Prevent Flight Assignment if Violations are Detected

What this setting does

When this setting is on, FL3XX will not let a dispatcher mark the Crew Assignment or Duty Time Limit (DTL) status of a flight as OK while an assigned crew member still has a legality violation, such as an expired licence or a flight duty period that goes over the limit.

When this setting is off, the same warnings are still shown on the crew panel, but they do not stop anyone from setting the status to OK.

Think of it as two separate layers:

This article is about the second layer.

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What happens when a status is blocked

1. A dispatcher opens the crew panel of a flight, assigns crew, and changes Crew Assignment (or DTL) to OK.
2. FL3XX saves the crew changes (who is on the flight, roles, times).
3. FL3XX checks the assigned crew for violations.
4. If a violation is found, the status is not changed to OK. The dispatcher sees:

   ASSIGNMENT UNSUCCESSFUL Legality violations detected! Please contact system administrator.

5. The status stays at its previous value (for example REQ or DO). Everything else in the save is kept.

Nothing else is undone. Crew are still on the flight; only the approval is refused.

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When the check runs

The check runs only when a status moves to OK from a status that is not OK. It does not run when:

• the status is already OK and stays OK
• the status is being moved away from OK (for example OK → REQ)
• the flight is post-flight locked (the Crew Assignment status is not changed at all in this case)

Only crew members who are fully assigned are checked: a person, a crew role, and duty from/to times. An empty crew slot is ignored.

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Two statuses, two sets of rules

So a missing licence blocks Crew Assignment OK but does not block DTL OK. An FDP that is over the limit blocks both.

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Which crew warnings block the OK

For each assigned crew member, either of these blocks Crew Assignment OK:

1. The assignment grace period has expired The crew member’s aircraft assignment has a grace date, and that date is before the flight’s planned off-blocks time.

2. A relevant warning is shown on the crew panel Most warnings that appear on the crew panel block the OK, provided the matching warning category is enabled in Admin Settings. Typical examples:

Warnings that are shown but do NOT block

These stay visible on the crew panel as information but never stop the OK:

• Not on duty – the crew member has no roster duty for that day
• On duty, different aircraft – rostered on another tail
• On duty, same aircraft – the informational green indicator
• Roster note – a note-type roster entry
• Qualification or recency “due to expire” – still valid on the flight date, but inside the revalidation warning window. Marking it as important does not change this. An expired or missing qualification or recency does block.

Note: a document that is due to expire (passport, visa) does block. The due-to-expire exception applies only to qualifications and recencies.

If a warning category is switched off

If an administrator has disabled a “Crew warnings for flight” category, warnings in that category are never calculated. They are neither shown nor able to block. For example, if the Documents category is off, an expired passport will not appear and will not stop the OK.

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Which DTL exceedances block the OK

For each assigned crew member, the DTL panel is checked. Any one of these blocks both Crew Assignment OK and DTL OK:

• Flight Duty Period (FDP) over the limit
• Rest before the duty below the minimum
• Rest after the duty below the minimum
• Any rolling limitation over or under its limit: block time, duty time, rest, FDP totals, duty counts, days off, recovery days, and any other limitation group configured for the AOC

A value that has been marked Ignore exceedance on the DTL panel does not block.

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Override for administrators

A user who holds the role Approve Crew Assignment with Violations (FLIGHT_APPROVE_CREW_ASSIGNMENT_VIOLATIONS) can always set Crew Assignment and DTL to OK, even when violations exist and the setting is on.

Use this role for a small group of people (for example the Chief Pilot or Head of Crew Planning) who are allowed to accept a legality risk after review.

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Worked examples

All examples assume the setting is on and the dispatcher does not hold the override role.

Example 1 – Expired medical

Captain Smith’s Class 1 medical expired last week. The dispatcher assigns him and sets Crew Assignment to OK.

• Crew panel shows: medical – expired
• Crew Assignment OK: blocked
• DTL OK: allowed (a qualification problem is not a DTL problem)
• Message: ASSIGNMENT UNSUCCESSFUL

Fix: update the medical in the crew member’s profile, or replace the crew member.

Example 2 – Type rating due to expire

First Officer Lee’s type rating is valid on the flight date but expires in 20 days, inside the revalidation window.

• Crew panel shows: type rating – due to expire (yellow)
• Crew Assignment OK: allowed
• DTL OK: allowed

Due-to-expire qualifications are a reminder, not a violation.

Example 3 – Passport due to expire

Same First Officer Lee, but this time it is her passport that expires in 20 days.

• Crew panel shows: passport – expiring
• Crew Assignment OK: blocked

Documents do not get the due-to-expire exception.

Example 4 – FDP over the limit

Both pilots are fully qualified. Because of an earlier delay, the planned FDP for the day is 14h30 against a limit of 13h00.

• DTL panel shows: FDP exceeded
• Crew Assignment OK: blocked
• DTL OK: blocked

Fix: change the crew, adjust the schedule, or have a user with the override role accept the exceedance after review. If the operator’s policy allows, the FDP value can be marked “Ignore exceedance” on the DTL panel, which then removes the block.

Example 5 – Not on roster duty

Captain Brown is fully qualified and legal, but has no roster duty for that day.

• Crew panel shows: Not on duty
• Crew Assignment OK: allowed

This warning is informational and never blocks.

Example 6 – Status already OK

Crew Assignment is already OK. The dispatcher swaps a cabin crew member and saves without changing the status.

• No check runs, because the status did not move to OK.

If the operator has Reset crew status on crew change enabled, the swap may automatically drop the status back to DO, and the next attempt to set OK will be checked again.

Example 7 – Chief Pilot override

The Chief Pilot holds the Approve Crew Assignment with Violations role. Captain Smith from Example 1 has to fly and the Chief Pilot has reviewed the case.

• The Chief Pilot sets Crew Assignment to OK.
• The OK is accepted despite the expired medical warning.

The warning remains visible on the crew panel for anyone looking at the flight.

Example 8 – Setting is off

Same situation as Example 1 (expired medical), but the operator has the setting off.

• Crew panel still shows: medical – expired
• Crew Assignment OK: allowed

The warning is still there; it simply does not stop the approval.

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What this setting does not do

• It does not prevent adding a crew member to a flight. Crew can be assigned while the status stays at REQ or DO.
• It does not block roster publication.
• It does not send an email or notification; the block is shown only to the user saving the panel.
• It does not distinguish between severities beyond the rules above. There is no per-category or per-limit configuration; the setting is a single on/off switch.
  
  

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Related setting

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Quick reference