provenance, quality, timing, units, completeness, and limitations of every data source used.
Describe
Reconstruct what happened and quantify relevant exposure before discussing causes or corrective action.
Corroborate
Compare flight data with reports, operational context, technical evidence, and authoritative source material.
Test barriers
Identify which preventive, recovery, and consequence-mitigation controls should have worked and how their performance can be measured.
Assure
Assign proportionate action and verify whether the control and safety performance improve without harmful unintended effects.
Questions before conclusions
- Q1
How is ramp collision defined for the aircraft, operation, authority, and organization being reviewed?
- Q2
Which precursors, recorded signals, reports, and external data would confirm the event and describe its context?
- Q3
Which preventive, recovery, and consequence-reduction barriers should work, and where could they weaken?
- Q4
What does recurrence, exposure, severity potential, or change over time show before choosing a safety action?
4 connected event profiles
These are terminology and family connections for exploration—not claims that FDM alone can determine the topic.
Asymmetric thrust during taxi
A sustained difference between left and right propulsion parameters appears during taxi movement.
Open FDM profile ↗FDM-067 · Approach alerts & clearanceExcessive bank at low height
Bank angle exceeds an aircraft- and height-specific monitoring band close to the runway or terrain.
Open FDM profile ↗FDM-080 · Landing contactExcessive roll at touchdown
Bank angle at first or main-gear touchdown approaches an aircraft-specific ground-clearance monitoring condition.
Open FDM profile ↗FDM-119 · Systems & warningsAnti-ice configuration mismatch
Anti-ice or de-ice system state differs from the validated environmental, phase, or procedure context.
Open FDM profile ↗Go deeper into the closest ASIP research guides.
Runway Excursion
Explore overruns and veer-offs as the combined result of approach energy, runway condition, touchdown, deceleration, and directional control.
Open intelligence brief ↗Aircraft SystemsFire and Smoke
View fire safety as detection, containment, checklist action, diversion, evacuation, and rescue barriers.
Open intelligence brief ↗Safety ManagementSafety Management Systems
Connect policy, risk management, assurance, and promotion so hazards are controlled and performance is reviewed over time.
Open intelligence brief ↗12 useful starting points
Original ASIP summaries lead to publisher pages. ASIP does not copy or host the reports.
SAFO 17009 — SAFO 17009, Airman Certification Standards ( ACS ): Slow Flight and Stalls
Official U.S. Federal Aviation Administration material indexed for aviation safety. Open the publisher source for the complete document, scope, and current status.
Open official sourceSAFO 12003 — Standard Operating Procedures ( SOP ) for Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR ) Part 135 Certificate Holders and Part 91K Program Managers
Official U.S. Federal Aviation Administration material indexed for aviation safety. Open the publisher source for the complete document, scope, and current status.
Open official sourceSAFO 10012 — Possible Misinterpretation of the Practical Test Standards ( PTS ) Language "Minimal Loss of Altitude"
Official U.S. Federal Aviation Administration material indexed for aviation safety. Open the publisher source for the complete document, scope, and current status.
Open official sourceSAFO 08021 — Importance of Standard Operating Procedures ( SOP ) as Evidenced by a Take off Configuration Hazard in Boeing DC-9 series, MD-80 series, MD-90, and B-717 Airplanes
Official U.S. Federal Aviation Administration material indexed for takeoff and maintenance. Open the publisher source for the complete document, scope, and current status.
Open official sourceUnderstanding Weight and Balance
Official Airbus Safety First material indexed for aviation safety. Open the publisher source for the complete document, scope, and current status.
Open official sourceNTSB Safety Alert SA-037 — Pilots: Understand Impairment Risk
Official U.S. National Transportation Safety Board material indexed for aviation safety. Open the publisher source for the complete document, scope, and current status.
Open official sourceNTSB Safety Alert SA-040 — Understanding Flight Experience
Official U.S. National Transportation Safety Board material indexed for aviation safety. Open the publisher source for the complete document, scope, and current status.
Open official sourceNTSB Safety Alert SA-068 — Flight Helmet Cords Can Impede Egress: Understand the hazard of direct-to-airframe cord connections
Official U.S. National Transportation Safety Board material indexed for emergency preparedness. Open the publisher source for the complete document, scope, and current status.
Open official sourceNTSB Safety Alert SA-071 — Do Your Takeoff Homework; Runway Length Matters - Understanding the Potential Hazards of Intersection Takeoffs
Official U.S. National Transportation Safety Board material indexed for approach and landing and takeoff. Open the publisher source for the complete document, scope, and current status.
Open official sourceAnnex 19 — Safety Management, Third Edition
Annex 19 consolidates ICAO safety-management provisions, including State safety responsibilities, SMS, safety-data collection and processing, and the protection and sharing of safety information.
Open official sourceAnnual Safety Review 2025
EASA's review uses occurrence and accident information to describe performance across aviation domains and to support the European safety-risk-management process.
Open official sourceStatistical Summary of Commercial Jet Airplane Accidents, 1959–2024
Boeing's 56th annual statistical summary organizes commercial-jet accident data using stated definitions and the CAST/ICAO occurrence taxonomy.
Open official sourceCommon Taxonomy Team
International work on common aviation occurrence categories and definitions for consistent reporting and analysis.
Open referenceSafety Risk Management
European safety-risk process connecting data, safety issues, risk portfolios, priorities, and safety action.
Open referenceAnnual programmes and reports
Annual safety reviews and risk portfolios used to identify key risk areas, safety issues, and emerging issues.
Open referenceEuropean Plan for Aviation Safety 2025
A broad evidence-based portfolio showing the scale and connected nature of current aviation safety issues.
Open referenceOperational issues index
A practical discovery index for operational safety subjects; official authority and manufacturer sources remain controlling where applicable.
Open reference