Sunstate Pilot Council - Minutes November 2024
On Friday 22 November 2024 the Sunstate Pilot Council Committee met at the AFAP Brisbane Office. The new Sunstate Pilot Council Committee is:
Jarrod Blaker (Chair and Rostering)
Anthony Berko (Vice-Chair)
Richard Copland (Acting Secretary, Meals and Welfare)
Louise Pole (Meals & Annual Leave)
Dan Lyons (Rostering)
Bianca Salim (Rostering)
Russell Thompson
Rod Millroy
Russell Thompson was an apology and Chris Aikens from the AFAP was also present at the meeting. After lunch Jonathan Ioannou and Alana Wark joined the meeting to provide responses to our various suggestions and questions.
The Council thanked Louise Pole for her many years of service as President of the AFAP which had formally ended at the conclusion of the last AFAP Annual Convention. It was noted that Louise will continue to represent Australian piloting interests as the Regional VP of IFALPA, Asia & Pacific Region.
Rostering
Sign-On Times
Ongoing confusion was discussed regarding the various sign-on times associated with clause 5.28 of the current EA, which was being exacerbated by the high levels of paxing, particularly where pilots were meeting to operate from separate bases. It was also noted that the previous table had been removed from the OM.
The Council provided the company with a table detailing all the expected sign-on times. The company is currently reviewing the table to see if it accords with their understanding. The Council also confirmed that if either the operations were running late or that the appropriate timeframes were not provided it was incumbent of the operating crew to delay the service to ensure appropriate pre-flight preparations took place.
FRMS
The Sunstate Pilot Council would like to show our continued support of the FRMS and thank everyone for identifying fatigue hazards and reporting them through the Intelex system. We believe that the implementation of the FRMS has been a positive step forward for our industry.
We would also like to encourage everyone to complete Crew Alertness Reports. Crew Alertness Reports generate a lot of meaningful data, that long term will be able to show which factors are contributing to higher fatigue levels within our working environment on a daily basis. i.e. specific ports/routes or seasonal weather etc.
We acknowledge that completing these reports does come with an additional workload, however, the data captured within these reports will allow continued improvements within the FRMS. Any sectors that you can complete a Crew Alertness Report, will be appreciated and a valuable contribution.
Late Finish/Early Starts Around Days Off
There was discussion and agreement that further work to monitor and minimise these occurrences should be undertaken by the roster checkers prior to the next roster publish. The inability for the company to maintain adherence to the EA side letter relating to buffer around days off was causing the Council significant concern and the levels of these events occurring was still too high. The company was advised that it was imperative that these instances of failing to adhere to the side letter be bought down as much as possible. It was noted that the Jeppesen trials had been effective at reducing the instances of this occurring (see below)
Roster Stability (Post Roster Publish)
There was an extensive discussion with the company representatives regarding ongoing problems with the ROC swapping trips post roster publish. The Council were clear that neither the ROC or pilots should swap wholesale trip duties post roster publish, if it would remove another crew member from their rostered duty. It was clear that where a multi-day roster gap needed filling it should be done on a day by day basis to minimise the potential for flow-on roster disruption.
The rules for roster stability are detailed in clause 36.21 “Alterations to Rosters” of the EA. The rules spell out the need to endeavour that every pilots keep their rostered duty (36.21.4) and that pilots are only displaced from their rostered duty due to ‘disruptions to service, checking and training, when a flight is cancelled or the pilot has insufficient hours to complete a flight’ (36.21.2). The company agreed with the position of the Council and they would continue to liaise with the ROC to ensure that neither the ROC or pilots requesting wholesale trip swaps should occur post roster publish.
Jeppessen Rostering
Anthony Berko provided a detailed update to the Council regarding further work was being done on the automated Jeppessen Rostering process that was designed to improve the quality of rosters.
Currently the manually built rosters were simultaneously being compared to rosters provided via Jeppessen for the same period. While initial results were promising the Council agreed that further comparative work needed to be done to ensure any new system delivered better results than those currently enjoyed through the manual process. Further comparative reviews would be provided at the next Council.
30 Minute Sign-On from Out Port
It was noted that the recent introduction of 30 minute sign-on for Gladstone (pre 0640) were not compliant with the EA due to ground crew apparently not being trained and not providing the necessary pre-departure supports detailed within the EA. It should be noted that the relevant clause states:
36.19 Sign On
36.19.1 The Company may roster a reduced sign on time from an overnight at an outport down to a minimum of 30 minutes prior to scheduled departure where the scheduled departure time is at or before 0640.
36.19.2 To facilitate a reduced sign on time, the Company/Ground staff will normally and as part of standard procedures provide the following 30 minutes prior to the scheduled departure:
(a) removal of the prop ties, pitot covers, pins, locks, and bungs;
(b) position the battery cart/ground power unit at the aircraft prior to the arrival of the crew;
(c) position steps / ladders at the aircraft engine intake;
(d) open the aircraft, tidy the aircraft cabin, arrange seat belts and remove rubbish.
If crew encounter such sign-on times and the necessary support is not provided then this should be reported to the ROC with the necessary sign-on time to be amended. Also please provide an update with information to a Council member. The company reported that ongoing training was apparently being undertaken within Gladstone.
Townsville Crew Swaps
The recently encountered problems of having to unload passengers to facilitate crew swaps should now have stopped as of R13. If members experience such events please advise the company and the Council Reps as soon as possible.
Establishment Numbers For EA Compliance
The Council reminded the company that as part of the EA compliance they would now continue to expect that at each forthcoming Council meeting (which meets quarterly) actual establishment numbers required to achieve 10 days off per roster would be supplied.
While it was accepted that such data would fluctuate as establishment numbers would be based on scheduling which was variable, it was pointed out that over time the ‘snapshot’ figures would be able to provide a trend as to how establishment numbers were tracking. It was also discussed that proper predictions of establishment numbers also had to factor in enabling pilots to access ad hoc leave, which was currently virtually non-existent.
Fleet Transition
The was a discussion around the fleet transition and access to by-pass pay in accordance with the EA. The Council confirmed their understanding that by-pass pay was only applicable in accordance with clause 58.13 of the EA after a period of four months elapsed (58.12). After 4 months had elapsed access to by-pass pay would then occur on a pilot by pilot basis as the clause states ‘the more senior pilot shall receive by-pass pay from the date the more junior pilot is cleared to line’.
Part Time & Annual Leave
Further to previous discussions in the Council regarding the ongoing confusion surrounding the AL processes for those pilots working part-time, it was confirmed that an AAB with explanatory information was due for release. It was discussed that it was important for all pilots impacted to read the information and approach their manager should further information or clarity be sought.
It was also confirmed that the AL leave bid window would be open from 1st December until 28th February 2025.
Meals & Accommodation
Cooma & Wagga meals - The ongoing issues with the correct number of meals being loaded at Cooma and Wagga, with often only one, rather than two meals, was still continuing. The Council reminds members that if faced with this problem then a pilot was entitled to advise the ROC that the meal had not been loaded and that a full meal break was being taken to ensure sustenance was being taken. The company also confirmed that should meals not be loaded then claims should be submitted through the normal process.
Feedback regarding the new BNE meals had generally been positive, although a few teething problems were being experienced and reported. It was discussed that should problems be encountered that a report should be submitted, including a photo to both the company the meals rep Louise Pole.
It was reported to the company that alternative potential accommodation for Townsville should continue to be sought due to the ongoing problems with the current hotel. In addition it was confirmed to the company that as an overflow hotel in Cairns the Doubletree could not be used as it was not an approved hotel.
Unscheduled Overnights – Discussions regarding a recent event where an unscheduled overnight had resulted in issues finding accommodation, it was confirmed by the company that the ROC had the ability to liaise with crew to establish appropriate accommodation should the API system fail to find such accommodation.
Flight Pulse App
The Council discussed the ongoing necessity to ensure that the Flightpulse App was fully compliant and referred to within the FOQA Deed. To ensure such ongoing compliance and with Rod Millroy being originally involved in the FOQA deed construction it was reported that Sam Drummond (as manager overseeing the deed for the company) would be approached to jointly discuss any proposed changes to the FOQA deed.
Flight Deck Cleanliness
Further to discussions at the last Council it was reported back that this matter had been upgraded within the company’s health and safety group. The company noted that extensive work had previously been by Tim Ash in this sphere and the data that had been collated at that time could be provided to the H&S committee. The Council advised the company that they understood for example that seat covers in the flight deck were only changed at every C Check, and that this was completely unacceptable (nothing that C checks occurred usually every 6 months).
If you have any questions regarding a Sunstate matter please contact a Sunstate Council Committee member or AFAP staff members Chris Aikens on
chris@afap.org.au or Simon Lutton on
simon@afap.org.au or (03) 9299 5737. The AFAP Member Assistance Program (MAP) can be contacted via Freecall 1300 307 912.
Regards,
Jarrod Blaker, Anthony Berko, Russell Thompson, Richard Copland, Dan Lyons, Louise Pole, Bianca Salim and Rod Millroy
Sunstate Pilot Council Committee