These regulations, found in the CAP371 or in section 7 of an airline's Operations Manual Part A, limit the number of hours a pilot can work in a day depending on the time of duty start, the number of sectors being flown and preceding rest. Pilots are also limited to the number of days they can work consecutively without taking a rest day within a certain period.
FLYING DAYS:
The big restriction for crewing or operations departments when trying to plan ahead and ensure crew members are available for flights is days off or rest days. A "Day Off" consists of a 24hour period preceded and followed by a local night (8 hours between 2200L and 0600L). Having a day off or multiple days off resets the 'timer' for how long the crew member can work, and the restrictions are as follows: 1 day off within 7 days and 2 consecutive days off within 14 days. So to get the most out of your flight crew, they need to have 3 days off, two of which are consecutive, within a fortnight.
FLYING HOURS:
For most European operators working within the EU, the operations or crewing departments can rely on the table below for calculating the maximum crew duty periods. This is the easiest way to interpret the limitations, all you have to do is look at the time the crew have to report, and then the number of sectors they are planned to fly in the duty day.
So for instance, a flight crew reports at 0845 local time, and have to perform 4 sectors throughout the day. This means the maximum time they are allowed to be at the controls of an aircraft is 11 and a quarter hours. This table is only to be used by crew members who are "Acclimatised" to the local time zone. The local time zone, can be within 2 hours of the previous time zone the crew were acclimatised to. So for instance, a London-based crew will always be acclimatised when they are in Paris or Berlin. However, if a crew member is outside of the two-hour difference in time, the member will be unacclimatised. This further restricts the amount of flying a pilot can do, which will be covered somewhere below. For a pilot to become re-acclimatised, they must spend 3 uninterrupted local nights in the time zone.
There are sometimes situations when a there is a two sector flight with a large gap in between the two sectors, sometimes the gap causes the duty day to be longer than what is allowed. This can be rectified through the use of a Split Duty Period.
This is where you take the crew off-duty in between the two or more sectors of flying, and when the time off duty exceeds three hours, half of the off-duty time can be added to the Maximum FDP. So for example, on a two sector day starting at 0615LT, the maximum allowed FDP is 12 hours and 15 minutes, but if between the 2 sectors there is a 4and a half hour 'split' the maximum allowed FDP will be 14 hours and 30 minutes. The off-duty period can be a maximum of 10 hours and a minimum of 3 hours, as per the table.
When a crew member is unacclimatised to a time zone, and is required to perform flights within the acclimatisation period, the maximum flight duty period is even further reduced. The table below shows the maximum hours a pilot can operate when unacclimatised.
As the table shows, the pilots can be on duty for a certain number of hours depending on the number of sectors to be flown (as per the above), but also depending on the rest they have had when they left their previous time zone.
So for a crew that has had 9 hours of rest, and scheduled to fly 3 sectors, they are permitted to be at the controls of an aircraft for 11 and a half hours.
The reason for the reduction of allowed FDP between 18 and 30 hours rest is due to "Jet-Lag" typically being worse in that period of rest. So as an operator, if there is the potential for a trip whilst down route and outside of our time zone, we try to plan the crew to have up to 9 hours or over 30 hours rest, to maximise the duty they are allowed.
So that is a brief entry level look at Flight Time Limitations and Flight Duty Periods, and how an operations or crewing department of an airline has to plan their crews' days off and rest periods between flying duties. Most major airlines have whole departments which just look after this aspect of trip planning, however for smaller airlines like mine it is just another part of the daily flight planning job!
FLYING DAYS:
The big restriction for crewing or operations departments when trying to plan ahead and ensure crew members are available for flights is days off or rest days. A "Day Off" consists of a 24hour period preceded and followed by a local night (8 hours between 2200L and 0600L). Having a day off or multiple days off resets the 'timer' for how long the crew member can work, and the restrictions are as follows: 1 day off within 7 days and 2 consecutive days off within 14 days. So to get the most out of your flight crew, they need to have 3 days off, two of which are consecutive, within a fortnight.
FLYING HOURS:
For most European operators working within the EU, the operations or crewing departments can rely on the table below for calculating the maximum crew duty periods. This is the easiest way to interpret the limitations, all you have to do is look at the time the crew have to report, and then the number of sectors they are planned to fly in the duty day.
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| 2 Crew Acclimatised Maximum FDP |
So for instance, a flight crew reports at 0845 local time, and have to perform 4 sectors throughout the day. This means the maximum time they are allowed to be at the controls of an aircraft is 11 and a quarter hours. This table is only to be used by crew members who are "Acclimatised" to the local time zone. The local time zone, can be within 2 hours of the previous time zone the crew were acclimatised to. So for instance, a London-based crew will always be acclimatised when they are in Paris or Berlin. However, if a crew member is outside of the two-hour difference in time, the member will be unacclimatised. This further restricts the amount of flying a pilot can do, which will be covered somewhere below. For a pilot to become re-acclimatised, they must spend 3 uninterrupted local nights in the time zone.
There are sometimes situations when a there is a two sector flight with a large gap in between the two sectors, sometimes the gap causes the duty day to be longer than what is allowed. This can be rectified through the use of a Split Duty Period.
 |
| Extension of FDP through use of a Split |
When a crew member is unacclimatised to a time zone, and is required to perform flights within the acclimatisation period, the maximum flight duty period is even further reduced. The table below shows the maximum hours a pilot can operate when unacclimatised.
 |
| 2 Crew Unacclimatised Maximum FDP |
So for a crew that has had 9 hours of rest, and scheduled to fly 3 sectors, they are permitted to be at the controls of an aircraft for 11 and a half hours.
The reason for the reduction of allowed FDP between 18 and 30 hours rest is due to "Jet-Lag" typically being worse in that period of rest. So as an operator, if there is the potential for a trip whilst down route and outside of our time zone, we try to plan the crew to have up to 9 hours or over 30 hours rest, to maximise the duty they are allowed.
So that is a brief entry level look at Flight Time Limitations and Flight Duty Periods, and how an operations or crewing department of an airline has to plan their crews' days off and rest periods between flying duties. Most major airlines have whole departments which just look after this aspect of trip planning, however for smaller airlines like mine it is just another part of the daily flight planning job!
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