4. Fitness for duty with regard to FDP extensions
For your fourth question, you note that § 117.19 allows a certificate holder to extend an
FDP by up to two hours. You ask whether a flightcrew member must report to an FDP
sufficiently rested to accommodate a possible two-hour FDP extension.
Section 117.5(a) requires a flightcrew member to "report for any flight duty period rested
and prepared to perform his or her assigned duties." (emphasis added). As the
emphasized portion of the§ 117.5(a) regulatory text indicates, the fitness-for-duty
3 Clarification of Flight, Duty, and Rest Requirements, 78 FR 14166, 14169 (Mar. 5, 2013).
2
requirement applies to duties that are assigned, not duties that could be assigned.
Accordingly, until a certificate holder decides that an FDP extension is necessary, a
flightcrew member's fitness-for-duty determination is based on the assumption that the
FDP will not be extended.