Quote:
Originally Posted by rickair7777
This is my understanding. One call was a formal allowance under the old rules, Now it's 100% up to the pilot, so the company should be VERY cautious about even making one call unless they are pushing your show time out at least ten hours from now.
ALPA's Guide to 117 addresses this issue and refers to the "one phone call" policy as if it is still in effect. In response to multiple questions about 14 CFR 117, the FAA published a clarification of the new rules in the Federal Register. Here is what they wrote concerning the one phone call rule:
"A number of commenters asked whether the required 8-hour sleep opportunity eliminates the one-phone-call rule or places additional restrictions on when the phone call can be made. ALPA asked whether a flightcrew member is required to notify the certificate holder if the certificate holder's phone call prevents the flightcrew member from receiving an 8-hour sleep opportunity.
The FAA has a “one phone call” policy that “generally allows a certificate holder to initiate one phone call during [a] crewmember's rest period.” [39] If the crewmember voluntarily chooses to answer this phone call, then the FAA does not view the call as disruptive and breaking the rest period. [40]
The sleep-opportunity requirements of § 117.25 do not eliminate this policy. However, the FAA cautions that a flightcrew member may have difficulty getting back to sleep after being woken up by a certificate holder's phone call. In that situation, a flightcrew member may notify the certificate holder, pursuant to § 117.25(f), that his or her sleep opportunity has been interrupted. Thus, a certificate holder runs the risk of interrupting a flightcrew member's sleep opportunity if the certificate holder calls a flightcrew member during the flightcrew member's rest period."
If you go back and read the initial interpretations regarding the one phone call rule, nothing has really changed. The FAA has always left the door open for even one phone call to be considered as an "interruption." The new emphasis on fatigue management and reporting may make it easier for a pilot to report this kind of an interruption so the practical effects might result in more hesitation from companies to call even once.