Dash 8-200
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
General None Reported / Taken
Human Factors
The most significant part of the event occurred just after the Number 2 engine had been started. I noticed a cart pulling up to the aircraft; from which ramp personnel took three bags and walked behind the left wing with them. Shortly; the cargo door warning light illuminated. Due to what had already been an unreasonably long; frustrating; inefficient and unpleasant boarding process during which no (functioning) air cart was available; I chose to leave the Number 2 engine running and had the door reopened; so that ramp could be asked if additional bags were loaded. They were; so the paperwork was retrieved and the additional bags were accounted for properly. Adding baggage after the paperwork had been finished without notifying the crew was the incident that I am specifically addressing; for obvious safety and legal reasons. In addition; I want to make mention of the fact that this was merely one (and admittedly the worst) display of poor judgment; work ethic; and professionalism on the part of the ramp crew in boarding this flight. Other examples include no ramp personnel being present when passengers began boarding; indicating that the Number 2 engine could be started without having required personnel in place or removing the non-functioning air cart; signaling that the Number 1 engine could be started when no personnel was present on the left side of the aircraft; generally failing to coordinate or make an effort to coordinate with the crew; agent; or operations. In this instance; it is fair to note that the agent did display good effort and a positive attitude in working with the crew and operations seemed to do all that they could (especially considering that our flight was not the only one have problems with ramp personnel at the time).This flight would have been boarded and able to push early with happy passengers if the ramp personnel had simply done the minimum of their required duties. No event occurred requiring 'above and beyond' effort on their part. Additional effort and vigilance was required by every other employee involved in trying to get that flight out. Some suggestions for avoiding recurrence would be having more personnel available and having them be [better] trained.
Dash 8-200 Captain reported a significant number of SOP violations during pre-departure activities; some of which had safety implications.