Broncos

Here's one before rotation sign in that I just recently filed. It's more of a "not fit for duty" than "fatigued". On reserve and assigned an international flight with a block of 12 hours with a sign in of 1500ish. Wanting to be as fresh as possible for the trip, I stayed up until 4am the night before, slept 8 full hours, and woke up at 1200. About a minute before I was about to head out the door, I got a call telling me that the flight was delayed and the new report time was 0530 the next morning. Being reserve, they removed the trip from my line, re-ran the trip coverage, and wouldn't you know it, the trip was re-assigned to me. In order to make a 0530 report, I have to leave the house at 0330, which means I have to wake up at 0230. To get 8 hours of rest, I'd have to go to bed at 1830, just 8.5 hours after I woke up from an 8-hour sleep cycle. The other option is not to sleep, which would lead to being awake 17.5 hours prior to a 14-hour duty day. The first option is not realistic. The second option is not safe. It was an easy call.

sailingfun

You have a unusual method for getting ready for a international trip. How do you adapt that to 6,9 or 12 day trips? Did you expect them to pay you for the trip in this situation?

Broncos

I'm a night owl, and purposely fly a lot of redeyes, so this really isn't that unusual for me. I rarely bid to fly international rotations with more than two legs. One leg to the layover, one leg home. This case was the exact type of trip I fly, so getting prepared for it was not difficult. I have yet to hear from the FRB. I was on reserve, so no, I don't expect to get "paid" for the rotation. I also don't expect them to dock reserve pay since this was not within my control.

Broncos

Also, this flight (before it was shifted 14 hours into the future) was planned to land at the destination at 0500 pilot base time. So no, I don't believe staying up until 0400 the night before is unusual at all. In fact, I think it's the responsible thing to do.

FL370esq

And we aren't even in the true "peak" summer season. Things are gonna be thin, thin, thin out there for the next few months.

AlphaBeta

Both are correct. The FAAs interpretation is that it is your choice to extend or not extend. But if you do it for anything other than unfit or fatigued you will not be paid due to the companies interpretation. The FAA will not involve themselves in labor disputes. If we want this changed we need to negotiate for a new interpretation. Sucks but that is how I read it.

Buck Rogers

Gosh..."the responsible thing to do"...
So you guys on international have to fly 12 hours straight?...no rest break,or possibly 2 of them.....???

Crap....that's inhuman....no wonder your preparation was so diligent...you are a true professional

notEnuf

Rest breaks don’t help unless you can sleep and the 7ER has a class 2 facility, AKA the cart magnet seat with a curtain so... yup, useless requiring preparation. 1st break is like trying so sleep in the dining car.

BobZ

Sounds like that fleet is in need of a Roscoe event.

If you cant rest in the rest facility....than its not a rest facility.

Broncos

Don't forget the crying baby in the seat across the aisle from you, and the guy behind you who likes to kick the seat and pound the video screen every 5 seconds. I never plan on getting rest on my rest break. If it happens, that's a bonus.