Cargolux

After having joined the ALPL Cargolux Divisional Board in 2013 and served as the Secretary, I accepted to take over the position as President of the Cargolux Division on 16 April 2018.

In fact this was already discussed after the election of the current Board back in April 2017. However, being lined up for my command training, I asked George Karambilas to temporarily fill this position until successful completion of my upgrade to Captain.

George will remain a member of the Divisional Board and I want to sincerely thank him for his dedicated work, shared knowledge and experience. In addition, George will continue his work as President of the Cargolux Staff Delegation.

I am also pleased that Bernhard Novak, member of the Board since 2014, agreed to take up the role as the new Secretary of the Cargolux Division.

Together with the other members of the Board we will continue to represent your interests and tackle upcoming challenges supported by you – our members!

On behalf of your ALPL Board

Michael Kaiser
President Cargolux Divisional Board

By analyzing the feedback from our members during the last couple of months as well as through our own experience, we came to the conclusion, that the major problems regarding our CWA can be summarized in two areas:

• The lack of protection within the CWA against the inconsistent application of the EASA FTLs within our operation and
• Non-compliance of CWA rules by management.

Lack of protection
The responsibility for a safe flight operation has shifted dramatically towards the individual pilots, who find themselves more and more in a situation, where they are forced to choose between two serious decisions:

• Either asking for additional rest and therefore delaying the flight or
• Performing the FDP with an uncertain feeling of running into a fatigue issue at a later stage during the flight.

Furthermore, it has become a necessity for pilots to meticulously check their rosters for legality and CWA compliance when acknowledging a change in the PBS. The resulting request to crew control for legalizing the roster is frequently answered with the unsatisfactory appeasement that the roster will be changed again at a later stage.

The following points highlight the alarming development of the shift to a more unilateral responsibility of crew members:

1. Certain recommendations from the Air Safety Department not being implemented
2. Long double sector duties combined with minimum rest
3. Back-to-back misused as a standby system
4. Misinterpretation of the Time Zone Compensation table
5. Incorrect application of the Delayed Reporting Procedure
6. Legal limits used as planning targets

Non-Compliance
The board has identified several points where our current CWA is not respected:

1. Ignoring the Roster Publication limit in the daily operation
2. Rostering into CODs and VAC without even prior consulting the pilot
3. Not respecting the combined positioning after FDP limit of 16/18 hours
4. Excluding the hotel committee in the hotel selection process
5. Booking to position on economy class while business class is available

In one instance during the high season, one crew controller even openly admitted, that the CWA conditions cannot be granted for the time being. We wonder whether this has ever changed?

The ALPL Board together with the Delegation has tried hard to achieve an improvement of the current situation by formally writing about these grievances to management, the DAC as well as by starting court cases. Individual results should not obscure the fact that the existing CWA can hardly cope with the safety threats from the EASA FTLs and definitely not when being constantly disrespected by management.

We need a CWA which enhances safety by creating adequate buffer to the EASA FTL limits and to assure that the regulations will be respected at any time. In addition, we need enforcement of the current and future CWAs to protect us from ‘planned overtime’ imposing us to fly on Off and Vacation Days.

Now, the above mentioned is only a portion of required improvements, which have been identified by our CWA survey in 2017 for the upcoming negotiations.

One thing that is important and cannot be emphasized enough is the certainty that nothing is for granted!

The current positive market environment and potential record breaking results by the company must not hide the fact that negotiations will be tough and each and everyone of us has to be ready and willing to fight and participate to achieve a good outcome!

We ask you to be ready to remain united in the near future not only to uphold your rights but also to fight for improvements!

On 9 October 2017 the ALPL Divisional Board and the ALPL Flight Safety Committee communicated its full support of the implementation of Pilot Peer-to-Peer Support and Pilot Developments Programs at Cargolux. Both programs are to the benefit of our members and are the next pillars complementing ALPL’s emergency hotline and the support by our IFALPA accredited accident investigators.

In the recent communication from the Human Factors manager, Gunnar Steinhardt, the ALPL has been involved as a stakeholder to move forward on implementing the Pilot Peer-to-Peer Support Program (PSP) at Cargolux.

In this communication there is a two-step process to nominate your potential peers as part of the PSP:

• Firstly, every pilot has the opportunity to agree to be part of a list that every pilot at Cargolux will then use to nominate his/her choice of peers.

• Once this period has been provided, a further email will be sent with a link, where each pilot can cast their nominations.

We ask you to then please access the link in the email that will be provided by Gunnar to nominate your fellow colleagues who you trust to be peers. The aim is to find /provide a peer on the same eye-level (i.e. Captain to Captain and First Officer to First Officer) and if possible (as an optimum) to train peers at Cargolux, who could represent as many of the languages as possible.

ALPL’s first edition of Flightdeck, included some information about peer-to-peer support and critical incident stress management. As always we are available for you to get in touch with us at cvboard@alpl.lu or safety@alpl.lu in case you have any questions or concerns.

Please find below an update regarding:

• The need for honest reflection 
• Planned Overtime
• FFOD Agreement
• Delayed Reporting
• Pending Court Cases

The need for honest reflection

Since sending a reply to the CEO on 13 December 2017 two major items transpired. One being the tremendous amount of delays that occurred on 28-30 December due to a crew shortage. Nothing new there as we have conscientiously continued to highlight this to management for a long time.

The other item confirms the pilot shortage with the amount of overtime the pilots have produced. We highlight in more detail the consequence of this overtime as a topic of its own below.

This letter to the CEO highlighted concerns on safety. Through the Fatigue Safety Action Group (FSAG) objective (unbiased) data is demonstrating that the fatigue scores on Flight Duty Period (FDP) ‘hotspots’ are increasing rather than being mitigated.

While many departments are trying to rectify the shortage, with the recruiting and training departments working at their maximum to hire and train new pilots and upgrade our First Officers, the Crew Planning and Crew Control departments are having to “plead, borrow and steal” pilots within the system to accommodate the network changes and additional charters that are occurring on a daily basis.

At the same moment we see pilots resigning (6 in this year alone). Is this just the beginning of the flood gates opening up?

Continuous non-compliances and interpretations always benefiting the management leave us pilots irritated – to put it lightly. A letter has been sent to meet face to face again with the CEO to find concrete steps to reverse this behavior.

Planned Overtime

Once a year in January, Human Resources, sends a document to the Delegation President to review the overtime figures for the previous year. The data is divided between the two groups, Ground Staff and Pilots. After examining the data, the president of the delegation would either give a favorable or unfavorable opinion.

As the LCGB/ALPL head the delegation with George Karambilas being the president, the overtime data was placed on the agenda of the delegation meeting and discussed. This was the first time this was ever done at the delegation as previously none of us were even aware of this requirement. After requesting the data of the crew to be further divided to identify where the overtime was created it was clear that OFF/VAC days created the largest amount of overtime hours.

The delegation is also provided with all the rosters of the pilots and we also notice retroactively the enormous amount of changes in particular the difference between the planned and actual flown rosters and where OFF/VAC days have been used.

The labor law in Luxembourg provides protection from ‘planned’ overtime. We followed up this letter with a meeting with the Inspection du Travail et des Mines (ITM) to explain clearly the reasons for an unfavorable opinion. The ITM will draft its’ opinion and send this to the Labor Ministry who is also reviewing this document. As soon as we have something from the ministry we will pass it on.

FFOD Agreement

In a recent JCSC meeting the Immobilized Off Days Scheme or FFOD Procedure Agreement was again on the agenda.

Upper management in Cargolux still refuses to sign the agreement, while the JCSC members agreed that the FFOD procedure is the basis for Crew Planning Department to allocate the FFODs. The LCGB has sent a reminder to the CEO that this procedure needs to be signed by the unions which has also been ratified by the delegation.

Furthermore, the FFOD statistics from the first 10 roster periods in 2017 and the first roster 3 roster periods in 2018 were discussed. It was discovered that, although every pilot got their 5 x FFODs, the required minimum percentage of at least 49% in every roster period was undercut in roster period 10 for Captains and First Officers. The reason was a calculation error by Crew Planning Department in the first 9 roster periods, which was corrected in the 10^th period. The minimum 49% equally distributes the FFOD allocation of the 10 roster periods.

The correct calculation procedure was reviewed by the JCSC and the statistics for the first 3 roster periods in 2018 show at least already a positive trend with the correct distribution of FFODs amongst each group of pilots.

We will monitor the application of the FFOD procedure and address any deviation in the next JCSC meeting which is planned in June 2018.

If you have any questions or experience any inconsistencies with the allocation of your FFODs, do not hesitate to contact us at cvboard@alpl.lu for further clarification.

Delayed Reporting

We have received and still receive numerous concerns from you about the correct application of the automatic delayed reporting procedure, which was implemented on 08 January 2018.

So far, the procedure confirms a great variety of inconsistencies and lack of information, which could easily lead to safety critical outcomes like an incorrect calculation of maximum FDPs being operated.

A letter was sent to the CPO with the urgent request to improve the procedure to avoid any ambiguities and therefore enable the crew members and Crew Control to correctly calculate the maximum FDPs. A follow-up letter has been sent also to the DAC-L.

In the meantime, while we are waiting on this and other issues to be followed up by the authorities, we strongly recommend familiarizing yourself thoroughly with the correct application of the Delayed Reporting procedure. Please refer to the updated “Know your CWA 2017 – Part 8: Delayed Reporting”, which can be found under “Publications” on our ALPL website.

This is to ensure that, if the current system is not adequate, you can apply your own delayed reporting procedure in order to prevent being awake for extended time periods prior operating any FDP or exceeding the maximum allowable FDPs.

If you experience any flaws in the present automatic Delayed Reporting procedure, do not hesitate to inform us via cvboard@alpl.lu.

Pending Court Cases

Currently we have two court cases running. One being the case of Reserve Standby Days (RES), which were not credited with 8 duty hours as foreseen in our previous CWA Art. 39.5.1.2.

After numerous attempts to find a solution also involving the ITM (Inspection du Travail et des Mines) and based on legal advice by the LCGB’s lawyer, the LCGB decided to challenge the company’s interpretation in court. In 2014 and 2015 we asked every member to check the relevant documents and informed everybody that the only chance to receive compensation for RES days was via legal proceedings.

Some members who were affected decided to become part of the group and the lawsuit was finally launched in June 2016. After some hearings and written statements in 2017 we expect a ruling on this issue soon.

The second is the “Time Zone Compensation case” that has been filed against the DAC-L. The details and content of this lawsuit were communicated to you in several emails and Debrief videos during the course of 2016/2017. The first hearing in court is now scheduled for October 2018. We will of course continue to keep you updated.

We need your participation!

At this year’s LCGB-SEA General Assembly the Minister of Sustainable Development and Infrastructure François Bausch will speak about the current situation as well as the future development of the aviation sector and of Luxembourg Airport.

Due to the fact that Minister Bausch is representing in his political function the State of Luxembourg as a shareholder of Cargolux, it will be a unique opportunity for us pilots working for Cargolux to show unity and interest in the future aviation, especially in Luxembourg.

It will be therefore extremely valuable, if as many as possible of our pilot members would attend this meeting to personally address any issues you may have on the current situation of aviation in Luxembourg.

If you will be in or nearby Luxembourg on the 27 February we urge you to make the effort to attend and to represent us pilots and our interests.

The larger the group of Cargolux pilots participating in this meeting as an audience will be, the more impression it will leave with Minister Bausch.

Date:   Tuesday, 27 February 2018
Time:  18:30 local time onwards
Place:  IBIS Hotel, Luxembourg Airport,
rue Lou Hemmer
L-2632 Findel

The agenda of the general assembly is available here.

The LCGB kindly requests, that you send an email to skaufmann@lcgb.lu in case you plan to attend.

Please find below an update regarding:

• CWA Negotiations
• Delayed Reporting
• Fatigue Warnings
• Your Rights and Obligations as Employees in Luxembourg

CWA Negotiations

In our members update in September 2017 we provided a brief text on the upcoming negotiations. To refresh everyone’s memories, the main priorities of you, our members, wished to negotiate and in no particular order were, on removing the “B-scale”, roster stability, improving FTLs and salary increases.

These results provided us, the ALPL Board, a clear guidance what needs to be negotiated by the LCGB when the CWA expires in November 2018. As mentioned, a negotiating team has been formed and is now working on preparing all arguments. The first step has been completed and a draft list of claims has been prepared to reflect in detail the above but not limited principles.

The ALPL Board have met numerous times with the LCGB who is our negotiation partner in this process and we are now ready to request to negotiate as soon as possible.

The next step is to officially approach the company to negotiate. The start of negotiations in Luxembourg is regulated by the labour law and as such has to follow certain rules. It remains to be seen how management will react.

Please also understand that we will not disclose the list of claims until the day all parties agree to negotiate. All items are a priority and will be on the table.

We, the ALPL Board and the LCGB, will be asking you as members for your unity behind these claims and the negotiating team. We ask that members don’t take things for granted and by remaining united we will achieve the outcomes we are all aiming for.

A clear example of unity is the recent successes that the Ryanair Pilots Group together with their respective unions in being recognised by Ryanair management. In addition the unity was shown by all pilots in Europe via a ‘crowd funding’ pool collecting more than Euro 130,000 in a very short time.

Delayed Reporting – Away from Home Base

At the end of 2016 ALPL approached the DAC-L with the complaint that the delayed reporting away from home base procedure in the OM-A is not in line with EASA FTLs. In an audit the DAC-L revealed a finding of the incompatibility of the procedure with the EASA regulations and requested Cargolux to amend the procedure in the OM-A. Finally, after more than one year these amendments in the OM-A were done and a new automated AIMS delayed reporting procedure was implemented at the beginning of January 2018.

As this text for delayed reporting away from home base was changed and does not appear in the current CWA, we produced an amendment in our “Know your CWA 2017” series on our website. In addition an update on “Know your CWA 2017 – Delayed Reporting” was sent to you via email on 30 January 2018.

The implementation of the new AIMS delayed reporting procedure has already produced several reports by our members about wrong and inconsistent delay reports issued by AIMS. Since faulty delay reports could lead to potential fatigue issues, we encourage every crew member to become familiar with the delayed reporting procedure in order that it is applied correctly.

If you experience incorrect application of the delayed reporting procedure which will produce an extended wakefulness period prior to the new ETD, inform Crew Control, the local station and your fellow crew member/s of your new wake up time to ensure that you obtain additional rest so that you are adequately rested for your next duty or series of duties. When you have rested please ensure you submitted a proactive fatigue report through the iQSMS or LEAF apps.

Please refer to the updated  Know your CWA 2017 – Delayed Reporting, explaining the revised delayed reporting procedure as outlined in OM-A Chapter 7, Section 6.

If you have any questions do not hesitate to contact us at cvboard@alpl.lu for clarification.

Fatigue Warnings

The fatigue warnings that some of you have received as a pilot from Crew Control are based on a mathematical model. When the level of alertness falls below a predetermined score this triggers the fatigue warning. The mathematical model predicts amongst other items the length of your sleep you have had and then predicts your alertness levels. These actual alertness levels could be higher or lower which certainly depends on the individual.

In this context we would like to comment a statement made in the latest “Boxed Items” flight safety publication. The unknown author addresses concerns by pilots who received a fatigue warning by crew control and states that a crew-member who operates a flight in spite of a previous fatigue warning will not face any “punishable action in case an incident or accident occurs after crew control has warned of potential fatigue”. This statement is an indication of a misunderstanding of the dogmatizes of any legal liability and accountability procedure. Why?

In case of any incident or accident the pilot involved faces numerous potential consequences, ranging from potential company disciplinary action to civil liability litigation or even criminal charges. In all cases, the forum, the legal framework and the scope where these claims are pursued as well as the scope and nature of civil and criminal liability vary from case to case. While disciplinary action will be dealt with on a pure in-house basis and is governed by Luxembourg labour-law, civil litigation against a pilot will be usually brought forward at the place of residence of the individual involved. Additionally there are potential criminal charges which are dealt in accordance with the principle of territoriality.

Yet, all of these cases have in common that the burden of proof works for the defendant, meaning that any charges brought forward, need to be substantiated by solid evidence. However, if a pilot who previously for example ignored a fatigue warning, is involved in an accident the prima fecie evidence will suggest a potential liability of this pilot, effectively reversing the burden of proof to the detriment of the defendant. In this case, the pilot will have to prove that he or she, in light of the applicable standard of liability, did everything correctly. Given the nature of our work and the complexity of our operation, providing this proof might be close to impossible.

Therefore, we strongly suggest that, if you received a fatigue warning, apply a very high and professional standard determining your capability to safely operate any subsequent flight. Please remember that eventually you might face a situation where you have to justify your decisions. As we have indicated in the past, maintaining a sleep log will assist in making the professional decision and don’t forget to please file a proactive fatigue report when asking for additional rest. Please click here for additional guidance on how to write a proactive fatigue report.

Your Rights and Obligations as Employees in Luxembourg

As you are aware, together with our ground staff LCGB partners, we hold the majority of the delegation and the main positions of the delegation.

It was agreed that we would draft regular updates to all staff which will include you our ALPL members on various CWA and Labour Law issues. The first of many of these items will be on Sick Leave entitlement and Procedures. It will be sent by the Delegation President, George Karambilas.

In part 8 of our series “Know Your CWA 2017” we took a closer look at “Delayed Reporting”. In January 2018 Cargolux finally had to change the OM-A procedure for delayed reporting away from home base on request from DAC-L to be in line with the EASA FTLs. Please find below the text and explanation of the revised delayed reporting procedure as outlined in OM-A Chapter 7, Section 6.

FDP Rescheduling

• If in the period of 10 hours or more before the scheduled departure time, Cargolux informs the crew member of a delay, the delay counts as a rest period.
• A delay of 10 hours or more counts as a rest period.

Delayed reporting

If due to unforeseen circumstances, the report time has to be delayed, the following provisions apply based on the number of notifications issued by Cargolux to the crew member in the period between 10 and the latest possible notification time prior the scheduled departure.

The latest possible notification time is:

• At home base: 2,5 hours prior to the scheduled departure
• Away from home base: 3 hours respectively at the company provided wake-up call, whichever is earlier

To avoid interference with sleeping patterns a silent notification method should be used when possible.

Notification methods:

• Default: email
• Alternative method on Pilot’s request: SMS, phone call

Communications will be identified by the wording ‘delayed reporting’ and specify the updated reporting time.

Phone enquiries or information obtained otherwise by crew members are to be considered informal and do not qualify as delay notification.

The maximum FDP is calculated as follows:

With the implementation of EASA FTL every operator is obliged to establish a procedure to notify flight crews in case of a delay. The purpose of this procedure is to limit the total wakefulness prior commencing duties and to manage the starting time and/or length of a FDP due to such a delay. The delayed reporting procedure is only applicable for notifications between 10 hours and 2 ½ hours (at home base) respectively 3 hours (away from home base) before the scheduled departure time.

• If a delay notification is received 10 hours or more before the scheduled departure time, this notification does not qualify as “Delayed Reporting” as long as no further disturbances by Cargolux occur. In this case, the delay counts as rest period.
• If a delay notification is received less than 2 ½ hours before the scheduled departure time, the notification does not qualify as “Delayed Reporting” and the FDP starts at the original scheduled reporting time.
• If no delay notification is received, the FDP starts counting at the original scheduled reporting time.

Cargolux uses 2 notification methods. The default method is a notification by email. Alternatively, the pilot can also be notified by SMS or phone call if requested by the individual pilot. These two methods are the only official ones and any inquiries, e.g. by phone do not qualify as delay notification.

The delayed reporting table considers the number of notifications and the extent of the delay of the reporting time and can be summarized as follows.

• 1^st notification
  • Delay of reporting time less than 4 hours
    • The maximum FDP is based on the original reporting time.
    • The FDP starts counting at the new reporting time.
  • Delay of reporting time 4 hours or more
    • The maximum FDP is based on the more limiting reporting time, either the original reporting time or the new, delayed reporting time.
    • The FDP starts counting at the new, delayed reporting time.

• 2^nd notification
  • The maximum FDP is based on the calculation done for the 1^st notification as explained above.
  • The FDP now starts counting 1 hour after the second notification or at the first delayed reporting time, whichever is earlier.

Example A:

A Standard Flight Crew is scheduled to operate a flight departing LUX at 14:00 UTC. At 02:00 UTC on the same day the crew receives an email stating, that the flight is delayed by 4 hours and the new STD is 18:00 UTC. Since this email was sent more than 10 hours before the original STD, the notification does not qualify as Delayed Reporting. (Please be aware that the roster publication limit for a Standard Flight Crew of 11 hours in the CWA is now limited to 10:30 hours because of new departure time).

Example B:

3 hours before the STD of 18.00 UTC in example A, the crew receives an email mentioning “(Delayed) reporting times notification for flight : …“ with an amended STD of 19:30 UTC, a delay of 1:30 hours. According to the Delayed Reporting procedure, the maximum FDP is calculated based on the original scheduled reporting time of 16:50 UTC, but only starts counting at the new reporting time of 18:20 UTC.

Example C:

The story continues; The crew receives another email and SMS at 17:00 UTC. Crew control states that maintenance requires additional time for an unforeseen repair, causing another 1:30 hours delay and asks, if the pilots could consider it as unforeseen circumstances, waiving the need for a 2^nd delayed reporting notification. To follow such a request would be a violation of the OM-A and shall not be done!

Instead, a 2^nd delayed reporting notification must be sent, indicating the new departure time. The new departure time is 21:00 UTC. According to the Delayed Reporting procedure, the maximum FDP is based on the reporting time at 16:50 UTC but starts counting at 18:00 UTC, 1 hour after the 2^nd delayed reporting message, which is earlier than the original delayed reporting time of 18:20 UTC in example B. Because of this, the flight cannot be completed within the 11 hours FDP for a Standard Flight Crew.

Example D:

A pilot is scheduled for a flight departing LUX at 13:00 UTC. Reporting time is 11:50 UTC. He only receives a wake up call at 12:00 UTC because the flight is delayed to 14:10 UTC. Since he did not receive any “delayed reporting notification”, the FDP is calculated based on the scheduled reporting time of 11:50 UTC and also starts counting at 11:50 UTC.

If due to the Delayed Reporting procedure a flight duty cannot be completed within the maximum FDP, it is the obligation of the company to either delay the flight for crew rest or add an additional crew member to augment the crew.

Ultimately the intention of the regulation is to limit the total time of wakefulness prior to commencing duties. If you deem that you will be awake for a period of time prior to commencing a FDP which may impact or potentially impact your ability to perform safely your flight duties, inform crew control and dispatch if you will require additional rest and complete a proactive fatigue report.

Please follow this link to download your copy of the CWA for your perusal on the company provided iPad or any other computer for future reference.

If you have any questions do not hesitate to contact us at cvboard@alpl.lu for clarification.

All parts of this series can be found here in the Publications section under Cargolux Board.