Exactly.

The MD has a defined time period of those conditions though, a pilot does not.

Let me illustrate the terms of a contract I am familiar with. After the first 8 hours of work, hours 9 through 14 are paid at time and a half. Hours 15 through 24 are paid at double time. Once 24 hours are worked, you get a "sleeper". That is 8 hours of sleep time paid at straight wages. Plug in a decent hourly wage to that, for the sake of discussion say $30 an hour. For those on standby the pay is 5 hours regardless of a call. Get a call the the preceeding applies.

Today at work I brought up our theoretical pilot making $65 an hour flight time. When asked if they would work 14 hours getting paid what amounts to 18.57 an hour....I'd better not repeat here what they said.