Quote:
Originally Posted by Adlerdriver
Do you operate short legs with four pilots like that all the time? Interesting scenario. Some are rested, some are deadheading into the flight, all are somehow under four pilot rules. All so that the limiting pilot is legal to operate a 4 hour flight that could have been done by just two of the pilots already there and rested.
Southern operates the 777 under the very lax flight/duty time limits of either Flag or Supplemental contained in our OpSpecs. Most other pilot groups have been able to negotiate more humane limits. Because most pilot groups don't need to suffer under the CFR limits the FAA has been loathe to change them.
Mixing various crew compositions creates scheduling havoc due to Flag CFR 121.487 and its sister Supplemental CFR 121.525. You can't keep mixing 2 pilot, 3 pilot, and 4 pilot crews throughout the month. SAI's current 777 route structure includes legs that could be flown with 2 pilots (under 8 hours), 3 pilots (under 12 hours), and 4 pilots (no flight time limit just a 30 hour duty limit). Hence, most trips keep either a 3 pilot composition or 4 pilot even if its a 1:45 leg from Leipzig to East Midlands. It's a waste to have 4 pilots for a short leg, but it sure is nice having a voice activated coffee maker.
If anyone is to blame it's the lax rules governed by the FAA. The management of ACMI carriers simply exploit those limits and any loopholes in their respective CBA's. It's up to the pilot groups to negotiate tighter limits. If every airline's management could throw out their pilot group's CBA's we'd all be suffering under CFR limits as management exploited them to maximize "efficiency", i.e. profits!