Minutes from GALDA, EUFALDA/IFALDA AGM May 2017, Buenos Aires

The situation in Germany

by Deutsche Flugdienstberater Vereinigung / German Airline Dispatcher Association,
Chairman Jörn Sellhorn-Timm

The German Association has actually 100 members with a very high percentage of retired FOO’s. It is difficult to keep the membership-level of the association as most of the young colleagues are not motivated to share the work or to take care about the following generation of FOO. This development is a risk latest after 2030 as we (as all associations) need young and motivated professionals.

The aviation scenery in Germany is changing fast. The large touristic carrier TUIfly and Condor are also under reconstruction as the owner Thompson (TUIfly) and Thomas Cook (Condor) are shifting the AOC’s through Europe. Air Berlin must be reorganized and the owner will shift many aircrafts to AOC’s in Austria. Some aircrafts will be wet leased to Eurowings (EWG) which would allow LH (owner of EWG) to increase the number of available seat kilometers very fast. LH Group is integrating the low-coster Germanwings into the Eurowings AOC. With this integration the number of AOC in the LH-Group would be ten (10) located in Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland and Belgium. Not in all ten AOC’s the FOO are qualified to the national standard of Germany or Austria or at least to the ICAO-Standard. The core-member of the LH-Group (Austrian, Lufthansa, Swiss, Eurowings, Cargo and CityLine introduced in 2017 a joint classroom training developed and provided by LH Flight Training. This was the first united LH-Group classroom training as normally individual Web Based Training was used.

The FOO Basic Training in Germany

After an entry level test as an entry-prerequisite the student is allowed to enter the FOO training in Germany. Only after approximately 11 month total training time including 3 month practical training and after passing all theoretical and the practical exam the student is able to demonstrate sufficient competence to receive the German FOO license. In the U.S. the Dispatch license will be issued already after a 2-5 weeks FAR65 program and many operators in Europe, North Africa and the Gulf region are accepting this short and easy FAA-license as a proof of competence. Also some German operator avoiding the qualification requirements according to the German aviation law by using other fast and easy options offered on the market. These operators are ignoring the fact that the FAR65 training deals only with FARs instead of the respective regional/national law and should be continued anyhow under the responsibility of the operator, like under FAR121 – which would be ineffective for operator outside the U.S. The FAA Dispatch license is reduced to a business model and cash machine for FAR65 training provider. The issue any form of license without a complete and proofed qualification and competence is simply wrong. As long as there are shortcuts like the FAR65 license, all other professional competence development concepts for FOO are endangered, also the new Competency Based Training Concept for FOO. IFALDA should explain the meaning of a FAR65 license– it’s just the entry ticket for the beginning of the FOO qualification program.

ICAO Competency Based Training for Flight Operations Officer,

summary and report by Jörn Sellhorn-Timm, IFALDA Director Training Standards:

What has happened before?
During the ICAO Summit 2016 IFALDA presented the aspects about flight watch and also FOO qualification requirements for Flight Operation Officer. During a follow up meeting in November 2016 the ICAO Air Navigation Bureau invited IFALDA to take responsibility of the development of a new FOO CBT Manual. IFALDA asked Jörn Sellhorn-Timm to lead this project.

Parallel the ICAO invited Jörn Sellhorn-Timm (GALDA) to represent IFALDA in the CBT Task Force Conference which was held in March 2017. During this conference the five major functions were present: ATC Controller, ATC Electronic Specialist, Certified Aircraft Maintenance, Pilots and Flight Operation Officer. Individual groups developed the ICAO Competency Framework for each function and discussed the next steps. Based on this understanding the IFALDA representative developed a briefing of the ICAP CBT concept and presented it to the IFALDA Board and to the member of the core team developing the FOO CBT Manual, which are:

• Aaron Levenson, Training Manager OCC, Air Canada
• Jörn Sellhorn-Timm, Manager Training Standards, Lufthansa Aviation Training
• Luo Fenge (Lucy), Civil Aviation University of China
• Ray Ellis, Supervisor Flight Control OCC, Delta Airlines

The situation now:
during the IFLADA Board Meeting on 09.May 2017 Jörn Sellhorn-Timm was confirmed as IFALDA Director Training Standards. A detailed description of the FOO CBT concept will be issued on the IFALDA Homepage.

The next step in this project will be the development of the structure and the essential content of the FOO CBT Manual, 03-05 June in Frankfurt. The result will be presented to all stakeholders which are the IFALDA Board/Director and the subject matter experts. It is required to integrate the Aircraft Operator into the development of tasks and related FOO competence criteria, so the listed core team member are responsible for the distribution of the results into their network asking for feedback and acceptance.

It is the target to have a first draft of the FOO CBT Manual ready until 10th November to be ready to discuss the results during the next ICAO CBT Task force Conference 14-17th November in Montreal.

With best regards
Jörn Sellhorn-Timm
GALDA Chairman