Flight Instructor's Crew Rest
 

Big argument comes to mind about proper crew rest for flight instructors, not to confuse crew day. What would be the correct number of hours of crew rest for a pilot that flies 5-6 hours per day?
FAR is pretty vague and sometimes hard to understand. Back in my Navy days it was 12 hours of crew rest, 12 hours of crew day and max 8 hours of airtime during a 24hr period.
Thanks guys.

Not exactly sure what you mean by "crew rest." Flight instructors do not have any rest requirements. A flight instructor cannot give more than 8 hours of FLIGHT instruction during any 24 hour period, but that's not to say that the other time needs to be legal rest (like in a 121 world).

I dont think I understand your question though.

You only need enough time off the hobbs to keep your flight time below the 8 hours in a 24 hour period.

So....not much.

While CFIs are restricted to 8hrs of flight time in a 24hr period, there is no duty time limit like you have in pt 135 & 121 operations. That means the school can have you fly 8hrs, conduct sim, ground & whatever else with no regulation. It happens and I strongly disagree with this.

TheFly,
Thanks for the clarification. That's exactly what I feel, since at the school where I'm training students CFIs are logging 8hrs of flight time, plus 2-3 hrs of ground (pre/post flights). I feel fatigue can be a factor with these young CFIs, that being said 120hrs per month is not bad at all.
Once again thanks

You can easily end up with a +15 hour, 7 day a week schedule as a CFI. That's the truth.

I did that as a CFI for a year and a half. It got me to airline minimums fast but I was so burnt out by the end of that year and a half that I knew I wasn't giving quality instruction anymore. That place made me feel like crap.

I'd rather get 8 hours in 1 day, than only 1 hour/day for 8 days. ;) If you're building time for the regionals, getting a seniority number is important. But, you still have to operate safely and make it to them with a clean ticket.

Like others have said, no rest requirements.

But watch the 8 in 24 limit, a long commercial day/night XC followed by a busy day can easily put you over that. It's not 8 in a calendar day, it's 8 in the last 24. A 121 pilot can actually fly more hours in a shorter window than a CFI can.

I know a guy that thought he met the rule by flying X/C at night- half before midnight and half after. Then logged all on the previous day. He got gigged for ten hours within 24. Just got a letter in his jacket for two years but he never got hired by a regional (though not his only problem). Last I heard he was still in a King Air making 50K/year and not happy.