Originally Posted by
Verdell
I couldn't find a PWA reference, but SRH pg 84 says "A pilot on short call is required to be within the general area of his base and promptly available for contact by Crew Scheduling and must be able to promptly report for an awarded/assigned rotation. "
2-hour NC notwithstanding, when your SC begins you should already be in the "general area" of your base. Your scenario suggests that you're "departing" from another city to commute in for that hypothetical 1400 assignment during the SC period. I wouldn't recommend doing that.
That's functionally the original basis (as far a I know) for the 2 hour non-contactable. Yes right now we've turned it into more of a game even for locals, but I think the original intent was for a pilot to be on a flight that got in after the start of SC, but less than 2 hours in. Since that pilot is obviously at the airport when their flight arrives they can be made to report "immediately" as early as 2 hours after the start of LC. So there is at least some understanding that pilots could be in the process of commuting to their base but not be in the general area right at the start of SC. In their air we can't receive phone calls hence the non-contactability and the requirement to check your schedule when you land to see if scheduling assigned anything while you were out of contact. I've never seen this explicitly explained, but rather it is the logical conclusion to why the entire non-contact provision is in the PWA in the first place.
I don't think anyone is advising a pilot who, well prior to the start of SC, has a rotation reporting several hours into the SC, to only commute in late for that report. Theoretically the latest a pilot's commute flight should be getting in is 2 hours after the start of SC, at which point they can immediately report for such assignment.