Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Situational Awareness
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Ground Event / Encounter Other / Unknown
General None Reported / Taken
Human Factors; Company Policy
Baggage pit 4 improperly loaded which resulted in fire suppression equipment being rendered inoperative\ineffective in suppressing a potential fire. Ramp personnel were advised to rearrange bags in accordance with current requirements. This is an ongoing problem that should be passed on to all flight crews immediately. Crews should be required to check the loading of the pits :10 prior to push time.
Found pit 4 to be loaded improperly with 30-40 bags touching the ceiling. Possibly more. Prior to an ETOPS flight this is particularly concerning. This issue has been getting better as of late at a lot of stations. However it only takes one time for it to not matter how 'good' things have gotten. This simply needs to be rectified within our company. It was hard to tell if the ramp crew knew the rule or just didn't care about the 2 inches. The lead ramp agent did get the pit load corrected after a quick discussion. There needs to be an emphasis put on reporting this issue when a plane arrives incorrectly loaded. That would be my recommendation.
Air Carrier flight crew reported a baggage pit was packed excessively high not allowing fire suppression if needed.