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Old 11-08-2022, 09:48 PM
  #46  
JohnBurke
Disinterested Third Party
 
Joined APC: Jun 2012
Posts: 5,926
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The FAA Chief Legal Counsel has addressed the matter, but it may be worth considering aspects of how the matter is addressed. Regarding flight time, the Chief Counsel has held in multiple interpretations that it's block time which counts for accumulated time, when balanced against flight time limitations under the regulation. It's important to understand first that it's block time that's considered, and not just takeoff-to-landing flight time.

In a 2002 letter to a FSDO inspector, the Chief Legal Counsel addressed whether part, or all of the block time is counted against a crewmember's flight time limitations, noting that if the crew member has served at a crewmember station and is assigned to that crew, then ALL of the block time counts against that crewmember's regulatory flight time limits.

https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org...rpretation.pdf

The Agency has previously interpreted the term "aloft" as the time from the moment the aircraft first moves under its own power for the purpose of flight until the moment that it comes to rest at the next point of landing. The duration of "aloft" is equivalent to "block to block" time.
Thus, even if the PIC is not manipulating the controls of the aircraft for the full 10 hours or even if he or she is not at a pilot duty station for the full 10 hours,2 once he or she serves as a flight crewmember on flight leg, the entire aloft time for that flight leg counts. Accordingly, the PIC must count 10 hours in demonstrating compliance with the daily, 30 consecutive, and 90 consecutive days aloft time limitations of section 121.521, paragraph (a) and paragraph (c) (1) and (2). In addition, as to First Officer "A," who manipulates the controls of the aircraft on a flight leg, or who is in the right seat on a flight leg, the entire aloft time for that flight leg counts. Thus, First Officer "A" must also count 10 hours in demonstrating compliance with the daily, 30 consecutive days, and 90 consecutive days aloft time limitations of section 121.521, paragraph (a) and paragraph (c)(1) and (2), assuming he was at a pilot duty station for some period of time during each flight leg.
As previously noted, be careful about the applicability of the regulation: the Chief Legal Counsel has not directly addressed logging the time, but notes that as crew members who have served at the pilot station (flying the airplane...let's not try to stretch that concept too much), being assigned to the crew and having operated at a pilot station not only allows, but REQUIRES the pilot to count the block time for the flight against his or her regulatory flight time limitations.

If I am on the hook for that flight time, I will log accordingly. The FAA clearly recognizes me as a crew member and the block time for that flight will be considered when I'm up against timing out, limited by the amount of hours I can fly. The company will likewise record my time on that flight not as a partial time, but as the block time for that leg. I'm not aware of an employer anywhere that will not accept another employer's record of flight time. If I print out a company record of my flight time, which the company is legally obligate to maintain, and which is maintained in accordance with the regulation and the Chief Legal Counsel's interpretation of the regulation, I do not see any room for anyone to question that time in that printout, or in my own logbook if I transfer that time to my logbook.

Moreover, as noted, if a regulatory violation or incident occurs during the course of my time on that flight, I am on the hook for that event because I am a member of that crew. I may have been away from the cockpit when the event occurred, but if ASAP reports are filed and I want coverage, I must also file one, even if it states nothing more than I was away from the cockpit at that time. Never the less, I am recorded as a crewmember for the duration of that flight, not piecemeal five minutes here or there...but beginning to end, block time, and I am a crewmember as a part of that crew should the crew come under scrutiny for an event that occurs during that time. Gross navigational error over the North Atlantic while I was in the bunk? I'm still part of a crew subject to that investigation. Moreover, if an ASAP report is filed and remedial training assigned, I'm going to have to undergo the same training, even if I was in the bunk...because I'm a part of that crew. I'm legally liable for my assignment to that crew, the entire block is levied against my flight time limitations, and I will be logging it accordingly.

If you feel inclined to log only a portion of it, so be it, but you're still on the hook for the whole enchilada.

Discussion excursions into red herring territory about bunks as crew stations, or sitting in the lav, are mildly humorous, but irrelevant, and clearly not what the FAA intended when identifying crew stations.

The same letter of interpretation quoted and linked above also states, in a footnote:

A PIC, who for example might sit at the flight deck jump seat and supervise other pilots flying the aircraft, serves as a flight crewmember; and all of the block-to-block time for that flight leg counts as aloft time for him.
This is evidence that the example PIC, while not sitting at the controls, is still acting in a capacity of crewmember from the jump seat, and is still serving as a flight crewmember.
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