Originally Posted by
Sink r8
Thanks, George. I can't cut-and-paste it, but I was looking at the actual contract language.
Take a look at 23.S.5.a. What do you think it means?
Take a look at 23.S.5.g.2.b. I think that's the section which lets you acknowledge up to 3 hours prior to show.
Now, look just above, at 23.S.5.g.2.a, and again at 23.S.5.a, and tell me how they work together.
Does the company have the right, currently, to expect you to answer your phone anytime (which would be a big surprise to all of us)? Who chooses whether the assignment and acknowledgment take place electronically, or via phone?
When in doubt, I find the Transition Working Group 09-10.
Long Call
Crew Scheduling will attempt to notify (via a phone call) a long call pilot of a rotation, short call
period or rest period that has been placed on his schedule (see Required Schedule Checks below
for exceptions to this). The pilot must acknowledge this assignment:
• no later than three hours prior to scheduled report for a rotation,
• no later than one hour prior to scheduled start of a short call period, or
• no later than six hours after the start of a rest period. (See Section 23 S. 5.g. and 6.b.)
He can acknowledge the assignment via DBMS, a phone call to Crew Scheduling, or via VRU. If
a pilot acknowledges his assignment/award via DBMS or VRU, Crew Scheduling will not
contact the pilot by phone.
A duty free period (free of responsibility for contact) will begin 12 hours prior to report for a
rotation, and 10 hours prior to the start of a short call period.
As long as a pilot is contactable via at least one of the numbers listed in DBMS, then he will not
have to check his schedule during routine long call days. As long as Crew Scheduling has not
called one of those numbers, his 12-hour leash is always pushing out in front of the current time.
If a long call pilot desires to be out of contact entirely for periods of time (sleeping without
interruption, golfing without a cell phone, etc.), then he must check his schedule (or messages) at
least every nine hours. This ensures that he can acknowledge no later than three hours prior to
any rotation, one hour prior to start of a short call or six hours after the start of a rest period that
might have been assigned while he was out of contact.