Any "Latest & Greatest" about Delta?
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Apr 2009
Posts: 1,576
Where are the AE results
You are trying to tie 117 into the contract. The don't tie together in any way. Because 117 considers a schedule check duty has zero bearing on the contract unless that ckeck was during a 117 required rest period. It's not. We had much the same confusion when the Whitlow ruling came out regarding reserve rest.
In the past our PWA was constructed so that it was more restrictive or equivalent to the FAR's. You followed the PWA, you by default followed the FAR's. Now the regs have changed, but our contract has not. If you follow the contract, in some cases you may be violating the FAR's. And some parts of our PWA may "trigger" part of the new regs. There are several ways a pilot could be put in a compromising position due to grey areas in our contract that was not constructed with 117 in mind.
Delta and its pilots are at relative peace at this time and I would hope the FAA is flexible enough to know that there will be some innocent mis-interpertations of the rules. This may or may not last. We are still in a learning period with the new rules and while no pilot would knowingly violate a reg, it is a very big grey area if and what is written in the PWA constitutes a requirement vs voluntary event. The obvious general position of scheduling will be that you are OK to fly, and will use the advantageous parts of the PWA to justify it (perhaps even using it with threats of disciplinary action if this peace does not last). Does every scheduler and every pilot know FAR 117 well enough do determine if each assignment is legal? Of course not, and not necessarily because of lack of knowledge, but because it is new and it is impossible to predict every situation.
The PWA is a two way street. It not only lists what the company is required to do for me, but also what I am required to do for the company. My job as a Delta pilot is to follow both the FAR's and the PWA. You can bet if I am not holding up my end of the PWA (in any section) Delta will want to talk to me to find out why. An example is the long call acknowledgement issue. I am willing to bet if I acknowledge every long call trip 3:01 prior (permitted under the PWA) and force the company to pull the trip from my sked (to comply with 117), not only will the company PD the days (per the SD memo), but after this happens a few times they will want a Chief Pilot to have a talk with me. We are pretty sure a grievance would turn out good in that situation, but no outcome is guaranteed.
Sorry I didn't intend to get this involved with this, but the quick and dirty is that the PWA lists what I am required do for my paycheck. The new FAR's put a new emphasis on some of these requirements. The areas where these do not agree is going to make someone (myself, the FAA or the company) not happy. Hopefully DALPA and Delta can come to an agreement on these issues soon so everyone can be on the same page again.
They are doing 10:00am short calls on your first day as well. How does that work? I guess if you check your schedule at 3pm and acknowledge it, it's no problem. But if you check your schedule at 2am, that isn't legal (is it?)
I wonder if they throw 10am on there, then whoever doesn't acknowledge they move to noon.
I wonder if they throw 10am on there, then whoever doesn't acknowledge they move to noon.
That is what they have been doing. I've had one 10AM and by 9PM the night prior they moved it to noon. If they don't, then when you ack the 10AM and 0200 you are now illegal to start that SC so they have to remove it. I haven't seen them do this since early on in January though. They have been good at sticking to the noon SC assignments lately.
I also remember clearly reading in that FAQ that they can't require a schedule check on your off day. Did Delta and ALPA not get that memo? It is still in the scheduling reference handbook that we must check it. Isn't this a case where the FAR is more restrictive?
You are trying to tie 117 into the contract. The don't tie together in any way. Because 117 considers a schedule check duty has zero bearing on the contract unless that ckeck was during a 117 required rest period. It's not. We had much the same confusion when the Whitlow ruling came out regarding reserve rest.
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Apr 2009
Posts: 1,576
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Dec 2007
Posts: 302
Isn't that where the whole nothing before noon thing comes in to play?
Some monday after daylight savings humor:
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