Emb-175 first officer reported that he routinely finds that baggage has been loaded above the fire l...

Narrative:

I've been making these reports for the loaders more often than usual lately. This was a typical day trip with a full load of passengers. When I received the cargo load report it said 53 normal bags and 4 heavy. The captain asked if it was all below the line and the person stated 'yes' it was below the line. I have a personal limit of 45 bags; from personal experience; that I will go ensure it's all below the fire line (2' of clearance).I went down to the ramp and opened the closed forward cargo bin. When I opened the bin I could immediately see that the cargo was touching the top of the bin (therefore not 2'!). I asked the ramp person that provided me the cargo load report to come over and he did; I then asked if he verified that the cargo was in fact below the fire suppression line before telling us (the flight crew) that it was all below. He stated 'no' he did not check. I pointed out the first bag that was clearly touching the top of the bin and he went for the loader without hesitation. I took several pictures; some after we had already moved bags. We would move a group of bags and I would see that one's behind it also touched the top/protruded into the fire line. I had them correct the issue by putting the bags in the center of the compartment that was nearly empty. Usually this is the place the baggage handler sits; but should really be used for what it's for; cargo! We corrected the issue and pushed on time.this has got to stop! This new year I have already seen multiple issues. I've started to tell rampers that if there are more than 45 bags the rest need to go in the back so that I can stop going down for inspections when it's time to push. This has already worked 2 times. I feel like we need to create a procedure to where over 45 bags they have to put the remainder in the back. If they end up having some incredibly high baggage count they can fill both bins fully but they better be below the line! I'll keep doing these reports until the problem is solved. I know enough about cargo from my other job that if you get a fire; you don't want to eliminate the chance of putting it out because of some baggage handler that was lazy.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: EMB-175 First Officer reported that he routinely finds that baggage has been loaded above the fire line in the forward baggage compartment and must be redistributed to be in compliance. The baggage handlers always state that the baggage is below the line when asked but do not actually check.

Narrative: I've been making these reports for the loaders more often than usual lately. This was a typical day trip with a full load of passengers. When I received the cargo load report it said 53 Normal bags and 4 heavy. The Captain asked if it was all below the line and the person stated 'Yes' it was below the line. I have a personal limit of 45 bags; from personal experience; that I will go ensure it's all below the fire line (2' of clearance).I went down to the ramp and opened the closed forward cargo bin. When I opened the bin I could immediately see that the cargo was touching the top of the bin (therefore not 2'!). I asked the ramp person that provided me the cargo load report to come over and he did; I then asked if he verified that the cargo was in fact below the fire suppression line before telling us (the flight crew) that it was all below. He stated 'No' he did not check. I pointed out the first bag that was clearly touching the top of the bin and he went for the loader without hesitation. I took several pictures; some after we had already moved bags. We would move a group of bags and I would see that one's behind it also touched the top/protruded into the fire line. I had them correct the issue by putting the bags in the center of the compartment that was nearly empty. Usually this is the place the baggage handler sits; but should really be used for what it's for; cargo! We corrected the issue and pushed on time.This has got to stop! This new year I have already seen multiple issues. I've started to tell rampers that if there are more than 45 bags the rest need to go in the back so that I can stop going down for inspections when it's time to push. This has already worked 2 times. I feel like we need to create a procedure to where over 45 bags they have to put the remainder in the back. If they end up having some incredibly high baggage count they can fill both bins fully but they better be below the line! I'll keep doing these reports until the problem is solved. I know enough about cargo from my other job that if you get a fire; you don't want to eliminate the chance of putting it out because of some baggage handler that was lazy.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1415425
Time
Date	201701
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	SEA.Airport
State Reference	WA
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	EMB ERJ 170/175 ER/LR
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Parked
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Pilot Not Flying First Officer
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Total 2480 Flight Crew Type 780
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Deviation - Procedural FAR

Emb-175 first officer reported that he routinely finds that baggage has been loaded above the fire line in the forward baggage compartment and must be redistributed to be in compliance. The baggage handlers always state that the baggage is below the line when asked but do not actually check.