Q400
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Situational Awareness; Training / Qualification
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
General None Reported / Taken
Human Factors; Weather
On my walk around I thought I saw ice on the leading edge of the wings. I asked the station person for a tactile inspection and she had no idea what that meant. When we did get a tactile; the person doing it came back and said the airplane had no ice on it. I did not believe him and asked my FO to look and see what he thought. He said there was ice. I then asked the ramp person who told us there was no ice to get the ladder and I wanted a good look for myself. There was ice on the leading edges. I showed the ramp person the ice and tried to explain this could be and an 'airplane killer'. He did not apologize or seem to care. When we deiced; the deicer said 'sorry it took so long; but you had a lot of rime on there'. We departed after deicing without incident.Out station personnel untrained and unfamiliar with procedures.
Q400 Captain reported ramp personnel seemed to be untrained in company procedures; specifically tactile inspection for airframe ice.