The working regime of flight crews is a quite curious subject for most people who have the idea that they work little and have a lot of free time. However, the reality is that working time is distributed in a very different way from most occupations and, due to flights duration, there are days when the working day can be very long. Therefore, activity periods and rest periods are carefully regulated to ensure that fatigue does not compromise the operational safety.
At the end of the last century, the so-called FTL (Flight Time Limitations), European regulation on the limitation of working time and rest periods for air crews, came into force. This regulation, combined with the FRM (Flight Risk Management) systems for managing airline fatigue risks, allows airlines to match rest protection with the flexibility they need to operate efficiently.
Thus, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has an essential role in providing national authorities, airlines and crews with basic lines of interpretation so that this and its implementation are done in the same way throughout Europe.
Therefore, there are records of the activity of both aircraft and crews, which reflect the flight hours, rest and training, which are kept for a period of time set by the authority for consultation if necessary.
The current European legislation in the so-called SUBPARTE Q – Circular 16B regulates the limitations of flight and activity time as well as rest requirements. It covers all possible aspects from the type of aircraft, route, number of take-offs/landings, flight duration, delays, night hours, etc, to adapt the operation to present circumstances.
Let’s look at some of the most relevant points:
The daily time limit will be given by the number of take-offs/landings, the take-off time, route, etc, making a difference between flight hours and activity hours which include the presentation time of, preparation of the aircraft and/or stopovers.
The operator shall ensure that the total duty periods programmed to each crew member do not exceed:
An operator shall ensure that the total flight time allocated to each crew member does not exceed:
The longest period of daily activity can reach 18 hours 30 minutes, provided that rest conditions on board allow crew members to operate safely.
Each activity period must be preceded by a rest period.
The minimum rest period on land will be 10 and a half hours or the equivalent to the previous activity, whichever greater, guaranteeing 8 hours in the accommodation place.
Likewise, in long-haul flights and depending on their duration, an-in flight rest time will be ensured for the safe development of the operation.
The routes planning and schedule is done a month ahead, respecting the limits established by the authority and/or the collective agreement. The routes are evenly distributed throughout the year so that all crew members have gone, more or less, the same number of times to each destination the fleet to which they are assigned flies to.
In the case of pilots, when distributing the routes, there are factors to consider such as destinations with a difficult airport to maneuver that, due to their complexity, require additional training in the simulator.
The flights duration is determined by the fleet in which the pilot’s function is performed.
The narrow body fleets are meant for short and medium-range flights and perform maximum 5/6 hours flights, while wide-body aircrafts are used for long flights as they have the greatest autonomy, being able to make flights of up to 14 hours.
Pilots’ schedules are very different depending on the fleet they fly.
In short range fleets, that are mainly for domestic and Europe flights, the working periods can be divided into services of up to five consecutive days, with sleepover or not. Usually, this sequence will be followed by a minimum of two days off before starting a new sequence or “line”, as it is called within the sector.
In long-haul fleets working services can be up to 9 consecutive days and the subsequent rest will be given by the time zones that have been crossed in the trip, being 24 hours the minimum generated before being called to fly again.
The regulation establishes a minimum of 8 resting days on a monthly basis. However, each company has its own collective agreements which normally exceed that amount. On the other hand, crews that fly long distances and change time zones generate additional rest times, necessary to adapt to these time changes.
Thus, crews of short-haul flights usually have between 8 and 12 days off a month and those of long-haul between 12 and 15 days, depending on the company for which they work.
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