Originally Posted by
goose
I skimmed through the rulemaking. It appears that they will limit us to 3 night hub turns, unless we can rest in the hub. Is that how you guys have read it? I'd much rather work five days in a row, because I'm adjusted by day 3. What do you guys make of it?
Yeah... it looks like our stuff starts on page 62. The way I read it, the FAA thinks 5 nights is okay as long as we get a bed in the hub (see split-rest requirements a few pages before).
The ARC is recommending 4 nights as long as we get 14 hours off between night 3 and 4, if we can't then it's only 3 nights.
Originally Posted by FAA Flightcrew Member Duty and Rest Requirements
The FAA has concerns that simply limiting nighttime operations to three consecutive nights could result in a significant increase in the number of first night operations, since presumably carriers will not change the nature of their operations, but simply will schedule more multiple-night crew pairings to accommodate the existing operations. Thus, a flightcrew member who is currently assigned two 5-night pairings in a 2-week period could potentially be assigned three 3-night pairings in the same 2-week period, increasing the risk associated with the first night of operations by 50 percent during that timeframe. Certainly long-standing industry practice has been to fly more than three consecutive nights. The FAA is concerned that taking an approach that may appear safer in modeling could lead to adverse safety impacts in the real world.
I think that the FAA is right in this case. We're going to end up with 3-on 4-off and be constantly switching our body clocks. I'd rather hub turn M-F and be off for a week.