Air Vietnam Rosters

[Prong Wallop]

Can anyone currently flying a320 for Vietnam Airlines provide a typical 6 week flying pattern?
Thanks in advance

[HVN-driver]

Normally a roster looks very simple, usually no off days indicated in he 6 weeks on only blank days and according to rostering these days are "available days", so the roster people think you can fly on these days.

The rest of the roster is very simple basically you work 6 days in a row then get 36 hrs off and then you start again until the 6 weeks are over and you go home or not if you are off loaded.

The days are very long and you have to expect long duty hours as the time between sectors can be very long up to 4 hours. It is not uncommon to have 12 hrs duty time nearly each day as most of the time you will have to fly 4 sectors.

Sometimes you have to expect to position home from Hanoi back to Saigon. Guess who has priority. Yes, each local holding an Vietnam Airlines ID regardless if he or she is travelling for duty purposes or just for fun. So you have to expect to sit at the airport waiting to get on a flight, maybe the last flight on this day. By the way rostering expects you to start the next duty on time, say 5 am the next day even if you return to your home base at 6 pm and you checked in at 5 am that morning. Regardless of the 12 hrs rest you should have as they think that the rest pirode starts after the last sector even if you have to position afterwards.

[Lost in Saigon]

Things are much better than that on the B767 fleet.

The airbus rostering is a little uncivilized right now but will change as the new pilots get online. There has been a little problem with the new pilots getting their Seychelles certification to fly the Seychelles leased A/C. Many of the new guys are only flying Vietnamese registered 321’s and have a pretty good roster.

Max duty periods vary with time of check in and number of legs. Example..

Max 13:00 hours duty (07:00-07:59 check in with 1 or 2 legs)
Max 11:00 hours duty (07:00-07:59 check in with 4 legs)
Max 12:00 hours duty (05:00-06:59 check in with 3 legs)

Duty days can be long, but the FOM rules only allow 55 hours duty in any 7 consecutive days. Or max 190 hours in 28 days. You have to keep track of this yourself and then advise crew roster that you will exceed the limits.

Max flight time is 100 hours in 28 days but I don't think many see anything close to that.

Positioning is confirmed Y with space available upgrade to C, but only if it is booked in advance. The problem is when there is a last minute change or irregularity. Then you end up positioning standby. Again, this should also improve as more pilots are qualified on the Seychelles A/C.

[Prong Wallop]

Thanks Lost
Do the FOM rules apply to all fleets or only applicable to the 767?
Also does positioning count towards duty time?

[HVN-driver]

The FOM should be the same, but the terms of the FOM can be changed easily. Keep in mind that Vietnam Airlines is state owned and that Vietnam is Vietnam and that the CAAV, the civil aviation authority of Vietnam, is very close to the airline.

Even with more people getting on line and if they will get the Seychelles license there will be still more than enough flights. Increased frequencies and additional routes must be covered. I don't think that there will be a change back to normal values. You should keep in mind that the costs per pilot will be the same if he or she is flying 50 hours a month or 100 hours. So the airline will try to get the most out of the money they pay the contracting agencies.

Rosters will be published late on the Airbus fleet, up to the day before they become effective and will only cover the next seven days. Expect a call from rostering soon after the roster was published giving "some" changes. For those of you interested in a stable roster that is known in advance and that covers more than a week you will see that all this is not available at Vietnam Airlines. Please don't take the rosters during SARS as standard if comparing todays rosters.

[Lost in Saigon]

Yes, the FOM is the same for all types.

Yes, the CAAV is close to the airline, but that doesn't change the rules.

Crew Roster will push the rules or even ignore them, but when confronted with the rules they always respect them.

It is very easy to keep track of your duty time or block hours and if you are too high, roster will release you from flying.

It happens all the time.

At least that has been my experience.

[Shaman]

<< The rest of the roster is very simple basically you work 6 days in a row then get 36 hrs off and then you start again until the 6 weeks are over and you go home or not if you are off loaded.><

Emmmmmm

sounds like days 1 to 6 work, day 7 off start a bit late on day 8 (which is the first of the next 6 days) , days 8 to 13 work, day 14 off etc ... which all adds up to 4 complete days off in 28 - surely not!

[HVN-driver]

... no that's what they roster some times.

According to the FOM this would not be legal but what do you expect from people who don't realy understand the FOM and who are under pressure to work with a limited number of pilots.

At the end you will get home with about 7 days "off" in 28 days. But basically you will see rosters planed initially with less then 7 days "off". By the way most of the "off" days are just blank days and not offically off days.

Be prepared to a lot of roster changes, expect nearly every day a call with a change, expect to receive a call at your "off" days and expect that they expect you to sleep with your mobile phone switched on, available 24hrs 7 days a week.

I know this sounds like many other airlines, but I have never seen it like this.