Flight Crew Commercial; Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Multiengine
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 130; Flight Crew Total 1380; Flight Crew Type 460
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
General None Reported / Taken
Company Policy; Procedure
This occurred after shutdown upon landing at ZZZ. The owner of the aircraft had flown some of his employees out to him in ZZZ1. This was a return trip bringing them back to ZZZ. I recognized the FAA Inspectors because the same guys had ramp checked me less than a week before in ZZZ2. Once the door opened to the cabin they introduced themselves and presented ID to show they were FAA ASI's conducting a random ramp check. They asked me for my certificate and medical and while I was providing that another Inspector boarded the plane and retrieved the airworthiness certificate and registration (I had not authorized them for that but didn't mind). After he had taken down my information he began to ask me who my passengers were; I told him the aircraft owner's name and that they were employees of the owner's company. I confirmed that this flight; and every flight I've ever had with this company has been strictly part 91 owner flight.The passengers had left the aircraft and I went to work getting the luggage off the plane. They separated some of the passengers and asked 'who is in charge of this flight'. Confused; the senior most employee sheepishly raised his hand and wasn't sure what they meant. Upon further clarification the passenger explained that he along with the others worked for the aircraft owner. The safety inspectors asked all the passengers loudly if anyone had paid for the flight. They all confirmed that they had not and were increasingly confused as to what was going on. They continued to ask the passengers various questions.At this point I asked the inspectors if they needed any documents for the plane (the POH; MEL; VOR check; weight and balance etc) which they said they did not. This was clearly just to talk to the passengers and probe if we were doing something unsavory. The Safety Inspectors talked amongst themselves on the other side of the airplane; came back and took down the names of all the passengers. It held the passengers up and they later contacted the owner who was not happy his employees had been held up. This whole ramp check left me uncomfortable and I wasn't entirely sure they could actually do these things as part of a legal ramp check. After they left I talked with folks in the FBO who had said they were clearly waiting for us. They had arrived to the FBO over an hour before our arrival and told the staff that they would be conducting random checks. When the line guy said ok well I have a plane coming in soon; the Inspectors responded 'that they would be waiting on a Pilatus that was coming in'. Clearly these checks are not random. I asked if the company I contract for has a letter of investigation and they said no; but these ramp checks are clearly targeted.
Pilot reported an FAA ramp check looking for third party flight sharing platform activity.