I've searched the forum for all the posts related to this topic and never really got an answer. Lots of people arguing and pasting FAR 135.267 all over the place, but no clear answer.
FACT- ON Call is not Rest! Understood clearly.
Question. But is being On Call mean you're On Duty?
We are On Call for 12hr shifts. Whether we fly or not, we Always get 10hrs Continuous Uninterrupted Rest (Not On Call) every 24hrs. (On average we get called out maybe 50% of the time when On Call. Average trip is 6hrs of duty time for round trip from Home Base back to Home Base, sometime as much as 12hr duty time round trip, sometimes as little as 3hr, depends),
When ON Call, Once the pager goes off, at that time we then go ON Duty for 9 hours(if at towards the end of that 9hrs of ON Duty, a longer than normal trip pops up that even hints at coming close to our 14hr duty day, then that crew cannot take it. We're very conservative about that) After 9 hours the next shift goes On Call a few hour early if needed as long as it doesn't interrupts their rest period. If it does interfere with their rest, then we shut operations down until their 10 hour rest period has been completed.
Example: On Call Shift starts at 0600 to 1800. Pager goes off at 0600 we go On Duty at 0600 and OFF at 1500. If the pager doesn't go off until 1300, then we go On Duty at 1300 until 1800(end of being On Call anyways) followed by 10hrs of uninterrupted, Not On Call, Rest. If the pager doesn't go off until 1700(sucks, hour before we're off call, but oh well), then we go ON Duty at 1700 until we get back, then were OFF for 10 hours.
So, Bottom line. Is Being On Call mean you are On Duty? Our 10hrs of Rest Time is never in questioned. All of us pilots like this system, except for one jackass that says that once we go On Call we go On Duty whether we have a trip or not and is trying to screw things up for us pilots. The bosses don't care as long as it's legal and safe.. Some thoughts and more importantly some facts would help.
Thanks fellas