One particular airline in the 'developing world' with strong presence in the US has implemented some very creative flight time limit rules where you can be stuck in the aircraft with another guy for 11 hours at night and then they force you into signing discretion report to extend those by another 2 hours. All within the legal framework they created themselves having the local Aviation Authority in their pocket.
When you file fatigue reports they just get brushed under the rug.
Rules created with the pandemic as the excuse, but they seem very comfortable with the status quo.
Originally Posted by
YAKflyer
Whether or not you get a relief pilot depends on the regulations of the country where the airline is located. 14 years ago I took a contract at Air India after retiring (think bankruptcy) from one of the big three here a few years earlier. I ended up flying the B777 with 22 year old FOs that had less than 500 hours total time from FRA to ORD in the winter with just junior and me for 10.5 hours. India allows two pilot operations for flights scheduled under 10 hours so those flights were scheduled at 9:59.