And to add to the add, if I understand things correctly, let's say you've got 1000 SC. The night prior they put a 1005 rotation report on your schedule. If you pre-acknowledge the assignment then you are expected to make the 1005 report, whereas if you don't acknowledge you just wait for the call at 1000 and then have the promptly available time to make report. Is that right?

 

Eh… this one I have no idea… I’m inclined to say “no” because of the following:

Short call start 1000. Assigned and acknowledged a rotation with an 1400 report. If you decide to commute in for the 1400 report, you might be very unhappy when you find out the rotation was removed and replaced with one reporting at 1005 that you’re now no showing.

IE you’re still responsible for the SC RAP prior to report as you don’t own the rotation and they could remove it.

Safe bet would be to report at 1005.

 

Right, this is more about pre-acknowledging a rotation that reports less than 2 hours into the SC period. Obviously if scheduling changes it to a later rotation report time that's not a big deal since you're still on SC and responsible for any assignment. I just thought I'd heard stories where the night prior you pre-acknowledge the 1005 report (removing the requirement for scheudling to contact you at 1000) and then getting in trouble for not reporting till and hour or more past report time.

 

I am not aware of any pilots being disciplined in your scenario. With a few more minutes of thought about it though I would buy that pilots could be coded CPR for ack’ing that early but not reporting on time.

edit: mot to not

 

This is exactly why I use NC and deleted Micrew. Call me when I'm contactable and I will be promptly available in about 2ish hours. You can not be assigned a trip reporting in the first 2 hours.

 

Yeah I'd say its more of a potential scenario that should just make people that much more aware of the downsides of self-ackowledging assignemnts early. The end result may not be discipline but I can definitely see the potential for scheduling to throw a hissy fit.

 

What about §23.S.9.b.2)?
If I'm departing for that hypothetical 1400 assignment, I'm no longer contactable. The risk involved is that the hypothetical 1005 report gets assigned before I depart, but after I would've had to have left for 1005--but, of course, that close in to my earliest contact time, I'm not worried about that (as Tennis alluded). What we really need is a SC version of §23.S.5.e. (non-contactable during ___ hours prior to scheduled report; I'd suggest 10 as a minimum starting point, aligned with 117 rest). If the company doesn't want SC to be non-contactable, they need merely refrain from pre-posting SC assignments....

 

If the rotation is not ion your line any more, that sentence cannot apply.

Let me keep it simple for you. Don’t play stupid games trying to over-interpret the PWA.

Commute in for the start of your short call even if you know the assignment reports 4 hours in, because they can remove the assignment and you’re still responsible for your entire short call window from the start.

The scenario is not “I began my short call and received contact for a assignment that I didn’t know about”

The scenario is “I was assigned short call, and at some point prior to the short call window starting, I received a short call rotation.”

23.S.9.b.: A short call pilot: must be promptly available for contact by Crew Scheduling during their short call period until the earlier of:
1) the end of the short call period, or
2) their departure to report for an awarded/assigned rotation.

If you’re assigned the short call rotation prior to the window starting, you haven’t met the language (yet). If you’ve ack’d the rotation and you make it to 10 AM… how do you know the rotation is still there?

Also, you’d blow up the whole trip coverage ladder if you did what you propose (“not pre-post short call assignments”). The problem is that pilots are hell bent on looking at their schedules. Let 23.M.6. and 23.N. or O. do the job. When you’re within 18 hours of your SC start time, just de-couple since you’re released from duty.

 

I couldn't find a PWA reference, but SRH pg 84 says "A pilot on short call is required to be within the general area of his base and promptly available for contact by Crew Scheduling and must be able to promptly report for an awarded/assigned rotation. "

2-hour NC notwithstanding, when your SC begins you should already be in the "general area" of your base. Your scenario suggests that you're "departing" from another city to commute in for that hypothetical 1400 assignment during the SC period. I wouldn't recommend doing that other than using 2-hour NC.

 

That's functionally the original basis (as far a I know) for the 2 hour non-contactable. Yes right now we've turned it into more of a game even for locals, but I think the original intent was for a pilot to be on a flight that got in after the start of SC, but less than 2 hours in. Since that pilot is obviously at the airport when their flight arrives they can be made to report "immediately" as early as 2 hours after the start of LC. So there is at least some understanding that pilots could be in the process of commuting to their base but not be in the general area right at the start of SC. In their air we can't receive phone calls hence the non-contactability and the requirement to check your schedule when you land to see if scheduling assigned anything while you were out of contact. I've never seen this explicitly explained, but rather it is the logical conclusion to why the entire non-contact provision is in the PWA in the first place.

I don't think anyone is advising a pilot who, well prior to the start of SC, has a rotation reporting several hours into the SC, to only commute in late for that report. Theoretically the latest a pilot's commute flight should be getting in is 2 hours after the start of SC, at which point they can immediately report for such assignment.