Originally Posted by
Popgun
Word on the street indicates JQ's FRMS application has been knocked back 3 times now and that a senior manager has been unfairly made to take the fall. The deadline for approval is nominally the end of next month for a 1 May 2017 implementation date.
I hear one of the reasons they are scrambling to recruit now is that many of the current crewing practices will not be permitted under the approved FRMS. There will likely be a need for significant numbers of extra pilots to crew A320 back of the clock flights as well as a third pilot on some more of the B787 sectors.
Apparently the crew rest setup on the 787 (just a pax seat in cabin) has not met CASA requirements either. Rumours that options being looked at (cheapest cost) include fitting some kind of pre-fabricated box with a lie-flat seat in the forward economy cabin as the re-fitting of the manufacturer-designed pilot crew rest above the forward galley is very costly. I was told it could possibly be fitted as needed and then replaced with revenue seats on flights where it was not required. I can see the engineers really loving that on a 2 hour turnaround!
With the FRMS application deadline looming, will CASA back down and gift them a further time extension to get their house in order? Or will JQ pilots finally get some safe and sensible limits imposed on their often dreadful, fatiguing rosters?
PG
Maybe the old 767 crew rest boxes are stored at Mascot somewhere?
