Dear Members,

In this crisis, VC has approached employers with numerous offers to make deep and painful cuts. This is not the only way we have demonstrated a great sense of responsibility. A sense of responsibility that we unfortunately miss in some employers as well as in parts of politics.

For example, the EU is continuing to work on a draft for future air traffic agreements with the intention to open our common market even further for third countries. This is a highly dangerous development, especially in view of the fact that these countries often subsidize their airlines not only during crises but also on a long-term basis in order to gain market shares through unfair practices and dumping prices. As a result, European airlines often benefit much less from such agreements compared their competitors from third countries.

Since this puts our employers in Europe under completely unnecessary and uncompetitive pressure, we reject further air transport agreements at least until the end of the Covid crisis. They would diametrically oppose our efforts to secure fair and equitable pay and working conditions in the European skies.

It is time for the EU Commission to summon up the courage and political will to finally put the interests of the EU, including its own companies with their employees, at the top of its priorities. This can only be achieved through strict regulations on fair competition and social and environmental standards. In addition, mutual traffic rights already granted should be limited where necessary.

You can also find more current news on our new VC Info website vcinfo.vcockpit.de (German) and on our social media channels on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.

Enjoy the read!

VC sets up competence network

We want to make the VC more powerful and assertive. We would therefore like to gather competencies and skills of the members in order to be able to use these specifically for our purposes in the new competence network. Farid Merdaci explains the project in two parts in the Waypoints.

Step 1 - What is it about?

People usually achieve more when they work together than alone. Granted, a truism! But for an organization like VC, well-structured networking is a value in itself, especially in times of upheaval. Our professional association does not live and work primarily through our membership fees, these only build the basis. Rather, it is the cooperation of many participants with the most diverse qualifications and skills that creates our true strength. Networking, self-organisation and information management are of central importance.

For this reason, the new network is intended to gather the competencies of as many VC members as possible in order to structure them and then use them in a targeted manner. This is not about obligations in the sense of an "association mandate", but rather about developing a network for the benefit of the VC and all its members.

It makes no difference whether colleagues have graduated in law, hold a position in the local council or are checkers/TRI's. Politics can be made more aware of the concerns of our industry. Unemployed colleagues can come together with checkers and aeromedical examiners to renew licenses or medicals. Fiscal experts can support the association and colleagues if the appropriate skills are available.

This potential must be tapped! In the next waypoints, you can read what the first practical steps will be and which few simple rules we will need.

VC Debrief with your questions and feedback

Next week - next VC Debrief! Thursday evening (10 Dec.) from 6:00 p.m. VC Advisory Board Chair Carolin Bach and VC President Markus Wahl will answer your questions and respond to your feedback. We will send the email address for questions and comments as well as the link to watch VC Debrief to all members early next week.

We are looking forward to your questions and your feedback!

Survey on experiences with employment agencies

The VC is currently holding talks with the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (BMAS) on funding opportunities, e.g. from the European Social Fund. In this context, we have also warned of the unequal and sometimes incorrect treatment of pilots by the employment agencies.

In order to provide the Ministry with a comprehensive and accurate picture of the situation, our Task Force Profession is conducting an anonymous survey on the topic of "Pilot Experiences with Employment Agencies". If you or a friend of yours has experience with employment agencies that you would like to share with us, please click here to access the survey.

The feedback will be used to advocate fair, standardized and competent treatment in the respective job centers, which takes into account the competencies of professional pilots. We look forward to your input.

EU aviation plans for a sustainable future after the COVID 19 crisis in Round Table Report

ECA – together with 23 aviation & travel stakeholder associations – recently handed over an urgent call for action to EU Commission Vice-President Vestager and EU Transport Commissioner Vălean, in form of a joint stakeholder Declaration and a detailed report.

A joint commitment to work with policy makers to achieve zero CO2 emissions by 2050 was announced. This is part of a comprehensive joint analysis to identify ways to make aviation recover from the COVID 19 crisis in a sustainable and more resilient manner, while supporting the goals of the EU Green Deal.

In order to further reduce the ecological footprint of air transport and achieve decarbonization, the EU Pact for Sustainable Aviation calls for, among other things:

• An EU legal framework to promote the introduction, production and use of sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs);
• Funding and investments to enable the acceleration of low-carbon aircraft innovations, such as electric and hydrogen aircraft;
• An incentive system for fleet renewal, coupled with decommissioning;
• Increased public co-financing rates for research and innovation in civil aviation (Clean Aviation and SESAR) through EU recovery mechanisms
• The revision of the Single European Sky (SES) and the continuation of the EU Emissions Trading System / CORSIA.

The industry cannot simply wait for normal operations to resume. Supporting policies are needed to ensure that air transport can continue to be one of the main drivers of the global economy. For further information, please refer to the ECA press release.

Eurocontrol Just Culture Manifesto

Eurocontrol has released a "Just Culture Manifesto" in its Skybrary. According to the Manifesto, five commitments are key to ensure Just Culture can work:

• Ensure freedom to work, speak up and report without fear.
• Support people involved in incidents or accidents.
• Don’t accept unacceptable behaviour.
• Take a systems perspective.
• Design systems that make it easy to do the right things.

Eurocontrol invites all who support the principles in this Manifesto to sign and thus help make Just Culture a reality in all countries, industries, and occupations.

Free Webinar: "Personality traits that predict behavior in pilots"

Embry Riddle Aeronautical University is offering a free webinar "Personality traits that predict behavior in pilots". The one-hour event on psychometric profiling will be held on December 9 (Wednesday) from 6 to 7 pm German time. It will provide an overview of the topic and show how psychometric tools can be used in pilot selection based on practical examples.

TCAS needs your help

TCAS RAs are an issue that unfortunately still needs our attention. IFALPA and IFATCA have now published the short and concise handbook "TCAS needs your help!". It contains recommendations for pilots and air traffic controllers in the event that a TCAS RA is triggered.