Medium Transport; Low Wing; 2 Turbojet Eng
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP); Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Multiengine
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Ground Event / Encounter Other / Unknown
General None Reported / Taken
Airport; Company Policy
I was the Captain from ZZZ to FCA. Upon arrival into FCA everything was normal. We taxied into the gate and stopped where the marshaller told me to stop. We shut down and as I was doing my post-flight walk-around I noticed that we were not stopped on a stop line and we were short of the first stop line by 15 to 20 feet. I asked the ramper why we stopped short and they told me that they stop us short because if they need to use the ramp its extremely difficult to do so if we park on the designated stop line.If what the ramper claims is true and that it really is difficult to utilize the ramp at our designated stop line then we should explore painting a new stop line. We are lucky in FCA that our lead in line is probably close to twice the length of the airplane so there should be sufficient room to accommodate for a new stop line that is further back from the current stop lines. My biggest concern with not stopping on a painted stop line is we are effectively in 'no mans land'. Measurements for the circle of safety and the aircraft envelope are based on the airplane being stopped on a designated stop line. If we start making up stopping spots then where do we draw the line? Today it might be 15 feet; tomorrow it might be 40 or 50. If an A320 or 737 taxi's behind us thinking there's enough room and hits the tail of our airplane because we weren't stopped in the appropriate spot; that's on us. I feel like we can totally remedy this situation and move the stop line back to where it makes operations easier for the ramp crew.
Air carrier Captain reported that during parking the aircraft was stopped many feet before the stop line so ramp crew could use the ramp area. Captain recommended that the position of stop line be changed to ensure safe operations.