Confidential Human Factors
Incident Reporting Programme
The Charity
Aviation
Maritime
CC6507
Initial Report
Down-route the expectation has always been that we give a pre-flight brief on the bus.
The company details in the operations manual a lengthy list of what is to be discussed with the crew prior to the inbound flight.
I’ve written to the company and the union stating that the bus is not safe, I have highlighted that the bus is moving and the transport is up against time and we are officially on duty 1 hr before departure. Crew are spread out over a large bus, the lights can be turned off and pitch black, crew can’t be seen as they are all spread out and some wear ear pods and basically aren’t listening. The bus will not wait for me to give a brief and I should not be expected to stand, kneel on a seat or shout down a bus/coach to my crew to deliver an effective, safe briefing. If I was to fall the company would ask why was I not seated with my seat belt on if I was injured and I’m certainly not twisting my back or neck to turn around or shout down the length of a bus/coach.
When I emailed the company, I explained my concerns about delivering the inbound briefing and where I’m expected to do it? Their reply was I could ask the crew to come down before report time! This is an absolute No! We were operating home on a different aircraft type so change of working positions and I should have been asking new SEP questions relevant to aircraft type.
The point of all this is, there is no time allocated to conduct a briefing, my operator doesn’t want to change the report time because it will increase FDP eating into our 900 hrs and probably trigger additional costs to the company.
Company Comment
The pre-flight briefing is an important part of the duty to share information, collaborate with the flight crew to promote safety and security, issue reminders and address any concerns. Whilst a briefing is always conducted from a base, following a night stop, an abbreviated, shorter briefing is required. The SCCM shall liaise with the Commander to discuss factors affecting flight safety for the next flight or series of flights, there might be aircraft changes such as type or variant. There is no requirement to “ask SEP questions”. Only when there is a variant or type change, there will need to be a short discussion to ‘frame’ the crew’s minds for any changes or differences compared to the aircraft on the outbound such as location of the AED, other safety equipment, crew working position changes, special category passengers etc.
There is no expectation for crew to report before their report time for a briefing. Whilst there is a requirement for an inbound briefing as per the operating procedures manual, some SCCMs elect to conduct this on the transport to the airport. If the SCCM determines that they are unable to utilise the bus to complete a briefing due to environmental factors such as the transport size and layout, lack of light (time of the day), noise, distractions etc., a safety report is required to highlight the issue and what they did as a corrective action. As an airline, we continue to review the briefing structure, including inbound briefings following a nightstop, to identify if there are any other solutions. If the SCCM is unable to complete a briefing on the transport, in the airport, there is usually space around the gate or beyond the gate to complete this task i.e. out of earshot of passengers.
CAA Comment
Pre-flight briefings as described in the operations manual form part of the pre-departure procedures and are therefore to be completed following report for duty. An operator should specify the procedure for the conduct of pre-flight briefings and ensure provision of a suitable location that enables achievement of the required content.
CHIRP Comment
An appropriate area and sufficient time should be allocated to brief the crew as required in the operators manual, if that time is not allocated, then the SSCM should conduct the briefing as required and be sure to document the incurred delay allowing the operator to investigate this specific instance. There may be occasions where the bus is an appropriate place to conduct a briefing and a suitable use of time. From a health and safety aspect crew should not be stood up or kneeling on seats on the bus to address the crew, they should be sat facing forwards and wearing a seatbelt if one is supplied.
There is a review on UK FTLs (flight time limitations) currently taking place by the CAA, this review will include looking at the impact of things such as car parking locations, briefing times etc. have on FTLs, not just at base but down-route as well.