Please find below an update on Rostering, CWA, Back to Back (B2B) rotations and the Vacation bidding process.
Rostering
Most of you certainly do experience the effects of the disruptive rostering which has not abated since the high season began in September 2016. With the imminent high season in 2017 approaching and still not having enough crews to cover the flights, the impact on fatigue will potentially cause additional delays due to the requirement for you as crew to have additional recovery time.
We ask you to assess every FDP in regards to fatigue and once again would like to remind you that every pilot suffering or potentially suffering from fatigue must file a Fatigue Report whether it is reactive or proactive.
Proactive fatigue reports should be written if you advise crew control that you need additional rest due to delays or changes in rotations that are disruptive that may potentially impact your next duty or series of duties. If you need guidance, please send an email to cvboard@alpl.lu.
If you do send a delay request to crewcontrol@cargolux.com, please copy in the station, which you are departing from; e.g. IAH, iahops@cargolux.com and opscrtl@cargolux.com (Dispatch) so they are able to coordinate.
Please use the iQSMS or the LEAF applications to submit reports, both are provided on your iPad. When entering the data be as accurate and as complete as possible. You can click here for additional guidance.
Furthermore it is according to OM-A Chapter 11, Section 2 mandatory to submit an ASR if the fatigue you experienced impacted or could have potentially impacted your ability to perform your flight duties safely.
CWA
You might also have recognized the launch of the second edition of our series “Know your CWA” in June. The intention of this series is to make you familiar with your CWA and to give you a better understanding of the most important articles in this document.
Knowing the content and limitations herein certainly will help you to be aware of your rights and obligations and also when checking your roster for compliance. After all, the CWA is one tool to protect your health and a guideline for you when duties or rest periods are scheduled in a questionable way. Use it!
Back to Back (B2B) Rotations
The recent email from the Chief Pilot’s Office on “Clarification on back to back rotations” has not clarified the situation. If the authority has confirmed that Cargolux Flight operations is compliant with the regulations, the minimum that we could expect is this information is made transparent.
Knowing that the DAC-L is the authority in Luxembourg that oversees the regulations, we can only assume that a letter or call to EASA has or has not been made, which ultimately delays the correct application of the B2B.
As the ALPL, our request for clarification has still not been answered. You can draw your own conclusions why this has not happened.
Please see attached our guidelines. If you have been confronted with B2B, which has not been planned in advance email us on cvboard@alpl.lu so we can provide you with further assistance.
Vacation Bidding
The vacation bidding was launched a little later than normal as all stakeholders were finalizing the documents. In general only minor changes in the two step bidding process were made such as increasing the first round to 25 days, you can bid as low as 3 vacation block days, and that each pilot can maintain 5 vacation days in a ‘pool’ if they wish for an indefinite period of time.
After the unilateral allocation of outstanding vacation days, which occurred in January this year, it became obvious that a procedure to reduce outstanding vacation days is necessary to handle it correctly.
There a some pilots who are owed vacation days and this will be reduced to a maximum of 5 days over the next 5 years. Again, only by mutual consent.
The deadline for the first round of the vacation bidding is on 01 September 2017.
