La. Admin. Code tit. 70 § V-105
Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 11, November 20, 2024
Section V-105 - Appointment of the Agency SchedulersA. Each agency or department that anticipates use of DOTD/OFO aircraft for air transportation services will designate a responsible individual as the permanent air transportation scheduler and a second responsible individual as the alternate scheduler. These internal agency schedulers are to coordinate with the DOTD/OFO scheduling section to help achieve the most effective use of the state fleet of aircraft and helicopters. The primary reasons for assigning an internal scheduler for each agency are to reduce the number of parties contacting the DOTD/OFO schedulers, to promote flight coordination within agencies, to simplify the scheduling procedure, and to assure proper authorization of flight requests. Ideally, the air transportation scheduling assignments should be given to two individuals who are centrally located in the agency and within the same office. These scheduling duties would be additional duties assigned to established positions with the current organization. 1. Responsibility of the Agency Scheduler a. The permanent scheduler will be the agency's primary contact with the DOTD/OFO on the subject of flight scheduling and availability. He/she will be responsible for arranging flights, forwarding alterations or cancellations, assigned internal priorities, maintaining records and keeping the alternate scheduler well versed on the system's operations. On the other hand, the alternate scheduler should be prepared to fill in for the permanent scheduler in the case of sickness, personal leave, vacation or any similar circumstances.b. Each agency scheduler will be responsible for obtaining and permanently recording the information on the Internal Flight Request Form provided by DOTD/OFO for each flight reservation.c. This information is necessary for completion of the trip ticket and passenger manifest and will be given to the DOTD/OFO scheduler when requesting a flight.2. Flight Scheduling Guidelines a. Sufficient notice should be given to allow optimum aircraft utilization. As a basic guideline, all flights should be requested not later than 24 hours in advance of the desired departure time. All flights should be requested before 12 noon on the preceding business day. Normally, flights and crews are scheduled by the DOTD/OFO during the afternoon of the preceding business day. Exception: Saturday through Monday flights are scheduled on Thursday. Exceptions to the guidelines will be subject to the availability of an aircraft and crew. Pilots cannot be scheduled for duty over 14 hours in a 24-hour period and must have a minimum of 10 hours rest since the termination of the previous flight duty period.b. For the sponsor's consideration, the best available commercial alternative will be provided by the DOTD/OFO scheduler when a trip involves a significant repositioning of the aircraft without payload or a location that is well served by airlines. A few minutes difference in travel between office and state hangar vs. office and commercial flight should not be considered justification to opt for state aircraft. Also in the interest of optimum fleet utilization, spare seats will be filled upon coordination with the trip sponsor, who should make every reasonable effort to accommodate.c. When scheduling conflicts exist, priority will be given to travel locations where there is infrequent or no commercial service or locations that are otherwise difficult to reach. Prior to a flight request, a conscientious determination of priority by all users is imperative if the system is to accomplish the desired scheduling objectives.d. The following definitions explain the various classification of priority.Emergency- response by state aircraft is mandatory; e.g., disaster, emergency medical service, etc.
Priority- alternative means of public air transportation are not available.
Routine- alternative means of public air transportation are not available within 30 minutes of the requested departure times.
Top Priority- response by state aircraft is essential.
e. If an internal priority is not declared at the time the flight is requested, the requirement will be considered to be routine.f. All conflicts will be discussed and settled with the trip sponsors or their designated scheduler. sponsors should be alert to the needs of others and plan their travel needs to best use the aircraft and crews. 3. Flight Scheduling Procedures a. All flight requests will be made to the DOTD/OFO flight scheduler at (225) 342-7912 or 7913, who will enter the request along with the agency internal priority on a tentative schedule. This tentative schedule will be confirmed the afternoon of the last business day prior to the flight. If an adjustment in time is necessary to accommodate flight scheduling, the DOTD/OFO scheduler will advise the agency scheduler of the necessary changes at that time. A passenger manifest will be prepared prior to each flight. The sponsor or his representative must sign the manifest/trip ticket and is responsible for verifying the flight purpose thereon. At the conclusion of the flight, disposition of manifests/trip tickets will be determined by the agency of department operating the aircraft.b. All passengers are requested to be present at the aircraft at least 10 minutes prior to planned departure time. This will allow the pilot to depart on schedule and meet all subsequent schedules on time. The cooperation of each passenger is needed in order to avoid inconvenience to other passengers. If a passenger is unavoidably delayed in arriving at the airport, a call to the DOTD/OFO scheduler, or the pilot if away from home base, is requested prior to scheduled departure time. If no contact is received from the passenger, the standard procedure for the pilot will be to proceed (if all other passengers are present or if passengers are scheduled to be picked up at the next stop) not later than 30 minutes after scheduled departure time.c. In order to provide a means of confirming flight requests a week or more in advance, the following applies: request early confirmation from the DOTD/OFO scheduler; verify the agency internal priority under §105. A.2 c; understand that there is a possibility that an aircraft may be chartered to meet the flight request if a state aircraft is not available; the charges for use of charter aircraft will be billed directly to the user agency.d. Flight Cancellation i. Flight Canceled by DOTD/OFO. On some occasions, it may be necessary to cancel scheduled flights. The DOTD/ OFO scheduler will immediately contact the agency scheduler and attempt to arrange alternate transportation. If the agency so desires, the DOTD/OFO scheduler can usually arrange for a charter flight.ii. Flight Canceled by the Passenger. Cancellations of reserved flights shall be made, at least 24 hours in advance of scheduled departure time. Later cancellations may result in a cancellation charge of $50 being assessed against the agency unless sufficient justification for the late cancellation is provided to the undersecretary of DOTD.e. Phone Contacts During normal business hours: | (7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.) |
DOTD/OFO Scheduler | (225) 342-7912 |
Flight Operations Manager | (225) 342-7913 |
Nights and Weekends: | Home Phone Pager |
OFO Scheduler | (225) 774-2149 |
Director of Flight Operations | (225) 292-4394 |
| (225) 377-0917 |
4. Rate Structure and Billing Procedures a. In order to ensure full disclosure and complete accountability of the use of state aircraft, each agency must identify the purpose of the flight.b. Official state business travel is defined as travel via state aircraft to conduct business for the state of Louisiana.c. Rate schedule for DOTD/OFO aircraft. Users of aircraft operated by DOTD/OFO shall be charged in accordance with the following rates as recommended by the secretary of transportation and approved by the governor.i. Twin Engine Turbo Prop-$200 per agency flight hour to destination and return.ii. Twin Engine (Reciprocating Engine)-$120 per agency flight hour to destination and return.iii. Single Engine $60-per agency flight hour to destination and return.iv. Rotary Wing Single Engine-$200 per agency flight hour to destination and return.v. A minimum charge of $100 per agency flight will be collected for all flights which generate less than $100 in per hour charges. A $15 per hour, per pilot, per agency charge will be collected for ground waiting times.vi. A cancellation charge of $50 may be assessed against the agency if the agency does not notify the DOTD scheduler of a cancellation at least 24 hours prior to scheduled departure time.d. Routing. For maximum utilization of aircraft, a user may be routed via points other than those requested, but will not be charged for other than the point to point flight hours of the route requested. Since more than one user may travel on the same flight, each user will be billed according to their respective requested routings.e. Billing i. The DOTD/OFO will bill each user on a monthly basis. Each user will receive an invoice which will identify the date of the flight, aircraft number, manifest number, passenger names, point of origin and point of destination, any special changes, the total flight hours and the respective charges.ii. It is the responsibility of each agency to expeditiously handle any charges for air travel. Failure by an agency to meet its payment obligations shall result in the loss of flight privileges on DOTD aircraft.iii. Make all checks payable to: State of Louisiana, Department of Transportation and Development, Box 94245, Capitol Station, Baton Rouge, LA 70804-9245.La. Admin. Code tit. 70, § V-105
Promulgated by the Department of Transportation and Development, Office of Highways, LR 12:117 (February 1986).AUTHORITY NOTE: Promulgated in accordance with R.S. 2:6 and 36:509 F(3).