I'm a truck driver, hoping an ailine pilot here can settle an argument from a trucker forum.
Here's a basic breakdown of our hours of service regs: 70 hours on-duty / driving in an 8 day period; 14 hours on-duty / driving between 10 hour breaks; 11 hours driving within 14 hour period; 34 consecutive hours off restarts the weekly clock.
How does the hours regulations break down for you guys? Does the airline keep taps on your hours and schedule your flights accordingly, or do you have to report to them how many hours you have available to legally fly? Does the FAA make a distinction between flight time and on-duty time, or is it all the same?
The previous post spells out flight time limits. However...flight time is only when the airplane is moving.
Duty time is all time between rest periods, including pre-flight, post-flight, and waiting around. Sometimes you might have a 4-5 sit between flights, where you just hang around the airport. Most companies will get you a hotel for anything longer than that but there is no law about that.
Max duty time is 16 hours, and you would then need at least 8 hours rest. But rest starts when you shut the airplane down, and ends when you return to the airplane 8 hours later. Walking through the airport, hotel vans, checking in, getting a new room because the toilet is clogged, eating, and hygiene must all be done in that 8 hours...so you really work 16, and get about 4 hours sleep worst case.
Some companies have better rules than the legal mins...max 14 hours duty is common.
The previous post spells out flight time limits. However...flight time is only when the airplane is moving.
Duty time is all time between rest periods, including pre-flight, post-flight, and waiting around. Sometimes you might have a 4-5 sit between flights, where you just hang around the airport. Most companies will get you a hotel for anything longer than that but there is no law about that.
Max duty time is 16 hours, and you would then need at least 8 hours rest. But rest starts when you shut the airplane down, and ends when you return to the airplane 8 hours later. Walking through the airport, hotel vans, checking in, getting a new room because the toilet is clogged, eating, and hygiene must all be done in that 8 hours...so you really work 16, and get about 4 hours sleep worst case.
Some companies have better rules than the legal mins...max 14 hours duty is common.
I sure hope you get more than that 8 hours off. I have to take 10 hours off and my bed is right behind the seat. Us truckers usually have to sit around and wait for our breaks to end. BTW; do you encounter problems finding a room during the holidays, airport closures, and special events?
No, we don't, and the flight crew walks up to the gate in the morning with 4-5 hours of sleep in that case. There are all the passengers, ready to go. Half of them were already asleep when the flight crew was on final approach the night before.
The FAA does not care about safety as long as this stuff goes on.
No, we don't, and the flight crew walks up to the gate in the morning with 4-5 hours of sleep in that case. There are all the passengers, ready to go. Half of them were already asleep when the flight crew was on final approach the night before.
The FAA does not care about safety as long as this stuff goes on.
It's interesting you mentioned that about the FAA because truckers seem to have a simular problem from the FHWSA (Federal Highway Safety Alliance).
With our hours of service regs, you'd think we get all kinds of rest. But companies set up ridiculous appointment times. Everyone knows we cheat in our log books. It's usually not out of greed, but as a means of trying to make our deliveries ontime. Sure, we can delay our deliveries in order to remain FHWSA compliant. But then we may find ourselves waiting up to a week for the next delivery appointment to be scheduled.
At least we've got one thing in common. The FAA doesn't care about flight safety while the FHWSA nor the DOT cares about highway safety.
Curious about Pilot logging regs and hours
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