In general, a pilot must only be reachable during Standby (SBY) and Reserve (RES) as defined in CWA Art. 36.8 and 36.9 respectively.
In addition, CWA Art. 36.19.1 Changes to Rosters, which requires the pilot to check his/her roster for changes during certain times and OM-A, Chapter 1, Section 4 and 5, which specifically mentions that a crew member shall inform him/herself of his/her next duty assignment with Crew Control when returning to home base, must be respected.
During all other times a pilot is not required to be reachable. It is solely up to the pilot to decide whether he/she answers a phone call, checks his/her company provided email account or AIMS, eCrew, any voice mailbox for messages or if SMS text messages have been received.
Let´s start with scheduling rules for Standby;
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36.8.3. Scheduling of Standby If not otherwise requested or agreed by the Pilot, the following rules apply for rostering Standby.
36.8.3.1. Scheduling of Standby at Home Base a) A block of Standby at Home Base will not exceed 4 consecutive days.
b) A block of Standby at Home Base will not be allocated more than once within 3 consecutive Roster Periods.
c) A Pilot cannot be rostered for more than 1 block of Standby at Home Base within a Roster Period.
d) If a Pilot’s Roster is amended after the Initial Roster has been published, a block of consecutive assigned Duties may be replaced by Standby as follows:
1. If a Duty Period is cancelled after the Reporting Time for the Rotation that this Duty Period is a part of, the remaining days of this Rotation may be replaced by Standby as follows:
i. The number of Standby at Home Base will not exceed 4 consecutive days. ii. These Standby days will not be subject to the restrictions mentioned in b)and c)above.
2. If a Pilot returns from sick leave, Standby may be rostered as follows:
i. Only on the days immediately following the Pilot’s return from sick leave Standby may be rostered. ii. The number of Standby at Home Base will not exceed 4 consecutive days. iii. These Standby days will not be subject to the restrictions mentioned in b)and c)above.
36.8.3.2. Scheduling of Standby away from Home Base a) A block of Standby away from Home Base must be planned as part of a Rotation.
b) After a Pilot has left Home Base, a Rotation cannot be amended to include a block of Standby.
c) A Block of Standby away from Home Base will not be allocated more than once within 3 consecutive Roster Periods.
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Let’s have a look at the definitions first:
Standby is defined in Part III of the CWA as “Means a pre-notified and defined period of time during which a Pilot is required by the Company to be available to receive an assignment for a Duty without an intervening Rest Period, as follows:
(a) “Airport Standby” means a Standby performed at the
airport or any other location defined by the Company with the exception of Standby away from Home Base
(b) “Other Standby” means a Standby either at home or in a Suitable Accommodation.
Initial Roster is defined in CWA Part III as “The Roster as initially published by Crew Planning at least 14 days prior to the first day of a Roster Period in accordance with Article 36.2 of this CWA.”
A Rotation is defined in CWA Part III as “ Is a Duty or a series of Duties, normally including at least one flight duty, and Rest Periods out of Home Base, starting at Home Base and ending when returning to Home Base for a Rest Period where the Company is no longer responsible for the accommodation of the Pilot.”
In general, the rules for scheduling Standby are very strict, but the CWA also contains two exemptions concerning the scheduling of Standby in cases when a duty period is cancelled after the Initial Roster has been published.
The limitations for scheduling Standby at Home Base can be summarized as follows:
a) At Home Base, the maximum number of Standby days in one block is 4
b) At Home Base, the pilot can only be rostered for 1 block of Standby within 3 consecutive Roster Periods
c) At Home Base, the pilot can only be rostered for 1 block of Standby within 1 Roster Period
d) At Home Base, if a Duty Period is cancelled after the pilot has reported for that Duty Period which is part of a Rotation, the remaining days of that Rotation can be rescheduled with Standby as follows:
o Maximum 4 consecutive days of Standby
o These Standby days are not subject to the limitations as mentioned above under letter b) and c)
e) At Home Base, if a pilot returns from sick leave, he/she can be scheduled for Standby as follows:
o Maximum 4 consecutive days of Standby
o Only the days immediately following the return from sick leave may be scheduled as Standby
o These Standby days are not subject to the limitations as mentioned above under letter b) and c)
Note: After the Initial Roster has been published, Standby can only be scheduled according to the two provisions mentioned under d) and e) above. In all other cases, a Duty cannot be replaced by Standby.
The limitations for scheduling Standby away from Home Base can be summarized as follows:
a) Standby away from Home Base must be scheduled as part of a Rotation before the pilot leaves Home Base
b) Once a pilot is on a Rotation, this Rotation cannot be changed to include Standby away from Home Base
c) The pilot can only be rostered for 1 block of Standby away from Home Base within 3 consecutive Roster Periods
Please refer to the previously distributed issue of this series “Standby and Reserve” for more details and restrictions in regard to Standby (SBY) and Reserve (RES) duties.
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36.19.1 Changes to Rosters Pilots shall inform themselves of their Duty assignments between 18 and 12 hours prior to the ending of unassigned time, Off-Days, sickness or Vacation Period and acknowledge the assignment to Crew Control.
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According to this article each pilot is obliged to check the roster once between 06.00h and 12.00h local time in Luxembourg for any changes to his roster during following times:
· On the last Blank Day (unassigned time), or
· On the last Off-Day, or
· On the last Vacation Day, or
· On the last Sick Day.
During all other times, e.g. Rest (which is assigned as indicated on the roster), the pilot has no obligation to check the roster for any changes.
New:
Roster amendments
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Amendments to Rosters are published and notified in a way not to negatively affect the opportunity for Pilots to plan adequate rest. Amendments to FDPs within the time period of 18 hours or less of the (re)scheduled departure time are subject to the following restrictions:
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This new article is a copy from the OM-A. The intention was to have it also published in the CWA, as it contains important restrictions that must not be ignored.
Whereas changes up to 18 hours before a scheduled FDP don’t require any consent from the pilot, any amendment thereafter is subject to prior consent, depending on in which time period the amendment happens.
It is important to note that especially after Reporting Time no changes are allowed except:
· Change of destination airport with a planned FDP increase of less than 1 hour;
· Crew augmentation for the previously planned FDP; or
· Necessary changes due to the diversion of the inbound aircraft.
Important: In case of a crew augmentation, no pilot who started his duty as positioning crew on the same sector may become part of the operating crew. This is a restriction as per CWA 36.6.4.1 and OM-A 7.7.
