The work of the professional association VC is distinguished by the wide range of activities of its members in expert and other committees, which form a solid basis for the Industrial Affairs.

The regulations for the definition of working hours, flight duty times and off-duty periods for the crew members are a part of this basis. These laws, ordinances, regulations and guidelines are to ensure that a flight can be safely executed under the aspect of the mental and physical stress of the crew – the basic principles are derived from a safety regulation, in the past years also increasingly from a social regulation (European harmonisation).

The FTL Committee divides its work into two main topics:

1. The monitoring of the effective and the associated development of new regulations regarding flight duty time and off-duty period regulations

• Supporting the members in handling FTL problems
• Assistance with requests
• Review of duty assignments
• Computer programme for the analysis of duty assignments
• Supporting the board of directors regarding subject-specific questions
• Expert discussions with the supervisory authorities in Germany and Europe
• Expert discussions with the law-making ministry  
• New developments based on changing stress or duty assignment scenarios for economic or technical reasons

2. Basic principles and effects in the current subject area fatigue risk – alertness management

• Evaluation of new scientific findings
• European harmonisation in working hours regulation and social regulation
• Seminars/training courses for alertness management in collaboration with the Deutsche Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (National Aeronautics and Space Research Centre of the Federal Republic of Germany)
• Supporting VC’s work in the areas of Industrial and Technical Affairs on this topic

This committee is engaged in:

• the development of a harmonised European legislation for the regulation of flight duty and off-duty periods taking scientific findings into account and without losing sight of economic requirements.
• Implementation of the EU-OPS, in particular the subpart Q and the corresponding German implementation regulation, which in part, are summarised in the 1. DV LuftBO (1st implementing provision for the operation of aircrafts) as well as the development of regulations for the implementation of flights with flight duty times for the crew of more than 18 hours (Ultra Long Range Operation – ULR).
• EASA-Ops rulemaking phase
• Development and implementation of a CRM seminar Fatigue Risk – Alertness Management

Should you have any questions or suggestions regarding any of the FTL topics, please contact us in writing!