Dear Members,

Today, our industry is meeting with federal politicians for the national aviation conference, and we are also taking part. The main topics are overcoming the COVID crisis and the sustainable restructuring of aviation. For us, it is crucial that the interests of employees are not neglected.

We welcome the government support for the industry as well as the short-time working allowance. At the same time, we see major deficits when it comes to securing our jobs in the long term, especially at the airlines that are currently flying with government support. We will make the legitimate wish of all employees for secure jobs and fair working conditions heard!

To improve our communications with you beyond circulars, we are currently preparing the production of podcasts. This channel will enable us and other VC committees to inform you about individual topics in more detail than is practicable with a circular letter.

Arne von Schneidemesser
Vice President

Advanced Training & Non Aviation Jobs

For those of you interested in jobs besides or outside of aviation, there are some new offers in the Non Aviation Jobs section of our website (in German, login required). In addition, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University is hosting an informational webinar on its Air Transport / Aeronautics Dual Degree Program in cooperation with the University of Malta.

Reminder UPRT Requirements

As of 20 December 2019 UPRT content is mandatory for all modular and integrated CPL and MPL courses. Trainings started before this date must be completed before 20 December 2021 to avoid the need for this training content and the additional costs associated with it. The same applies to initial acquisition of class and type ratings.

In addition to the theory requirements for Advanced UPRT, the training includes flight instruction on an aircraft suitable for this training purpose with a UPRT instructor.

FSTDs used for UPRT training must meet the requirements of ED Decision 2018/006/R (CS-FSTD(A) - Issue 2)! These specifications can have a significant impact on costs and course design!

The specifications in detail can be found in the Commission's Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/1974 of 14 December 2018.

Information on the noble gas release in Taishan

There are reports in the media about a noble gas release at the Taishan nuclear power plant in China's Guandong province. Our Radiation Protection WG is monitoring the situation and has issued an initial assessment.

The bottom line for air traffic: According to current information, radioactive substances have only been released into the primary coolant, so the first safety barrier has been breached. However, the other safety barriers are still intact, so that a release is not to be feared according to current knowledge - despite any increase in primary coolant activity.

To the article: Information on the noble gas release in Taishan (in German)

Study on the DLR project "Next Generation Intelligent Cockpit" (NICo)

For us as an Airline Pilots' Association, it is important to present the human factor in its facets also in the context of scientific research. In particular, situations in which humans actively intervened in automated systems in order to avoid major incidents unfortunately did not always find sufficient space in aircraft accident investigations. We would therefore like to accompany the development of new systems. The role of flight crews in the safe execution of a flight should be part of the consideration of new developments.

The German Aerospace Centre DLR has launched a project called "Next Generation Intelligent Cockpit (NICo)". The aim is to develop the concept and architecture of a future, highly automated cockpit and to investigate it in several simulator studies in the cockpit simulator GECO (Generic Experimental Cockpit) and in the full motion simulator AVES (Air Vehicle Simulator). A first survey has been launched to determine how pilots assess future automation in the cockpit and on the ground, a possible use of artificial intelligence and different variants of single pilot operations in commercial aviation.

Detailed information on the research project can be found on the DLR website: https://www.dlr.de/fl/en/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-1149/1737_read-69821/

Participation in the study is possible at the following link: https://survey.pt-dlr.de/index.php?r=survey/index&sid=867628&lang=de (in German)

IFALPA supports VC/ECA survey "Pilots as a Resource for System Resilience"

The VC/ECA survey on Safety II (click here for more background information in the Skybrary), already presented in the last Waypoints, is now also promoted through IFALPA. This will hopefully increase the number of participants and thus improve results.

To the survey: "Pilots as a Resource for System Resilience"

OPS Group: Rejected Take Offs & V1

V1 is the end and not the beginning of the take off decision process - This is one of the key points of the OPS Group analysis on rejected take offs. Along with this, reasons for RTOs are explained as well as the problem of making a correct decision within very limited time with very limited information.

To the article: Go / No-Go: Why Are We Rejecting Above V1?

IFALPA Guidance: Implementation of the Future of Air Traffic Operations

IFALPA has published guidance material for its representatives and member associations under the title "IFALPA Future Air Traffic Operations (IFATO)". It highlights the current work program of the committees and identifies foreseeable future topics. The document is also intended to provide new committee members and representatives with an overview of the ongoing work, helping them to become familiar with their topics.

IFALPA Future Air Traffic Operations (IFATO)

News from Associations, Organisations and Regulators

ECA - FR4978 Belarus Incident

The incident in Belarus has implications for civil aviation that extend far beyond Belarus, ECA writes. When confidence in a state's aviation system is violated, safety is compromised: Mixing aviation with politics

SKYbrary - Intersection Take Offs

Intersection take offs are popular procedures to save time, but everyone knows they may also bear negative aspects. Skybrary has compiled these in an article which is also interesting for cockpit crews: Intersection Take Off: Guidance for Controllers

Airbus Safety First Magazine - Aircraft Technical Configuration

The new article in the Airbus Safety First Magazine draws attention to the most important aspects of technical configuration management, especially with regard to computers and software: Ensuring a Correct Aircraft Technical Configuration