AIR PILOT 2022 Issue 1

NO. 1 | 2022

AIR PILOT

Journal of the Australian Federation of Air Pilots

AIR PILOT CONTENTS// FEATURES

Journal of the Australian Federation of Air Pilots

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AFAP LIFE MEMBERSHIPS

10

IFALPA ASIA-PAC LEADERS

15

AFAP RESILIENT PILOT

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NO. 1 | 2022 EDITORIAL STAFF Editor: Anna Cousins Contributors: Chris Aikens, Deanna Cain, Anna Cousins, Marcus Diamond, Lachlan Gray, Joanne Janes, Patrick Larkins, Simon Lutton, James Mattner, Andrew Molnar, Naomi Radke, Julian Smibert, David Stephens

REGULARS

DESIGN: Anna Cousins

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AUSTRALIAN FEDERATION OF AIR PILOTS

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4/132-136 ALBERT RD SOUTH MELBOURNE VIC 3205 33 MONTPELIER RD BOWEN HILLS QLD 4006 T +61 3 9928 5737 F +61 3 9699 8199 ADMIN@AFAP.ORG.AU WWW.AFAP.ORG.AU

SEND TO AIR PILOT Suggestions, articles and photos for Air Pilot are welcome.

To discuss editorial contributions, or to make an advertising enquiry, please contact anna@afap.org.au

COUNCIL REPORTS 6

REGIONAL EXPRESS

8

HELICOPTERS

12

VIRGIN

14

JETSTAR

15

EASTERN

16

NATIONAL

7

AIR PILOTS AWARD

19

TECHNICALLY SPEAKING

24 WOMEN'S NETWORK 28 WELFARE

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20 COBHAM 22 QANTAS MAINLINE 23 NATIONAL JET SYSTEMS 25 SUNSTATE

The views expressed in this magazine in any article, letter or advertisement are not necessarily those of the Australian Federation of Air Pilots.

AIR PILOT reserves the right to reject any advertisement it deems not to be in good taste or adverse to air pilots, the AFAP, its interests or policies.

The attention of advertisers is drawn to the section of the Competition & Consumer Act 2010 and the provisions in the Act which apply to advertising. It is not possible for the Federation or Publisher to ensure that advertisements that are published in this magazine comply in all respects with the Act and the responsibility must therefore be on the person, company or advertising agency submitting the advertisement for publication.

All original material produced in this magazine remains the property of the Publisher and cannot be reproduced without authority. No responsibility is accepted for incorrect information contained in advertisements or editorials.

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Air Pilot

AFAP PRINCIPAL OFFICERS// VP Admin & Finance, Capt Ben Bollen Jetstar

President Capt Louise Pole Sunstate

Senior Trustee, Capt George Brown Life Member

VP Membership, Capt George Kailis Virgin Australia

Trustee, Capt Bryan Murray Life Member

Safety & Technical Director, Capt Philip Remilton RFDS - Central Operations

Trustee, Capt Rob Nicholson National Council, Life Member

AFAP STAFF// Operations Manager, Joanne Janes

Senior Industrial/Legal Officer, Patrick Larkins

Senior Industrial Officer, James Mattner

Legal Counsel, Andrew Molnar

Senior Industrial Officer, David Stephens

Safety & Technical Manager, Capt Marcus Diamond

Safety & Technical Officer, Lachlan Gray

Safety & Technical Officer, Capt Naomi Radke

Safety & Technical Officer, Capt Julian Smibert

Marketing & Comms Mgr, Anna Cousins

NO. 1 | 2022

Senior Industrial/Legal Officer, Deanna Cain

Executive Director, Simon Lutton

Office Manager, Ray Aspinall

Senior Industrial Officer, Chris Aikens

Membership Officer, Sophie Isaacs

Finance Officer, Lennie Kovacs

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the

PRESIDENT’S VIEW//

Captain Louise Pole

Throughout the pandemic our representatives and members have faced and overcome many challenges.

As we come out of the pandemic it is more important than ever that we are ready and able to promote and protect the interests of Australian professional pilots. This involves ensuring we have a voice at every level of the industry including with our members, with our employers and with government.

Our goal for the year ahead is to ensure we strengthen our representation on every front. As the impact of the pandemic on air travel slowly dissipates, we must prepare ourselves to face the emerging challenges on the horizon.

This includes navigating a very uncertain economic environment and dealing with various employers emboldened by the concessions they were able to extract over recent years.

It is becoming increasingly clear that retaining and building on our hard-fought enterprise agreement conditions and safety standards will not be an easy task. I am however optimistic that the Federation will continue to do what is in the long-term interests of our members and provide the best representation possible.

The strength of the Federation has always been based on the quality and dedication of its members, elected pilot representatives and staff.

In this edition of AIR PILOT we acknowledge the dedication of pilot representatives, Captain Rod Millroy and Captain Cam Terry, both of whom were awarded life membership at last year’s Annual Convention.

We also remember two long-serving members of the Virgin Pilot Council who recently passed away in Captain Brett Loeliger and Captain Ed Kiernan. These pilots had generously volunteered their time for the benefit of their colleagues and the profession.

Giving back to the profession is something all AFAP members can do. Some members choose to do this via industrial involvement while other members prefer to give back via safety and technical input. Others still do it via welfare contributions and "keeping an eye out” for their colleagues.

In this edition of AIR PILOT we also outline the contribution of members, as mentors or participants, in our rapidly developing Resilient Pilot program It is imperative that pilots continue to be recognised as professionals. There are disturbing trends worldwide which are challenging this concept and ultimately are affecting the salaries and working conditions for the worst. By being involved in the AFAP in any way, you will be contributing to the preservation of our profession which in turn will protect our status as professionals.

The next year is shaping up to be a very tumultuous one. No doubt it will deliver its share of challenges but hopefully it will also provide some opportunities.

Yours sincerely

Captain Louise Pole President

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Air Pilot

AFAP LIFE MEMBERSHIPS

Two QantasLink pilots - Captain Rodney Millroy (Sunstate) and Captain Cam Terry (Eastern) – have been honoured for their long service and ongoing dedication to the AFAP with Life Membership.

Captain Rodney (Rod) Millroy

Captain Colin Campbell (Cam) Terry

Since joining the AFAP in 1986, Captain Rod Millroy has demonstrated unwavering commitment and loyalty to the AFAP, first during the 1989 pilots' dispute and later as a pilot representative at the Federal, Council and EBA Committee level.

Captain Cam Terry joined the AFAP in March 1983. After many years of dedicated membership, Cam stepped up to serve in various elected roles at the Federal, Branch and Council Committee level.

Rod served for Air Queensland (BPA), TAA/Australian Airlines then Malaysian Airlines during the dispute and returned to Australia serving for Australian Regional Airlines, Sunstate Airlines and now QantasLink. Rod was the AFAP Vice-President (Administration and Finance) in the mid-1990s - a period when the AFAP was still slowly recovering from the financial impact of the 1989 dispute.

Rod was mentored by the great Terry O’Connell with whom he developed a close friendship. Their combined talents proved to be formidable across EBA tables. Rod has led negotiations for every EA at Sunstate Airlines since the mid-1990s. During negotiations he has proven himself to be a dedicated and tenacious representative.

His persistence has been instrumental in achieving many of the employment conditions and protections that Sunstate pilots continue to enjoy today.

In the early-2000s Rod served as Chair of the Sunstate Sub-Council, then from 2016 to 2021 Rod served as Chair of the Sunstate Pilot Committee. During this time, he secured many benefits for Sunstate pilots.

He has advocated for individual members in trouble both inside and outside of the company and helped members avoid redundancies and/or downgrades when faced with the all too regular downturns and restructures endemic to this industry.

Rod’s contribution to improving the professional lives of regional pilots and to the AFAP more broadly has been outstanding. To also say he has done this with unique style and creative flair would be an understatement.

NO. 1 | 2022

During the 2000s Cam was part of the Eastern enterprise agreement negotiating team, together with Captain David Harget and Captain Dennis Thompson.

Cam remained loyal to the AFAP when AIPA was attempting to drive a wedge and attract the more junior Eastern pilots with hollow promises of joining the Qantas seniority list around the time of the 2005 AIPA Rules case.

Cam also served on the AFAP Executive as AFAP VicePresident (Membership) from 2000 to 2012.

From 2004 to 2012 Cam served as a NSW Branch Committee Member, including a period as Chair.Later, in 2016 Cam was elected as an Eastern Council Committee Member and the Chair for a two-year term.

He also dedicated seven years of service from 2012-2019 as a Board Member of the Australian Air Pilots Mutual Benefit Fund.

Throughout his almost 40 years of membership Cam has been a constant and reliable supporter of the AFAP, its members and staff. During his more than 30 year flying career with Eastern Airlines, Cam has been a strong advocate of the AFAP out on the line, passionately schooling junior pilots on the many benefits of both AFAP and MBF membership.

Throughout Cam has also shown a genuine concern for the welfare of pilots and their families. He has been, and continues to be, an outstanding advocate of the AFAP.

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REX

Pilot Federation

There has been an ongoing lack of progress in negotiations for both the Saab 340 and Boeing 737 enterprise agreements (EAs).

Rex Airlines Pty Ltd has been working to expand its new B737 operation and has recruited some pilots under common law contracts (incorporating provisions of the Air Pilots Award 2020).

To recap, in late 2020 Rex Airlines issued a Notice of Employee Representational Rights (NERR) to commence bargaining for a new EA, without notifying the AFAP. When the AFAP subsequently became aware that the NERR had been issued, the company was notified that, as we had members employed at Rex Airlines, the AFAP was a bargaining representative in the negotiations.

Regardless, Rex subsequently excluded the AFAP from bargaining meetings, until the AFAP successfully sought intervention from the Fair Work Commission (FWC).

Throughout last year and early-2022, the AFAP has consistently raised an extensive list of questions about the content of draft EAs prepared by Rex, at the same time arguing with the company to secure items in the AFAP’s Log of Claims, which were endorsed by an overwhelming majority of B737 members.

Further meetings with members have been scheduled in early-July to discuss the company's latest offer, which was communicated just prior to the last bargaining meeting held on 23 June.

That latest offer represents the first significant move from the company since negotiations commenced, with much of Rex’s original proposal representing little if any improvement over the corresponding Award provisions.

However, even with this latest offer, a considerable p ro p o r t i o n o f t h e p i lo t g ro u p ’ s c la i m s re m a i n unaddressed, and what is on offer falls well below the standards at other Australian domestic airlines.

Despite various requests since early 2021, Rex has remained unwilling to make any firm arrangements for progression of Saab pilots to the B737 fleet, beyond advertising throughout the Rex group for "expressions of interest” for B737 first officers.

At this point, a very small number of Saab pilots have been offered positions in the B737 operation.

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Regional Express run a fleet of 60 Saab 340 and six Boeing 737 aircraft.

In relation to the Saab negotiations, Rex Express Holding Ltd’s Saab pilots have been attempting to negotiate a new EA since early-2018 (ahead of the 30 June 2018 nominal expiry date of the Regional Express Pilots' Enterprise Agreement 2014).

Unfortunately, negotiations, which were initially disrupted by the Covid pandemic, have been effectively stalled since early 2021 when the company commenced what would become a series of ever-worsening low-ball pay offers.

All offers made by the company since that time have incorporated proposed salary increases considerably less than the cost-of-living increases since the expiry of the last agreement, and therefore represent a substantial decrease in the real value of a Rex pilot’s remuneration package.

For example, the offer received from the company late on Friday 3 June 2022 was even worse than previous offers and represented a cut in salary compared to CPI of more than 5% since 2018.

As a result, the Rex Council was left with little option than to exercise their members’ lawful right to lodge an application for a Protected Industrial Action (PIA) ballot with the FWC. In that ballot, more than 90% per cent of the AFAP’s Rex Saab pilot members voted to approve the taking of eight (8) legally protected industrial actions, including a number of work bans and, potentially, unlimited four hour work stoppages.

With 90% membership density among this pilot group at Rex, and the overwhelming support displayed in the ballot results for every form of PIA put to the pilots, it is clear that the pilot group is united in its resolve.

Air Pilot

REX PILOT FEDERATION

Since 29 June 2022, in addition to action concerning the wearing of uniforms, AFAP’s Saab pilot members at Rex have adopted a ban on loading extra fuel prior to flights (known as “tankering”), where the purpose of loading that extra fuel is to avoid refuelling at ports where fuel is more expensive.

This PIA, and potentially other actions, look set to continue well into July 2022, unless Rex management agrees to significantly improve upon their latest offer.

The AFAP team remains ready and willing to meet with Rex management to progress negotiations at any time.

However, we have also communicated clearly to the company what standard will need to be met in order to bring about a suspension of PIA. Any productive negotiations would be welcomed by our members, who pride themselves on providing a valuable service to regional Australia.

We were pleased to see that Rex reported to the Australian Stock Exchange (on 15 June) that the airline will soon return to pre-pandemic flying levels.

In light of those statements, there can be no justification for Rex’s unwillingness to offer its pilots a fair deal.

AIR PILOTS AWARD 2020 The Air Pilots Award 2020 has undergone some changes due to the finalisation of the review of Modern Awards conducted by the Fair Work Commission (FWC) and annual wage review.

FWC Annual Wage Review 2021-22 On 15 June, as a result of its Annual Wage Review 202122, the Fair Work Commission announced an increase of 5.2% to the minimum wage and an increase of 4.6% to Award rates and allowances.

Although most Award rates will increase by this amount from 1 July 2022, certain industries such as the aviation, hospitality and tourism industries will have increases delayed until 1 October 2022. The FWC stated this delay of three months was provided because of the particular effects that Covid-19 had on those industries.

Accordingly, the salaries and allowances contained in the Air Pilots Award 2020 will increase by 4.6% in October 2022.

Review of Modern Awards As part of the four year review of Modern Awards (that commenced in 2014!) has finally concluded.

This review required the FWC to review all 110 modern awards to ensure they were meeting their modern award objective.

NO. 1 | 2019

The changes to the Air Pilots Award 2020 as part of this review that have now been confirmed and included are:: • •

Introduction of further aircraft types into the Regional Aviation schedule; and Introduction of bonding provisions.

The other notable aspect was confirmation of the novel step of including rotary wing air crew into the Air Pilots Award 2020. This was the result of a decision of the Fair Work Commission in 2020.

Originally, the rotary wing air crew were seeking the creation of their own award, however the Fair Work Commission found that the existing Air Pilots Award 2020 was an appropriate instrument to cover this classification of employees.

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HELICOPTER Pilot Council

Babcock Mission Critical Services In March, following a rejection of its initial pay offer, Babcock Mission Critical Services (MCS) requested a two-week ‘pause’ to bargaining to take advice from an external industrial relations company who were to review the company’s wages position.

The company’s wage proposal would have resulted in MCS pilots receiving a wage cut, or at best, a real wages freeze for four years, and would entrench significant inequity between the seniority cohorts.

Almost two months later the company resumed wages bargaining on (what it considered) a new position. It was exactly the same, except the company proposed that all pilots should also give the company 60 hours a year of unpaid overtime (shift extensions) to qualify for payments of any overtime that exceeds 60 hours.

The company’s ‘revised and improved’ offer, inclusive of an already discredited and rejected salary model that cuts/freezes wages is provocative. Proposing 60 hours of free overtime in addition is simply offensive.

It will come as no surprise that the following day the AFAP made an application to the Fair Work Commission to hold a Protected Action Ballot.

On 9 June the FWC granted that application, and did so after the company made a meritless application to extend the notice period for giving notice of action from the statutory minimum of three days to seven days. That application was given short shrift (not surprising).

In a ballot conducted over the period 17-30 June, more than 90% of members voted for all of the 20 indefinite or peiodic bans and work stoppages put to the pilots to vote on.

CHC (Offshore & Onshore) Two disputes involving meal/rest breaks (Offshore) and the flying in excess of four hours allowance (Onshore) were eventually resolved after considerable periods in the Fair Work Commission, but only with a fair dose of pragmatism by the parties.

The company agreed to reinstate the meal breaks for the affected pilots in the Karratha base such that pilots receive a break each five hours, while the pilots agreed to work around the breaks in the event of cyclone/“demans”, something that was never at risk.

In terms of the Onshore four hours flying dispute, the company again agreed to reinstate the payments, capped at 75%, that it unilaterally stopped paying shortly after the current enterprise agreement was approved by the FWC. The reinstatement also included limited backpay and honouring extant claims. Importantly, the settlement of 75% includes a process for recognising the productivity benefits to the company to be considered in the next round of bargaining.

In the absence of pragmatism, the disputes would have been determined by separate arbitrations of the FWC. Instead, we can all move on.

A further dispute has emerged over a pilot’s right to enjoy their full field leave entitlement where their tour is disrupted by having to remain on tour – ie still on duty away – due to testing positive for Covid while on tour.

The reps are seeking establish a process of consultation to address this issue when it arises (as it already has) so that a consistent and fair approach is taken.

Inexplicably, the company is resisting that. In the absence of a sensible and collaborative approach this dispute also risks being referred to the FWC. Hopefully, the previous glimmer of pragmatism will again emerge.

Babcock’s modified Bell 412 helicopter

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Air Pilot

HELICOPTER PILOT COUNCIL

Importantly, a deal finalising the current agreement was only settled on when various pilots and an AFAP industrial officer met with representatives of LifeFlight’s Board. It is hoped that the upcoming negotiations are not beset with the same issues.

Separate to the issue of enterprise agreement negotiations, there have only been a small number of industrial issues within LifeFlight recently. These have primarily been individual matters, resolved with varying levels of success at the time.

HNZ Australia's Sikorsky S-92

HNZ/PHI

Not long after concluding, and the FWC approving, new enterprise agreements covering the Kimberley and Pilbara regions and the Northern Territory, negotiations have commenced to renegotiate the Karratha Marine Pilot Transfer Agreement and the Esso Enterprise Agreement.

Both sets of negotiations are in their infancy. Both pilot groups have very competent pilot representatives supporting them along with the AFAP industrial team.

While the negotiations have only recently commenced, the company’s agenda appears to be, consistent with previous agreements, to align Karratha wages structure to the other regionally based agreements, while matching the Esso structure to their directly employed Esso counterparts. Further meetings are scheduled.

LifeFlight Members at LifeFlight will soon be thrust back into the task of negotiating a new enterprise agreement. It is less than twelve months ago that the Fair Work Commission approved a short term enterprise agreement that has a nominal expiry date of 31 December 2022.

Given that the current agreement specifies that negotiations for a new agreement must start at least six months prior to the nominal expiry date, the AFAP will very soon start surveying members at LifeFlight as to what outcomes they want in this upcoming bargaining process.

Although a number of improvements were achieved when the current agreement was finalised, there are undoubtedly more changes that the pilot group will seek in the upcoming bargaining.

The AFAP members at LifeFlight will also be hoping that this round of bargaining will progress far more smoothly than the last. The elongated bargaining period for the current agreement arose from both the arrival of the Covid pandemic and management delays.

NO. 1 | 2022

Toll After the pilot representatives and the AFAP sought to commence bargaining with the company around a year ago, negotiations have moved on and are teetering on an edge.

While in-principle agreement has been reached in various non-contentious or low cost claims, as well as the significant (albeit very industry standard) death benefit insurance, the big ticket items of wages, training days, HEMS and overtime remain outstanding.

The parties are edging closer on the outstanding matters but only after the pilots offered concessions on various matters to encourage a break-through.

Unfortunately, the company did not agree to the quid pro quo as sought by the pilots.

This means unless the company does come to the table and recognise the pilot’s offer, those conditional (on the company agreeing a wages package) concessions will no longer be conditionally set aside. They will be put back on the table for bargaining.

We are hoping by the next meeting the company will have moved close to an agreement, but that will unfold over the coming weeks.

Westpac Westpac negotiations are on an edge, with pilots calling to be no worse off due to CPI. Ironically, in times of low CPI many an employer would jump at a CPI wages outcome with, many/most compensated by CPI for increases to labour coats in their contracts.

That, of course, is in times of low CPI. CPI is now at 5.1% and forecast to increase. Pilots (and Air Crew) at Westpac are calling for nothing less the minimum..

However, there are elements of in-principle agreement on various matters, but those are incidental to the need for a real wages growth outcomes.

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IFALPA ASIA-PACIFIC LEADERS Captain Anna Wakelin has been appointed as a regional vice-president (RVP) in the Asia-Pacific region (South of Pacific) for the International Federation of Air Line Pilots' Association (IFALPA) .

She takes over from Captain David Griffin (New Zealand) and is the first woman to hold this senior position.

Originally from New Zealand, Captain Wakelin moved to Australia in 2006. She holds a master’s degree in aviation management, and is currently pursuing a law degree in Melbourne where she now lives.

Most recently Captain Wakelin was a captain on the Airbus A320 aircraft type with Tigerair, flying domestically within Australia.

At Tigerair she also worked as a flight operations safety officer assisting with internal safety investigations; and as a non-technical skills facilitator.

Before this she flew as a first officer on Fokker 50 aircraft with Alliance Airlines.

Captain Wakelin has also worked as a flight instructor in New Zealand, Fiji, and Australia, holding an A-category instructor rating in New Zealand and grade one instructor rating in Australia with aerobatic, instrument, and instructor training privileges.

In addition to volunteering her time to IFALPA and the AFAP, other volunteer work has included flying for the Auckland Volunteer Coastguard Air Patrol, flight instruction at the Walsh Memorial Scout Flying School, media liaison and safety officer for the Around New Zealand Air Race and Air Safari. and various roles within the Australian Women Pilots’ Association.

She was also elected to serve on the board of the Global Cabin Air Quality Executive, an international group backed by pilot and cabin crew unions and other interested parties, seeking solutions to improve the quality of aircraft cabin air.

With an interest in flight safety and human factors, Captain Wakelin also continues to work with the AFAP’s safety and technical team as a pilot representative.

“In taking on this new role at IFALPA, I look forward to further representing the interests of Australian and regional pilots in international forums through IFALPA,” Pilots leading the Asia-Pacific region for IFALPA are: Capt Anna Wakelin (Australia) – RVP South of Pacific Capt Max Matsumoto (Japan) – RVP North of Pacific Capt Ron Hay (USA) – RVP US/Central East Pacific Capt Ishtiaque Hossain (Bangladesh) – Executive Vice President. Asia & Pacific Capt Farouk Zaheer (Malaysia) – RVP, Asia/East Capt Shavantha Pedris (Sri Lanka) – RVP, Asia/West

From left, IFALPA Asia-Pacific leaders Capt Max Matsumoto (Japan), Capt Anna Wakelin (Australia), Capt David Griffin (New Zealand), Capt Ron Hay (USA), Capt Ishtiaque Hossain (Bangladesh), Capt Farouk Zaheer(Malaysia) & Capt Shavantha Pedris (SriLanka) at the Global Pilots’ Symposium (26 May 2022).

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Air Pilot

AWARD

Capt Laurie Shaw Captain Laurie Shaw has been awarded a Presidential Citation at the 67th International Federation of Airline Pilots Association (IFALPA) Conference.

Presented by IFALPA president Captain Jack Netskar in Singapore on 28 May, the award was made in appreciation of the outstanding contribution Captain Shaw has made to pilots through the Hong Kong Air Line Pilots’ Association, “most notably in bringing a cohesive Pilot Association Program (PAN). in concert with Cathay Pacific management, to the pilots of Hong Kong”. The citation went on to recognise that:

"The structure he created is enduring and resilient and will stand the test of time even as the industry struggles to recover from the global pandemic."

Captain Shaw has been actively involved in the aviation industry for 40 years, accumulating more than 23,000 hours of flying experience both domestically and internationally.

His commercial flying began in the Northern Territory flying Cessna 210s with his most recent position being a Senior Captain with Cathay Pacific Airways as an Airbus A350/A330 captain.

His airline experience includes flying for Ansett Airlines of Australia gaining experience on Fokker 50s, with Malaysia Airlines flying Fokker F50s and B737-200 before joining Cathay Pacific Airways on the B747-200 in 1995. He flew the B777 and B747-400 before obtaining his command on the A330 in 2003.

He also has a passion for improving health and wellbeing outcomes across the aviation industry.

As a standing member of IFALPA’s Human Performance (HUPER) Committee and the Pilot Assistance Working Group (PAWG), he also contributed to the development of the second edition of the IFALPA Pilot Assistance Manual (Substance Dependence section) which is intended to assist member associations such as the AFAP establish and enhance support programs to assist pilots.

A loyal AFAP (overseas category) member, Captain Shaw opted for redundancy when Cathay Pacific closed its Australian base in 2021 and has recently returned to flying with Fiji Airways as an A330/A350 captain.

Over the past ten years Captain Shaw has been actively involved with the global pilot profession in developing and evolving approaches to well-being. He was also instrumental in developing and implementing a mental health and wellbeing program - the Peer Assistance Network (PAN) - for the Cathay Pacific Airways pilot group.

Until very recently, he has been advising Virgin Australia on the establishment of its peer support program.

Captain Shaw was the founding Chairman of the HIMS Australia Advisory Group (HAAG) - a collaboration of stakeholders including CASA, the AFAP, airline/company management, along with aviation medicine and mental health professionals interested in establishing a transparent process for medical recertification for pilots afflicted with substance use disorders in Australia.

NO. 1 | 2022

IFALPA president Captain Jack Netskar (left) presents Captain Laurie Shaw with his award in Singapore on 28 May 2022.

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VIRGIN

Pilot Federation

Fleet Replacement Virgin has announced it will be replace the VARA F100 aircraft with seven B737-700s (scheduled for delivery starting in early 2023) and that VARA F100 pilots will transition to the B737 in their current rank.

The decision to transfer F100 pilots to the B737 in their current rank has caused a great deal of angst amongst VAA pilots, in particular first officers.

The B737-700 has the capacity to perform a greater proportion of RPT flying than the F100 is currently performing/able to perform, thus undermining the job security and current and future career progression/ command opportunities for first Officers.

Additionally, the introduction of the B737-700 to VARA (and further the Company’s stance that VARA Pilots will be able to operate all B737 variants except the MAX) greatly expands the capacity to erode flying from VAA pilots under the VAA EA. This is a concern for all VAA pilots particularly under a productivity-based remuneration structure with a lower base salary where pilots are relying on achieving higher credit hours to increase their income.

The AFAP VAA reps sought external legal advice to understand if there was any action that would require positions for the additional B737-700s to be awarded to VAA pilots using the VA GDOJ List.

In circumstances where Virgin are retraining the VARA F100 pilots in positions on the B737 because they are required to perform the VARA F100 current charter work, the advice was that the prospects of successfully challenging this decision (i.e instead requiring VAA to award roles on the B737 under the Narrow Body EA using the VA GDOJ list) are extremely low.

As such the AFAP’s VAA pilot reps approach to the fleet replacement consultation process has been to seek: • Protection against redundancies, base closures or a reduction in

80%

headcount for VAA Pilots as a result of transferring VARA Pilots to the B737; • Capturing future growth in positions on any B737s, particular commands, at VAA on the VA Narrow Body EA using the VA GDOJ List; • Protections against the dilution of VAA Pilot Credit Hours by increased RPT at VARA; and • Removal of the cost and conditions differential between VAA and VARA Pilots reducing the risk of the business growing VARA flying at the expense of VAA Pilots.

The AFAP VAA reps have been involved in discussions with the VARA pilot reps with a view to reaching a consensus position on a proposal that would provide

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both pilot groups with job security and certainty regarding future career progression opportunities. These discussions are still ongoing, however if an agreed outcome with SALPA is not reached it will be up to the company to determine its preferred outcome to meet its long-term business objectives, and the AFAP VAA reps will reserve their rights to challenge any future decisions.

Delayed CAE Implementation Although Virgin pilots have been operating under their new EA since November last year, many of the conditions including work rule changes and trip swap/open time system were negotiated to coincide with the introduction of new crew management software (CAE Systems).

The CAE CMS was initially planned to be implemented by the commencement of RP3 (21 February) this year however Virgin was unable to deliver on this timeline due to a number of significant issues that were identified following a review of the project late last year.

Virgin has now set a “go live” target of late 2022 or early 2023 for implementation of the CAE CMS, with the actual date to be confirmed by the COO in early September.

This delay has not been a desirable outcome for either company or pilots. It has meant the company has been unable to get the efficiencies it was hoping to achieve from the new work rules changes (in particular the FDP table under CAO48.1 and reduced DDO buffers), the new credit table (where there are no credits for personal leave and lower credits for ground training) and eliminating the under-time issue associated with minimum draft payments it currently pays pilots for working on a day off.

For pilots, the main issues were the non-implementation of the lifestyle benefits from a fully automated open time/trip swap system and a new PBS (i.e. a level of greater control over rosters post publication), an extra DDO where you are rostered below 65 credit hours and the minimum four credit hours for being called on standby, displaced standby credits or paxing credits which are improvements to the current credit system.

In recognition of this delay, the AFAP proposed that the company bring forward the requirement to provide 13 DDOs to pilots who are rostered below 65 credit hours, and to implemented the new credits associated with standby and paxing duties which we believed would go some way to ‘owning’ and acknowledging the impact of the delay.

Pleasingly, the company agreed to bring forward the introduction of 13th day free of duty where a pilot is rostered below 65 credit hours and the credits associated with standby and displaced standby from the commencement of RP8 (4 July).

Air Pilot

VIRGIN PILOT FEDERATION

IN MEMORIUM As a welfare rep for many years, he faithfully looked out for pilots in need as a trusted colleague. Brett spent much time in this role and also worked tirelessly to establish the fledgling alcohol support program (HIMS) which now forms part of company policy.

Brett will be remembered as a warm and approachable colleague, a down to earth and humble friend, who contributed much to our lives and the aviation industry.

Capt Brett Loeliger (Jun 1959-Mar 2022) Captain Brett Loeliger was a founding Virgin Blue pilot and was pivotal to the launch and growth of the airline back in 2000.

Brett grew up in Ararat, Victoria, and completed his CPL training at Cessnock in 1977. By 1980 he was flying Islanders in the Torres Strait and was then hired by HC Sleigh on the Coastwatch contract operating the Aero Commander and Nomad. Employment with East-West Airlines on the F27 followed in 1985, and then with Ansett as a B737 First Officer in early 1989.

Capt Edward Kiernan (Mar 1962 – Apr 2022)

Following the Pilots’ Dispute, Brett worked for Malaysian Airlines and AWAS in Oman before heading to Switzerland for contract flying on early production B737700s in the late 90s. He returned to Malaysian Airlines and then Air Nauru in 1999 preceded his employment with Virgin Blue.

Ed stopped flying following the decommissioning of the A330 fleet in 2020, however he rejoined Virgin last year.

Brett was a highly competent operator and training captain, having gained wide experience overseas. Many Virgin Pilot Council members were lucky enough to be trained and mentored by Brett and he played a key role in the safe and efficient growth of the airline from its start-up phase and through the heady years of Virgin’s rapid expansion to becoming a major Australian carrier.

Brett was a loyal member of the AFAP since joining in 1979 and genuinely cared about his fellow pilots. He was an inaugural member of the Federation’s Virgin Blue Pilot Council in 2009 and also served on the PWC.

NO. 1 | 2022

Captain Edward (Ed) Kiernan first joined Virgin Blue in December 2001 and went on to become a highly respected senior training captain and Non Technical Skills instructor.

Ed was a loyal and long serving AFAP member for 20 years and will be remembered fondly for his kind nature, cheerful outlook and sense of humour. This was most prominently on display when he performed his unique style of magic for crew before flights.

Ed was a great supporter of his colleagues from the time he joined Virgin in 2001, and was a highly respected Senior Training Captain and NTS instructor. Ed was made redundant on the A330 before returning to Virgin on the B737 in 2021.

Very sadly, he passed away peacefully after a short period of illness.

13

JETSTAR

Pilot Federation

Negotiations for a new Jetstar Enterprise Agreement (EA) restarted in March this year following a two year pause in bargaining due to the pandemic. Given it had been over three years since the AFAP initially surveyed members in relation to claims for a new EA, and in recognition that pilot’s priorities and expectations may have changed since this time, the AFAP resurveyed members before resuming bargaining to ensure our approach to bargaining and claims for a new EA properly reflect the interests and objectives of our members.

The survey showed most members supported the AFAP continuing to pursue claims and improvements in bargaining and that there was little support for a basic rollover agreement incorporating the Qantas Group Wages Policy. Remuneration remained the most important issue for pilots, ahead of improvements to lifestyle and flexible work arrangements.

With this in mind, the AFAP returned to the bargaining table seeking a less hostile bargaining environment than what had transpired in 2019 (culminating in PIA commencing prior to and over the Christmas period in 2019/2020) and a more collaborative approach.

Rather than presenting Jetstar with a traditional list of claims, we outlined our five key interests (appropriate remuneration, improving pilots’ work/life balance, roster stability, recognition of equal role as a pilot in the Qantas Group and clarifying existing clauses) and a range of possible solutions to address these interests.

Our objective was to work collaboratively with Jetstar to explore solutions suitable to both parties as opposed to presenting fixed and/or pre-determined claims and have them rejected by the company. While Jetstar initially seemed receptive to this, it was not willing to engage in an interest-based bargaining approach and ultimately insisted that the AFAP outline specific claims. We have now presented a number of specific claims to reflect the views of members (as indicated in the EA survey) and to address the shortcomings in the current EA. We reserved our position on remuneration so the parties could focus on improving other important areas of the EA in the first instance, recognising that where we land on these ‘lifestyle’ areas of the ‘package’ may shape future claims in relation to salaries and allowances.

are frustrated at the slow pace of the negotiations when Jetstar pilots are operating to an EA that nominally expired in April 2019 and have not had a pay increase for more than four years. If Jetstar does not accommodate the AFAP’s requests for more regular and intensive meetings we will have to review our bargaining approach.

While concluding an EA at Jetstar has been the top priority for the JPF Committee this year the recent announcement by Alan Joyce regarding the 2022 Recovery Boost Payment (a one-off discretionary p ay m e n t o f $ 5 , 0 0 0 a va i l a b le to E BA - c ove r e d employees), which Jetstar pilot’s eligibility for is conditional on a new agreement being made within nine months, has made the timely resolution of a new EA even more critical.

Additionally, while we appreciate the notion of bonus payments, having all these preconditions, deadlines and restrictions takes a lot of the shine off the bonus. We question why management can’t simply recognise the extremely difficult times the pilot group has experienced during Covid, recognise the sacrifice many pilots made over the last two years, and begin to share these payments without the threat to withhold or cancel them.

The ongoing chaos pilots see every day whilst flying the line will make resolving a new EA even more difficult now that flying has returned to greater than pre-Covid levels and pilots are back to operating normal rosters.

Many are experiencing significant delays, disruption and cancellation every time they go to work. While the company narrative is that capacity will be reduced by approximately 10% due to higher fuel prices, a more likely explanation is that Jetstar is cancelling flights due to an acute crew shortage. If Jetstar management is genuine about improving pilot engagement, it needs to seek to address our concerns and claims and not use tactics such as linking bonuses to pilots accepting wage freeze deals and a substandard new agreement.

So far discussions have been constructive and Jetstar has been receptive to many of the proposals/ concepts put forward. In contrast to 2019, the Company representatives appear to understand the issues we are seeking to address and why these are important to us.

While the company’s willingness to genuinely explore some of the concepts/claims has been refreshing, we

14

Jetstar A320 aircraft flying over Brisbane (Photo: Brad Collins)

Air Pilot

EASTERN

Pilot Federation

Pilot Movements The opening of state borders and the return of international travel in 2022, has had a significant impact on movement of pilots into Qantas mainline.

The previous hold on Qantaslink pilots waiting to move to mainline was removed and consequently Eastern has seen a high number of movements both out of and into the operation.

In addition to ongoing Eastern Pilot Council (EPC) business, the EPC has had to deal with two key disputation matters that are linked to the high volume of pilot movements.

EBA Compliance and Vacancies With those high levels of training related movement come other associated problems. The council has recently registered that the company is non-compliant regarding vacancy notices in not providing the necessary clarity required by the current enterprise agreement, which stipulates that vacancy notices must detail the 'commencement date of technical training'. The Company recently issued a vacancy notice that was so vague that it detailed indicative timeframes for training into the second half of this year and possibly into 2023.

The net result has been that for pilots bidding under this vacancy notice would have an both a lack of certainty regarding training schedules coupled with unnecessarily extended timeframes, which the clause in the agreement was specifically designed to avoid.

The council has also reminded the company of our expectation that all vacancies for flight officers on the Q400 fleet will be awarded and trained in seniority order in line with the enterprise agreement and that internal bidding is exhausted before external ground school opportunities are offered on the Q400 fleet.

EBA Coverage of Sim Instructors Of ongoing concern for the EPC has been the company’s now escalating approach to employing contract simulator instructors that are not employed pursuant to the enterprise agreement.

Over the last few years the company has, without consultation, expanded the number and function of these instructors from four to approximately 12 full time employees.

The expansion of a contract workforce diminishes opportunity within the check and training system for current Eastern pilots.

In addition, the company employs these contract simulator instructors on individually negotiated terms and conditions of employment as they claim the simulator instructors as they are not covered by the enterprise agreement and rosters.

The diminution of promotional and development opportunity for Eastern pilots is further compounded by the potential for the erosion of workplace rights.

Consequently, the council has lodged a dispute and is liaising with the AFAP assigned lawyers to potentially challenge the current company position that simulator instructors are not covered by the Eastern Australia Airlines Enterprise Agreement 2019.

The council firmly believes that the approach by the company cannot go unchecked to ensure the hardfought enterprise agreement is not circumvented.

This is to ensure that entry into the higher earning Q400 fleet is done in proper seniority and that bypass pay only be utilised where there is a genuine personal need to do so and not as a company mechanism to remove training costs or for convenience.

With such a high volume of movements through the company the Eastern Pilot Council is clearly focused on ensuring that seniority, not company convenience is the tool by which all movements both into and through the ranks are facilitated.

NO. 1 | 2022

QantasLink turboprop at Sydney Airport

15

NATIONAL Pilot Council

Airwork

In recent months, the long-term issue around the repeated late release of rosters at Airwork seems to have settled down a little.

Unfortunately, this problem has been a recurring issue, with no long-term resolution previously implemented

by Airwork management. In addition to that, the AFAP and its members are aware that the issue of excessively fatiguing rosters is a matter that still needs to be closely monitored.

As for the current stalled negotiations for a new EA, the AFAP will be seeking the opinion of members in the immediate future about the next steps.

Unfortunately, there was no favourable outcome for members from the conciliation process initiated by Airwork and conducted by the Fair Work Commission (FWC). As the AFAP understands it, the majority of the pilot group still want substantial changes to the existing enterprise agreement, and are eager to see substantial progress towards that goal.

Alliance/Bravo Airlines

In May Qantas announced it had reached an agreement to fully ‘acquire’ Alliance. That announcement reinforced the comments by Qantas in February 2019, when it originally purchased 19.9 percent of Alliance. At the time, Qantas stated its interest in acquiring 100% of Alliance in the long term. The purchase is still subject to a vote of Alliance shareholders, and clearance by the ACCC. This latest development, and the on-going impact of Covid, have delayed the start of EA negotiations for pilots on the Fokker fleet in Queensland. Those negotiations are well overdue and the AFAP is conferring with impacted pilots to determine the best way to proceed.

The E190 pilots at Bravo Airlines are similarly impacted.

The AFAP has been advised that Bravo has tried to progress negotiations without the AFAP present for a new E190 pilots' EA in Brisbane, but not at other bases. Given that Bravo has recently suffered significant problems retaining experienced pilots, it is highly questionable as to whether the strategy of bargaining in one base alone will resolve the immediate issues.

Bravo pilots are increasingly concerned about salary and conditions, with many looking at other carriers.

With Bravo expected to operate more than 30 E-190s eventually, it is unclear how it will effectively resolve the on-going loss of experienced captains.

16

Express Freighters Australia (EFA)

Negotiations for a new agreement have been ongoing since the current (minimal non-union) EFA agreement expired on 31 December 2018. Negotiations began with the intention of creating a far more comprehensive and beneficial agreement. that would also reflect the ongoing fleet replacement program whereby the existing B737 fleet is being replaced by larger and more efficient A321 aircraft. Like many Qantas Group agreements, negotiations were significantly delayed due to the pandemic. Since resuming negotiations, Qantas has sought to enforce its latest wages policy (being a twoyear wage freeze followed by 2% annual increases).

A complicating factor is that many salaries within the expired agreement have become lower than the salary provided under the Air Pilots Award. With the Award increases due in October, all salaries under the expired agreement will soon be lower than the salary (inclusive of additions to salary) under the Award. In response to this situation and the ongoing intransigence of the company, in late 2021 the AFAP made a s240 bargaining dispute application seeking assistance from the FWC. In March, during the ongoing s240 process, EFA released a proposed agreement without union support (which the pilots voted down). While this included significant back pay, it did not provide any guarantee that the salaries would not again fall below the Award. The parties met recently to discuss the outstanding issues relating to the proposed agreement and the need for protections that the agreement rates will not again fall below the Award.

The last conference before the FWC was held on 16 June where a further meeting between the parties was scheduled for 1 July.

While the EFA pilots have certainly not achieved the improvements that they were seeking at the start of bargaining, it is hoped that the latest discussions will lead to an outcome which secures the growing back pay and ensures that pilots cannot be paid less than the Award during the life of the new agreement.

Network Aviation

As at other Qantas subsidiaries, Network is also facing significant movements of pilots, in particular the Jetstar pilots seconded to the west coast during the pandemic now returning to their home organisation as flying returns to normal levels.

This outflow of pilots (particularly from the growing Airbus fleet) has led Network to seek direct entry pilots onto the airbus fleet (historically seen as the aircraft for pilots moving up from the smaller Fokker jets).

Air Pilot

NATIONAL PILOT COUNCIL The result of recent aadvertising seeking direct entrants onto the Airbus fleet, thereby diminishing promotional opportunities for current Network pilots, was that a dispute had to be lodged in relation to the company failing to appropriately consult regarding a significant work place change. The company has now sought to consult with local Fokker pilot representatives.

Negotiations for a potential replacement EBA were placed on hold during the pandemic, especially in light of the Qantas imposed pay freeze and 2% wage cap.

Ma t te r s we re f u r t h e r c o m p l i c a te d w i t h Q a n ta s attempting to frighten negotiations taking place in another subsidiary (NJS) where new A220 aircraft were potentially to be introduced (where if NJS pilots did not agree to a new EBA then the new aircraft would potentially move to Network). This was clearly a scare tactic on the basis that Network couldn’t staff their current Airbus fleet with pilots.

Pearl Aviation

After a lengthy ‘hiatus’ as a result of COVID-19, the on-going negotiations for a new enterprise agreement have recently resumed. The pilot group is hoping that the finalisation of an agreement at some time in the coming months, will guarantee them improved salary and working conditions.

Pionair

Industrial concerns have continued to plague Pionair in recent months including the on-going late publication of rosters. Another has been the company’s failure to seek prior permission before changing pilots' rostered days off. In each of these cases, the AFAP has approached the CEO to help resolve the issue.

Meanwhile the initial momentum achieved when bargaining for an EA first started, has now faded with no bargaining taking place for many months. The AFAP will be working with members to resolve this while also attempting to resolve underpayment issues that hasve been occurring at Pionair over the past 12-18 months.

Skytrans

There is increasing interest from some pilots at Skytrans to push again for negotiations for a new enterprise agreement. There seems to be a concern that the general provisions of the current Air Pilots Award do not adequately address the conditions that are applicable in the current Skytrans operation. In the meantime the AFAP has been called on in recent months to provide advice to several different members in relation to employment contracts and training bonds.

Toll Aviation

Earlier this year, Toll sold its Metro fleet to Sharp Aviation and all six of Toll’s Metro pilots agreed to transfer to Sharp Aviation as well. During that process, the AFAP advised several members about their rights.

At the same time, it was briefly rumoured that Toll may have also been trying to sell off its ATR fleet. However, if that was ever their intention, no deal was done. As such, Toll is still operating its ATR fleet.

NO. 1 | 2022

Royal Flying Doctor Service RFDS Central Operations While EBA discussions had commenced at the end of 2021, after one meeting matters were placed on hold when problems arose in relation to proposed new rostering for the bases. In the end it required three votes to be held prior to a new roster finally being accepted by the main base in Adelaide.

The net result was that after a four month delay meetings were finally scheduled to recommence bargaining.

The AFAP has six reps and a relatively short list of claim items designed to seek a potential agreement as quickly as possible. The biggest pressure currently identified is that the new roster delivered some significant productivity improvements for the operation which the negotiating group are seeking to be recognised within bargaining. This is in addition to the CPI pressures and the clear retention pressures that are developing with many smaller operators facing pilot shortages.

RFDS Queensland The current RFDS (Qld) enteprise agreement (EA) nominal expires in November 2022. As such, the AFAP was looking to start to talk to all members very soon about the negotiations for a new EA. Meanwhile, RFDS (Qld) management went ahead and suggested to AFAP members (and other pilots), that they should accept a deal whereby the existing EA would be varied, extending its length by 12 months (until November 2023), in return for receiving a specific pay increase in both July 2022 and July 2023.

The AFAP was quick to highlight to all members that, as with a new EA, the Fair Work Commission can only approve a variation to an existing EA if there has already been a successful ballot of all Pilots in relation to the proposed variation. As such, even though RFDS (Qld) management could propose anything they liked, its was ultimately the pilot group who would have the final say, by how they voted in the ballot. The company is now proposing to hold a ballot in mid-July.

RFDS Western Operations Late last year the RFDS Western Operations (RFDS WO), pilot representatives and the AFAP attended an interest based bargaining workshop running over two days in the Fair Work Commission. Having completed that workshop, the parties have spent the first six months of 2022 bargaining for a new enterprise agreement. Eight negotiation meetings have been held so far, with the majority of work focused on rostering and lifestyle protections.

17

OPERATIONAL INCIDENTS Debriefing with the brain in mind How mentally prepared are pilots for the reactions we may feel as a result of an operational incident? Even if you’re a seasoned aviator, it’s worth taking a closer look at how our brain may process an operational incident and how it may interpret an event as “critical”.

This inbuilt safety system served our survival mechanism perfectly when mammoths and sabretoothed tigers were our primary threat for survival.

While these types of threats are no longer present, our limbic system still reacts the same way.

Most of us relate the term “critical incident” to an ICAO Annex 13 event (i.e. an aircraft accident or serious incident resulting in a loss of life or serious injury), which it most definitely is.

While we train for most non-normal situations, no matter how high-fidelity the simulated training environment is, we cannot fully predict our body’s normal response to a real-world critical incident when our life appears to be seriously threatened by situations we feel are out of our control.

However, a common and accepted psychological definition for a critical incident is:

"any situation that may cause you to experience unusually strong reactions, which has the potential to interfere with normal functioning, either during the event, or later.

A critical incident is not defined by the event itself, but rather the reactions someone may have as a result of that event”.

Just like the invisibility of Clear Air Turbulence (CAT), our brains’ reaction to a ‘critical incident’ can be just as invisible to the outside world, when internally we may be experiencing a myriad of emotions or feelings ranging from anger to fear to shame, reflective of what is termed a “survival state” (or a state of fight, flight or freeze).

We tend to talk of complex machinery such as the aircraft we fly, how we operate them and their nuances.

Until recently, we’ve pretty much overlooked the highly complex piece of machinery that resides inside our heads: the brain and its untapped potential.

Our Prefrontal Cortex (PFC) - the thinking, rational, reasoning part of our brain - has developed over many of years of evolution which has advanced human ingenuity, innovation and invention exponentially.

There is also another part of our brain, the Limbic System (the “lizard” or “reptilian” brain) which hasn’t needed to evolve because it only has one job: to keep us alive. It is the limbic system that with a better understanding, pilots can ‘hack’ and use to their advantage.

When faced with perceived danger such as an operational event (a critical incident), our inbuilt early warning system (the autonomic nervous system) alerts the limbic system for action (recall its sole function - to keep us alive). If the perceived threat is high enough, the limbic system can interfere with the normal functioning of the PFC; up to completely overriding the PFC (also known as “amygdala hijack”).

18

Knowing what to expect from our brains ‘stress response’ and how to control it before the fact when faced with an unusual situation, may not only see you bounce back from the effects of the event better, it may just save your life.

Similarly, it is helpful to understand our body’s response during the time after an incident has occurred. Our brain is hardwired for anxiety (to catastrophise), another limbic function designed for our survival.

It is therefore quite normal to ruminate or experience flashbacks; that an “abnormal reaction to an abnormal situation is normal behaviour” which is exactly what our limbic system is designed to do. Managing those reactions is crucial to our wellbeing.

However, if left unchecked, possible unmanaged stress can manifest itself in various emotional, physical or behavioural symptoms.

In Figure 1, the ‘normal stress levels’ (green), represent the autonomic nervous systems’ reaction to any given activity which generally affords an increased “stress buffer” (i.e. increased cognitive capacity to cope with sudden, unexpected events). In an operational context, it can be representative of a normal flight sequence, e.g. start and pushback, taxi, take-off roll, V1 (normally the peak), climb out sequence and so on.

Now, translate that green “normal stress level” line up toward the “crisis threshold” (orange line) when an individual has chronic stress (i.e.“stuck” in a survival state), cognitive capacity to cope with that same sudden, unexpected event is significantly compromised, to the point at the extreme, where it may result in cognitive shutdown (e.g. tunnel vision).

This can include a pilot's reaction post an operational event and/or ‘critical incident’.

Early (low level) psychological intervention in the form of organisational and peer support can be useful to assist the individual to “down-regulate” their stress response. This is most effective within a short space of time immediately after the event.

Air Pilot

TECHNICALLY SPEAKING

Stress management In most instances, people are highly resilient and able to cope with potential critical incidents through their own natural adaptive coping strategies.

Professor Erik Hollnagel writes “humans are seen as a resource for system flexibility and resilience” (2).

Evidence tells us human beings are intrinsically resilient.

This step can be aided by resilience training and psychoeducation delivered through organisational refreshers, induction briefings, union publications etc., all of which are designed to provide pilots with an early understanding of adaptive coping strategies and normalise reactions that might occur following potential critical incidents.

Instead of focussing solely on what went wrong during an operational incident, we should also look at what went right and build on those strengths.

Effective organisational support has been recognised to be critical for wellbeing and prevention of psychological injury (1). In terms of potential critical incident accepting this support within the first 12-24 hours can often benefit the pilot to feel better about the process sooner.

This assists the pilot to feel valued by the organisation, while providing an opportunity to normalise stress response reactions, also giving confidence and direction in determining a return to flying plan.

Our brain is an amazing tool with the optimal aim of achieving balance within our central nervous system.

The key is to identify our own normal response and manage it. As human beings, our brain will always seek safety when it senses a threat. It’s comforting to know that ‘safety’ is available in many organisations in the form of carefully selected peer supporters trained to provide ongoing wellbeing and referral to specialists.

Through accident and incident training, the critical first moments may also lead you to the AFAP Hotline where you enter not only an emergency response process, you will find a place that understands that you’ve done a lot right. Also referred to as ‘Safety-II’.

If you find yourself involved in a critical incident, take time out to reflect on what you did right and understand subsequent processes are always manageable.

"After extensive research and surveys, it has been proved beyond doubt that pilots are, in fact, only human” - Dr. Reis Simons, European Society of Aerospace Medicine Captain Laurie Shaw is an A350/A330 Captain with Fiji Airways. Laurie has been associated with the development of pilot assistance programs at Cathay Pacific AIrways and more recently Virgin Australia.

Captain Naomi Radke is a Safety & Technical Officer with the AFAP. Naomi is a former Virgin Australia B737 Captain who understands the intricacies and stressors associated with front line operations.

References: 1. Beyondblue, 2016; Brunetto et. al, 2013; Comcare, 2008; Halpern et. al., 2009 2. “Safety I and Safety II: The Past and Future of Safety Management”, Attitude to the Human Factor, Erik Hollnagel, 2014

FIGURE 1: Keep a wide stress buffer (Coutesy of the Queensland Ambulance Service)

NO. 1 | 2022

19

COBHAM

Pilot Council

National Jet Express The very lengthy “pause” of negotiations “lifted” recently with the first meeting occurring in nearly 12 months.

There are only a handful of items to be finalised, including loss of licence and drafting various provisions.

That ought to be a straight-forward exercise.

However, during the hiatus all of management with carriage of negotiations left the company and have been replaced by a new team.

We are hopeful that this does not lead to “new matters” being raised by the company or a delay caused by the new management needing to catch up.

It was also the first time in almost two years that the parties have met face to face. That was extremely valuable in clarifying the extent of unresolved matters.

While the company is formalising its position on these matters, a related matter of a “new” FRMS emerged which has and is causing considerable consternation.

In seeking to engage with the company in consultation the company quite extraordinarily opted to conduct sessions over a barbie and beers (or in a pub)!!

The concerns are particularly focussed on the freight operations (Coolangatta and Adelaide) but because it is a company FRMS it also extends to the E-Jet and Q400 operations.

The representatives have been trying to engage with the company, but to little value. Consequently, as we did when we heard of the “beer and barbies” consultation process, the AFAP is again writing to the company seeking to address concerns, especially those going to genuine consultation.

At the same time a new dispute has emerged. This time over the meaning of the expression “or part thereof” of an hour as it relates payment of overtime and call outs. The company claims it has always applied this to mean pro rata of the payment, as opposed to its plain meaning.

The company claims this is understood by all pilots but cannot explain why so many pilots are disputing the payment. Unfortunately, attempts to resolve at the local level have failed leaving the dispute destined for the FWC.

20

Cobham Q-400 aircraft

Search and Rescue (AMSA) An in-principle agreement was reached with Cobham SAR over the terms of a new enterprise agreement, after more than three years, even to the point of the document being released for voting.

However, only a few days later the company withdrew the document claiming an error in the wages table.

Given past form the Reps are reasonably entitled to be sceptical of this “development”.

The company has on a number of occasions during these negotiations reneged on agreements.

In September 2021 the company put an agreement to vote that was not agreed, In fact AFAP implored them not to put it out to vote as the document was not agreed and not accurate in basic drafting form.

This was comprehensively voted down and since September 2021 we have been negotiating using their document.

Additionally, prior to the company releasing the agreed final document for a vote a couple of weeks ago it was approved by the most senior of Cobham management.

We “met” with the company and proposed some solutions to try and find a pragmatic outcome.

At the time of going to print we are waiting on the company’s responses. Hopefully, we will have an agreed outcome, again, soon.

Air Pilot

Surveillance Australia Pty Ltd (SAPL) The fall out of the fly-in, fly-out (FIFO) dispute, and its many iterations over the last three years, continues to cause distress to many members.

In summary, the 'home base' versus 'transfers' versus 'extended deployments' resolved favourably for the pilots when the Fair Work Commission (FWC) found that none of the pilots’ home bases changed during the period.

They were found to be on extended deployments.

Hence, all of the entitlements associated with being away from home base were owing.

That part of the dispute has largely settled now with payments made to the majority of pilots, and others being finalised.

Of course, not long after the “win” the company decided it no longer had a recruitment and retention issue and decided to cease offering FIFIO arrangements.

All ten of the impacted pilots have since left the company, almost 30% of their captain workforce!

However, the resolution of the dispute that emerged following the announced ceasing of FIFO saw a significant package for pilots who might relocate home bases, or otherwise decide they prefer redundancy.

While the majority of entitlements have been paid to the majority of pilots, the AFAP has again been forced to refer individual matters back the FWC. This time because the company has not honoured various aspects of the settlement package, including a refusal to pay redundancy, to not reimburse relocation expenses or return airfares, and so on.

The FWC has facilitated separate discussions as they affect individuals, and we are slowly working through these matters, but it is very likely we will refer the matters back to the FWC for its further assistance.

Meanwhile, the SAPL representative (Captain Bill Surtees) has now finalised a revised set of claims as a bargaining agenda in anticipation of bargaining resuming.

The claims have generally been endorsed by the pilot body and we await the resumption of negotiations with the company,.

NO. 1 | 2022

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21

QANTAS AFAP Qantas Mainline Council The latest news at Qantas Mainline has been the recent variation to the Qantas Airways Limited Pilots (Short Haul) Enterprise Agreement 2020 (EBA8) to provide for the Airbus-320 (A320) family of aircraft under what Qantas calls ‘Project Winton’.

In summary, Qantas required various changes and concessions to rostering and other clauses within the existing agreement for it to guarantee the first 20 of the Airbus 321 XLR aircraft as replacement aircraft for the existing Boeing 737 (B737) fleet.

Qantas also required these changes to conditions without providing any compensating benefits or improvements to pilot remuneration or conditions.

In terms of timing, the current agreement is set to nominally expire on 31 August 2023 while the first of the A321 XLR aircraft will not begin arriving until late 2024. There is then a ten-year period envisaged for the transition from B737 to A320 family aircraft.

While no compensating benefits were provided under the proposed variation, there was however a very explicit threat from Qantas that if the variation was not voted up “the Group will need to commence an EIS program for another operator or operators within the Group to fly the A321s by the EIS date”. (The AFAP understands EIS to stand for ‘entry into service’.)

The AFAP questioned whether the threat to not provide the aircraft to Qantas Mainline pilots was credible in the current environment and provided detailed information and analysis regarding the variation before it was voted on. The purpose of this information was to ensure that all pilots voted in a fully informed manner.

The AFAP also noted it is very unusual for an employer to seek changes to a closed agreement which are not required during the life of the agreement. It is also unusual that there would not be some compensating benefit or payments in return for the concessions and productivity improvements being sought.

Finally, the AFAP expressed concern that once the concessions being sought by Qantas have been made, they will not be valued or considered as part of the negotiation of the next short haul agreement for which bargaining will commence next year.

22

Qantas Boeing 737-800

In the end the variation to the existing agreement was supported by a strong majority of pilots covered by the current agreement (EBA8). While the AFAP was not in support of the variation we will of course respect the decision of the pilot majority covered by the agreement.

We very much understand the invidious position that Qantas placed their short haul pilots in.

Our attention will now turn to the next round of bargaining at Qantas Mainline set to commence early next year. This will be the first negotiation at Qantas Mainline where Qantas (and any other bargaining representatives) must formally recognise the AFAP as a bargaining representative under the Fair Work Act 2009.

QMC Committee The AFAP is made up of ten distinct pilot councils, each primarily controlled by their own democratically elected pilot council committee.

This year’s election cycle will see a new AFAP Qantas Mainline Council committee, effective from 7 October following the AFAP's 63rd Annual Convention.

We encourage all members of our newly created Qantas Mainline Council to carefully consider n o m i n a t i n g , o r e n c o u ra g i n g a c o l le a g u e to n o m in ate , fo r t h e Q an tas Main l in e Co unci l committee. It is important that pilots within the Qantas Mainline Council stand up to help shape the direction of AFAP policy at Qantas Mainline.

To nominate, please contact: simon@afap.org.au

Air Pilot

NATIONAL JET SYSTEMS // The last six months have been difficult for the new Qantas subsidiary. As with all the other Qantas operations the new year saw a marked pick up with interstate borders opening more fully.

Out of the blue in February the company approached the AFAP seeking to renegotiate an expired EBA, on the basis that if a quick EBA could be secured then National Jet Systems (NJS) would secure new Airbus A220 aircraft to replace their ageing Boeing 717 aircraft.

The ordering of these new aircraft along with others apparently destined for Qantas Mainline was dramatically titled ‘Operation Winton’ by Qantas.

Rather optimistically the company indicated they wanted an in-principle agreement with the unions before the end of April and a finalised deal before the end of June 2022.

With face to face meetings not commencing until March it was clear that the company were wanting to rush through a potential deal as quickly as possible.

There was no explanation as to why such a deal had to be done quickly although with the ever tightening pilot labour market, coupled with a fleet near retirement and with the pandemic impact still fresh in the collective memories it was highly likely that the company saw a good opportunity to cut into established terms and conditions of employment.

These fears sadly were borne out in intensive negotiations that then took place through March/April.

The three main principles that Qantas were seeking that would clearly have business-wide implications were that •

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When any new fleet was introduced rostering would be governed solely by an FRMS (and rostering protections would be removed from an EBA to an FRMS).; New aircraft would not necessarily mean new pay scales and that the Qantas wages policy of a two years of wage freeze coupled with 2% thereafter would not be affected by the mushrooming cost of living; and Negotiating was done under the clear threat that if an agreement could not be reached that with the imminent retirement of the 717 fleet that would spell the end of NJS as the new aircraft would ‘go somewhere else’.

It was clear that the longer time that elapsed the more apparent it would be that the threat of moving the aircraft elsewhere was potentially hollow on the basis that pilot shortages were quickly becoming prevalent across the industry.

NO. 1 | 2022

Ultimately as the company refused to move on these core principles and only addressed one claim of the unions (that of an additional day off per roster period) the AFAP, after extensive consultation with the pilot group could in no way offer an in-principle agreement especially as virtually all claims from the AFAP had been ignored.

In addition the very worrying proposal that rostering protections move outside an EBA to be governed by an FRMS which is designed to purely look at fatigue management is clearly a principle that in no way addressed or protected work/life balance protections.

Matters took a further turn for the worse when simultaneous discussions in Qantas Mainline (in relation to the proposed introduction of A321 aircraft) illicited an in-principle agreement from the AIPA negotiating team.

Almost overnight the membership group in NJS feared that holding out against the blunt position of Qantas could be undermined by mainline pilots accepting the basic principles tabled by Qantas and that there was a real fear that the new aircraft would move elsewhere.

The company also simultaneously at this time reiterated this threat. Whilst the AIPA executive's position has since changed to that of neutrality towards the new deal the fear factor within NJS has remained ever present and consequently the company put out a proposed EBA for voting commencing 15 June, with the ballot open for seven days.

The NJS representatives agreed that in conjunction with the recommendation from the AFAP to vote ‘No’ in the forthcoming short haul mainline ballot, that the recommendation for NJS members should also be for a ‘No’ vote, although it was recognised that the fear factor across the membership was clearly going to impact the voting process.

National Jet System's Boeing 717 aircraft

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WOMEN’S NETWORK// WOMEN’S NETWORK

A networking and professional development event to celebrate International Women's Day (IWD) 2022 was held at the AFAP’s Brisbane office on 9 March.

For the first time, all three aviation professional staff organisations for pilots, air traffic controllers, and air traffic safety electronic personnel - respectively IFALPA, IFATCA, and IFATSEA – this year joined forces on International Women’s Day (IWD) to promote a diverse, equitable and inclusive aviation world by embracing the IWD theme: #BreakTheBias.

The AFAP Women’s Network has grown since it was formed in 2010 to draw together almost 500 commercial pilots and cadet/student pilots for professional development, information sharing and mutual support.

Research shows that three-quarters of women who belong to a network like ours feel equipped to be better leaders as a result. Two-thirds of women in networks say they have taken on a new challenge with the support of their network and 85% of women in networks credit their network with a positive change in their lives.

The AFAP has been a world leader among pilot unions with the development of the Women’s Network which has in turn increased member numbers and strengthened our union.

Save the Date: Next Women's Network meeting Cairns, 14 September 2022

Exhibiting at the AFAP stand on Girls in Aviation Day in Melbourne at Essendon Airport were (from left): Captain Moira Schlossberger, Captain Naomi Radke and Captain Anna Wakelin.

AFAP members and staff took part in Girls in Aviation Day (GIAD) in both Brisbane and Melbourne on Saturday 14 May. Organised by Women in Aviation, this was a free event for girls aged 8 to 17 years to introduce them to the many career possibilities on offer in the aviation/ aerospace industry.

The event gave attendees a chance to explore a range of exciting careers and meet with women already working in the industry as engineers, aircraft maintenance technicians, operational staff, air traffic controllers, and. of course, professional commercial pilots.

The AFAP Women's Network's convenor Captain Louise Pole hosted an informative hour-long webinar on 16 June presenting on professional and industrial issues to the attending newly-joined AFAP members in the early stages of their piloting careers.

Members of the IFALPA Female Pilots Working Group, including Capt Louise Pole (2nd from right) and Capt Anna Wakelin (3rd from right) who continue to be involved, met in May at the IFALPA Conference in Singapore.

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Air Pilot

SUNSTATE Pilot Federation

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Pilot Movements & Rostering The return to some element of normality into 2022 as the state and international borders are slowly relaxed has had some pretty significant impact on the Sunstate operation, predominantly arising from an ever increasing shortage of pilots. The behemoth that is Qantas Mainline is currently sucking up pilots at a fast rate of knots and the net effect is that Sunstate pilots are getting pretty stretched while new pilots are brought on board to replace those moving into Mainline.

The problem is compounded somewhat with the Sunstate Pilot Council roster checkers also reporting that roster builds also seemed to be ‘rostering to FRMS maximums’, which while not illegal potentially causes problems should any forms of delays be encountered during the duty.

This is in addition to the potential fatigue implications of rostering to ‘limits’, especially when there are increasing numbers of five sector days coupled with early starts and late finishes. The topic of fatigue reporting both pre and post duty is clearly going to become an essential component of ensuring the new FRMS system functions as it supposed to do.

The interaction between FRMS and the EA-related rostering rules is one that has caused a lot of confusion within the pilot community and the Sunstate Council has recently agreed that member meetings to educate crew regarding the 'FRMS or EBA whichever the more restrictive’ concept would be useful to ensure we are all aware of our ‘rostering rights’ in the new FRMS world. A series of member get togethers at each of the Sunstate bases are being organised.

The ongoing problems of a Flight Operations section of Qlink that has to interpret two similar yet different EBAs (in the Eastern and Sunstate Operation) has been further impacted by the turnover of staff within that section.

The end result is that Flight Operations often works on the presumption that a rule for one operation can reasonably be applied to another. This has again had to be challenged recently in relation to a misunderstanding that pilots off reserve can automatically be called into the simulator. Whereas Eastern has specific simulator reserves, Sunstate does not.

The Sunstate EBA has a stepped approach when a pilot is unable to present for a simulator. The agreement clearly stipulates that prior to a pilot off reserve being used as a ‘fill-in support pilot’ that the company must ‘approach a pilot who has been rostered for a cyclical check as a replacement’ and that the pilot has the right to decline ‘if the notice is less than 7 days’.

While the company has agreed to look into this problem it again highlights the ridiculousness of having two similar yet different agreements within the Qantaslink operation. The artificial separation of these two entities has always been designed by Qantas to split the Qlink pilot community into two, which allows Qantas to protect themselves during times of EBA negotiations.

With the labour market for pilots clearly tightening it is time to look again into how the negotiating strength of Qantaslink pilots can be unified and enhanced.

Council Business The ongoing trials and tribulations of the new IFlight Neo system for rostering remains an ongoing sore point for the Sunstate pilot community. In particular the electronic bidding system still fails to accurately replicate the old open book system, especially regarding the limits of bidding for an overnight duty.

At the recent Sunstate Pilot Council meeting held in the AFAP's Brisbane

Pilots are also still faced with an improper system of acknowledging duty changes which fails to provide them with an ability to see what their previous duty was. Both matters (along with a myriad of other IFlight Neo issues) will continue to be monitored by the council.

NO. 1 | 2022

office were (from left): Louise Pole, Richard Copland, Jarrod Blaker, Dave Nelson (company representative), Jonathan Ioannou (company representative), AFAP industrial officer Chris Aikens, Russell Thompson, Rod Millroy, Will Tremayne, Anthony Berko, Dan Lyons

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PILOT DEVELOPMENT AFAP Resilient Pilot Mentoring If you have ever promised yourself that you will ‘keep your head in the books’ between simulator or proficiency check flights, but did not, then this article is for you.

Urban legend calls it ‘post sim euphoria’ where you are so relieved to get your proficiency check over and done with that your brain justifies a way to blot out your old promise to yourself to study!

Our PIREPS of improvement in confidence, competency, connection, and comfort during a two-year gap, reiterated that CPD could also help combat competency fade for every pilot throughout their whole career.

Arguably, we are at our peak immediately after a proficiency check and if we truly filter out the excuses, the 6-12 months ‘in-between’ check flights could be used more productively. After several accidents in the US, the NTSB suggests if the crews had been actively involved in Continuous Professional Development (CPD), the outcome may well have been different. The FAA has taken these findings so seriously that they are mandating CPD by 27 April 2023.

Safety-II is getting more attention globally and is becoming accepted as the next iteration within Safety Systems and Human Factors. Safety-II theory is a shift in thinking to viewing humans as the strongest link in a complex system, rather than being considered the weakest link in a complex system. We believe Safety-II is an excellent target for the continued development of the human in the flight deck which drove us to take a fresh look at mentoring as a mechanism of its delivery.

Phase 1 – AFAP Trialling of Continuous Professional Development

This led us to looking at mentoring through a different lens and as a way to bridge the gap at each ‘career first,’ pairing a pilot who seeks information and experience for their next step, with a pilot that already has made the step. For example, single pilot to a multi crew environment as a first officer, finding a first officer to show what to expect and reduce the chance of pitfalls.

Similarly for a pilot approaching a command upgrade, pairing them with a captain for 6-12 months prior to training can have a positive shift of knowledge before getting to the hot seat.

A positive consequence of the pandemic was the AFAP’s collaboration with Resilient Pilot, an English not-forprofit group with support from the government, regulator, and airlines. Resilient Pilot originally started for ab initio pilots but quickly found that redundant pilots needed to be supported, current and connected in unprecedented numbers. With as long as two years between active flying, this cohort of pilots needed somewhere to plug in.

The AFAP funded 20 members to trial the Resilient Pilot CPD program to test it from the inside. The program consisted of online technical and CRM/NTS competency workshops and competency development scenarios (CDS) (virtual scenario based training) in a ‘non-jeopardy’ environment attended by pilots from all over the world.

The encouraging consensus was pilots felt it helped bridge a gap that the lack of flying had created with comments such as ‘It made returning to work feel achievable’, ‘I felt connected back to the industry’, ‘It felt good to speak pilot again and ‘I felt so much more confident in going for an interview after a long break’.

Phase 2 – Elevating pilot performance with Safety-II mentoring

Phase 3 - AFAP/Resilient Pilot Mentoring Program Launch June 2022 Aligning mentoring under the banner of taking a fresh approach to the value of the human in the flight deck, we believe it can have a positive influence on culture in the context of day-to-day resilience and wellbeing leading to improved performance.

This contemporary approach to mentoring is to have a structured ongoing training and development process so the mentor/coaches are consistently supported and continuously evolving in a Safety-II environment.

This graph shows how a pilot professional development program can act as a resistance to decline between proficiency checks..

(Source: Resilient Pilot)

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Air Pilot

Resilient Pilot recently received Gold Accreditation for their mentoring and coaching development program with the European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC).

The AFAP has collaborated with Resilient Pilot to fund the training of 10 mentors to be able to provide this service to AFAP members.

The AFAP is extremely grateful that these mentor volunteers are giving their own time to give back.

Who are the AFAP/Resilient Pilot mentors?

It is important to note the AFAP/Resilient Pilot mentoring program has attracted mentors who do not profess to be experts and do not set out to give advice.

Their commitment is to provide a listening ear someone to chat to, provide a platform for learning and development opportunities and signpost useful and relevant resources in order to help pilots find the solution that works for the individual.

All mentors adhere to the Resilient Pilot Volunteer Charter which includes many clauses including confidentiality and a commitment to their own self development.

What’s in it for me/the pilot?

Mentoring in days gone by may have been perceived as something you could benefit from when you were starting out and/or did not know anyone in the industry.

Resilient Pilot's Resilience Model Resilient Pilot have adopted the industry wide implementation Threat and Error Management TEM philosophy as our model to empower pilots to assess both personal and professional Threats, Errors and Undesired Stated focussing on Personal Countermeasures and Professional Competencies to build their overall Confidence + Competence + Connection = Resilience.

Our Resilience Model will form the basis of all of our virtual learning and development activities with pilots expected to constantly assess where they are within the funnel and identify countermeasures (personal or Professional) to develop their own Resilience.

• Go to www.resilientpilot.com to check it out • Select ‘Australia’ to find AFAP/Resilient Pilot trained AFAP Mentors • Read the biographies and select the top three as below: - Single pilot > First multi crew job – Consider someone current as a First/Second Officer - First Officer > Looming Command upgrade – Look for a Captain - Captains considering next step > Look for a Check/ Training Captain - Helicopter > Look for our helicopter mentor • Email technical@afap.org.au if you are interested

Globally we now seeing the value in embracing continuous professional development delivered by a virtual blended approach of mentoring, coaching, and training as the new guard.

As humans, we need an edge to hold up our end of the bargain in the Safety-II race to align with technology.

The AFAP has invested in ten members to be trained in the AFAP/Resilient Pilot mentoring program.

So, if you are approaching any next step or career first in your aviation career or want to stay ahead and be an early adopter of CPD, then it is time to back yourself and seek a mentor.

Remember, the FAA are mandating CPD by 2023 as they are recognising skill/competency fade as a limitation. This is your chance to be an early adopter and make CPD a habit!

Sponsor an unemployed pilot! You can also sponsor an unemployed AFAP pilot to regain their confidence and competence!

Further information: technical@afap.org.au

NO. 1 | 2022

Resilient Pilot's Resilience Model

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WELFARE Managing Sleep and Fatigue While pilots may not be able to adjust their shifts to match their internal ‘body clock’, we can use what science tells us about our bodies to improve our chance of a restful sleep whatever our routine may be. Making small changes to your pre-sleep and daily routine, can have a large impact on the quantity and quality of your sleep.

plugs, consider turning your phone off, close doors and windows, talk to your family about your sleep times).

What to do just before bed

What to do in bed

Establish a ‘Wind-Down’ ritual. Develop a short routine before going to bed (e.g. washing your face, brushing your teeth, stretch, read a book, listen to calming music).

Overtime, this routine can act as cue to your body and brain to start preparing for sleep.

Use your bed only for sleep and sex. It’s important to limit the number of activities we engage in while in bed and the bedroom, including eating, watching tv, reading, and working. The brain makes connections between places (the bedroom) and events (sleeping), so by limiting the amount of activities you do in bed, when you do go into your bed your body automatically starts to physically and mentally prepare for sleep.

Doing relaxing activities such as reading, having a hot shower or bath, and stretching can help slow you down and prepare your body for sleep.

Avoid stimulating activities just before bed. Playing a game, watching an exciting show, having an important family discussion, playing on your phone or laptop, stimulates your body and mind.

Silence your phone. Put your phone on silent 30 minutes before bed and place it somewhere further away from you so you are not tempted by flashing lights, but where you can still hear your alarm in the morning.

If you use an alarm clock, make sure you cover it, so you are not distracted by the light and time on the clock.

Avoid eating at least one hour before sleep. Especially avoid heavy, spicy, or sugary foods. However, you can try a light bedtime snack such milk, peanut butter, cheese, or chamomile tea. These foods contain chemicals that your body uses to produce sleep.

Minimise use of caffeine (includes teas, soft drinks, chocolate), nicotine, and alcohol in the hours before bedtime. Caffeine and nicotine stimulate our bodies and brains by releasing various hormones and chemicals.

While alcohol may help you fall alseep, it causes fragmented and interrupted sleep. These can stay in the body for a long time, so try to avoid them for at least 4-6 hours before bed.

Reduce light exposure (e.g. use curtains or sleep masks).

Reduce noise that enters your sleeping area (e.g. use ear

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Lower the temperature. Keeping your bedroom cool, lowers your body temperature and prepares your body for sleep. However, make sure you stay warm with sufficient blankets.

Consider listening to sleep meditation. Meditation helps slow your breathing and decrease your temperature preparing your body for sleep (See the Smiling Mind app for some free meditations). The brain is a quick learner: if you repeatedly use meditation techniques to fall asleep, the response will become quicker and stronger as a new neural pathway is established.

Don’t stay in bed in you are awake. If you have not been able to fall asleep within a reasonable time (e.g., 20-30 minutes), get up, go to another room, and do something boring or relaxing (e.g., sit in the loungeroom with the lights off, read a boring book, meditate, listen to calm music). Avoid doing anything stimulating or interesting, as this will wake you up even more! Once you feel tired again, go back to bed. Long period of being awake in bed usually leads to tossing and turning, becoming frustrated or worrying about not sleeping, in turn making it more difficult to fall asleep. If you lie in bed for long periods of time you train yourself to be awake in bed.

Worry Time. If you’re lying in bed worrying or you wake up in the middle of the night worrying, go to another room and try writing down your worries and tell yourself you will address them when you wake up. Sometimes the more we try to stop worrying, the more we worry. If you are still worrying, listen to some guided meditation and try and focus your attention on that. You can even try scheduling a “worry time” earlier in the evening to allow yourself the time and space to worry.

Air Pilot

What to do during the day

Readily-available support

Make a plan ahead of time for when to sleep. Because schedules may change from day to day, one of the ways you can make sure you remember to take care of yourself is to schedule in times to eat, sleep, exercise, and relax.

AFAP Member Assistance Program (MAP) engages PeopleSense by Altius to provide free, confidential sessions with a trained psychologist for all AFAP members and their direct family members.

Don’t rely on sleeping tablets. Sleeping tablets are a temporary fix, for when some circumstance may be causing you to have trouble falling and staying asleep.

Ongoing use may lead to dependence and interfere with developing good sleep habits independent of medication, thereby prolonging sleep difficulties.

Get regular exercise each day. Exercise helps to increase energy levels, reduce fatigue, improve mood, and promote sleep. While it can be hard to establish a routine with irregular hours, even a small amount of exercise can make a difference. Remember to try not to do strenuous exercise in the two hours before bedtime.

Spend some of your daytime outdoors Sunlight or natural light is important for the body to regulate its internal ‘body clock’.

Keys to success Start small! Making small changes can have a large impact on your sleep. Don’t try to do everything all at once. Pick one or two strategies from the above, and when you are ready you can try adding a new strategy.

Be consistent. One way to create good sleeping habits, is to engage in them consistently. Overtime you won’t even need to think about your sleeping habits, because they will have become such a normal habit for you.

Be patient! Many sleeping problems are due to bad habits built up over a long period. As a result, you won’t fix sleeping problems in one night; persevere with good sleep habits and sleep should get gradually better.

Different things may work for you, so find out what works best and stick with it.

Counselling is available 24 hours, seven days a week.

The psychologists who deliver the service are trained in pilot specific issues. Contact PeopleSense by Altius on 1300 307 912 or through an online booking (www. peoplesense.com.au).

AFAP Crewroom is an online space for AFAP members to connect with colleagues and catch up on the latest updates and stories. It is a virtual Crewroom managed

by AFAP staff and pilots that has 8 topic areas to make sense of the rapidly changing information in an easy to use environment. The Crewroom can be accessed directly from the AFAP website.

AFAP Council Welfare Representatives are a helpful resource and can help direct you toward professional welfare assistance if, and when you need it.

A full list of current AFAP Welfare Representatives is available on the AFAP website (www.afap.org.au).

Medicare or Private Health Cover Counselling: For those wanting to engage more long-term support, private counselling Free, confidential phone counselling: BeyondBlue 1300 22 4636, Lifeline 13 11 14, MensLine 1300 789 978.

For more information, see AFAP Welfare Services (www. afap.org.au) or contact welfare@afap.org.au.

The AFAP also supports HIMS Australia (www.aushims. org.au) in assisting pilots with substance misuse.

24/7 EMERGENCY HOTLINE: 0459 747 757 MEMBER ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (MAP): 1300 307 912 AFAP MEMBER SERVICES: 03 9928 5737 AFAP Sticker .indd 1

NO. 1 | 2022

21/5/19 3:35 pm

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CASE STUDY LOU JANSEN Name

Lou Jansen

Age

60

Nationality

Australian

Current Location

Brisbane, QLD

Medical Condition

Prostate Cancer

Aviation Career My aviation career started off as a flying instructor in the early ‘90s and I progressed through a number of GA jobs until I was employed as a First Officer with Sunstate Airlines. I subsequently joined Virgin Blue in 2001 as a B737 First Officer and progressed through the ranks over the following 19 years until I was made redundant as B777 Training Captain in October 2020. Luckily, I have been re-employed at Virgin Australia as a B737 Captain in September 2021. Exactly 20 years to the day after I originally started at Virgin Blue.

Why were you grounded?

Following the grounding of international operations at Virgin and just prior to being made redundant, my elderly father, who was in a nursing home was diagnosed with advanced bowel cancer. I was advised to get tested immediately.

Initial blood screening by my GP flagged an elevated PSA (Prostate Specific Antigen) reading in my blood tests. I had none of the normal symptoms associated with prostate problems so was not initially concerned. However, the result of further immediate testing resulted in a diagnosis of

AUSTRALIAN AIR PILOTS MUTUAL BENEFIT FUND 30

Metastatic Prostate Cancer.

Since the cancer had spread outside the prostate to nearby lymph nodes, Chemotherapy was the initial urgent treatment. Following months of Chemo and then robotic surgery to remove the prostate, I concentrated on my recovery. I thought my aviation career was over, but nearly a year on from diagnosis, I was able to have my Class 1 medical reinstated.

What was your general health prior to your medical condition?

I had been involved with Olympic and Ironman distance triathlons for many years and had exercised all my life. I thought I was in excellent health and neither my DAME or GP had ever expressed any concerns about my health or fitness.

Why is Loss of Licence cover so important?

I had always been in excellent health and being a long term airline employee, I had plenty of accumulated sick leave. I had always considered that sick leave as my contingency for any illness.

T +61 3 9928 4500 E membership@ aapmbf.com.au

AAPMBF.COM.AU Air Pilot

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Loss of Licence Protection run by PiLots, for PiLots for over 50 years

We understand the life you live, the risks you take and the protection and support you deserve.

Ring us today on 03 9928 4500 or visit www.aapmbf.com.au NO. 1 | 2019

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