Originally Posted by cessna157

The quick and dirty version:

Let's say your on A4, 8am-10pm

Day 4 of your trip, you report at 9am and block into CVG at 4pm, released at 4:20pm. If you do not talk to scheduling at all, you are back into your window, subject to be called back, until the close of your window at 10pm, also subject to 13.5 hours from 9am.
If you talk to scheduling and they have nothing else for you and you are released, you are released to rest at 4:20pm for 10 hours, or until 2:20am (which is then outside of your window), so you're done until your next window).

Basically, what happens when you don't call scheduling when you get back, you are released into your window, subject to call out within the 13 1/2 hour duty day and/or end of window. But I thought I remember reading that even if you are in an A4 window and report at 6am, you can only be used until 7:30pm duty wise, but they can still call you to notify you of a trip until 10pm (but I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong).

It gets tricky when you report and release before your window even starts. If I remember correctly, you are released into 10 hours of rest, then into whatever remains of your window. This is usually only common for the A6 window and beyond, but I guess it possible for the A5 and maybe A4 for a super early flight.

The moral of the story, if you finish a trip and nothing is on your line, it's probably in your best interest to call scheduling and get something else or get released. They've been really good at just releasing into rest lately.