飞行员操作飞行手册Pilot Operational Flying Manual

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Flight Time And Duty Hours 39

the Company, including any FDP

(see below), positioning, ground

training, ground duties and standby

duty. A Flying Duty Period (FDP), on

the other hand, is any duty period

during which you fly in an aircraft as

crew. It includes positioning

immediately before or after a flight

(say in a taxi or light aircraft) and

pre/after-flight duties, so the start

will generally be at least 30 minutes

before the first scheduled departure

time and the end at least 15 minutes

after last chocks on or rotors last

stopped time, though these may vary

between companies (see also Pre- and

Post-Flight Activities and Positioning). In

Canada, Flight Duty Time starts

when you report for a flight or

standby and finishes when the

engines stop after the final flight of

the day, including time used for

duties prior to the reporting time.

Presumably, after-flight duties aren’t

included, as there are no specific

times laid down, except with

reference to airlines.

If a Flying Duty Period immediately

follows ground or other duty, the

FDP commences from the start of

the other. With split duties (see

below), the intervening time on the

ground is also included. The

maximum rostered FDPs are in

tables in the Ops Manual which

actually come from CAP 371 (The

Guide to Requirements on the Avoidance

of Excessive Fatigue in Aircrews). These

tables (only two reproduced below)

give limits dependent on

acclimatisation (or not) to the local

time zone. You're considered to be

acclimatised if you've had three

consecutive local nights free of duty

within a local time zone band of two

hours (for a definition of 'local night'

see under Duty Cycles).

Maximum FDP—Fixed Wing;

single pilot

Sectors to 4 5 6 7 8+

0600-0759 10 9½ 8½ 8 8

0800-1259 11 10¼ 9½ 8¾ 8

1300-1759 10 9¼ 8½ 8 8

1800-2159 9 8¼ 8 8 8

2200-0559 8 8 8 8 8

Maximum FDP—Helicopters;

single pilot

Local start Max

FDP

Max Flying

0600-0659 9 6

0700-0759 10 7

0800-1359 10 7

1400-2159 9 6

2200-0559 8 5

FDPs for aeroplanes are more

flexible than for helicopters because

the latter involve relatively short

flights during which several sectors

are flown without stopping rotors,

giving you a high workload. In fact

(as you can see), in a helicopter,

there's a maximum number of hours

you can fly within any FDP, in view

of the lack of sector limits, and the

fact that 4 hours’ helicopter flying is

the equivalent of 8 hours’ hard

labour, and double that when longlining. In Canada, that sort of

restriction seems to come with helilogging or spraying.

Helicopter pilots doing repetitive

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short sectors at an average rate of 10

or more landings per hour (e.g.

pleasure flying or load slinging)

should have a break of at least 30

minutes away from the aircraft

within any continuous period of 3

hours (you need it, too). After 3

hours' offshore shuttle operations in

conditions other than day VMC, you

40 Operational Flying

should get a 30 minute rest free of

all duty.

As the objective of these restrictions

is to ensure that you're adequately

rested at the beginning of each Flying

Duty Period, it follows that

flexibility should be applied at the

end. All FDP limits can be stretched

by Split Duties, In-flight Relief or

Extensions, which are described

below. Extensions can be used on

the day at your discretion, to cater

for unforeseen delays, etc., but the

others must be planned.

Discretion to Extend FDPs

There are always delays in aviation,

for anything from technical to

weather reasons, and a Flying Duty

Period may be extended if you think

you can make the flight safely and

have consulted the other members

of the crew about their fitness.

However, the normal maximum is

based on the original reporting time,

and calculated on what actually

happens, not what was planned to

happen (everything must be planned

properly). Sometimes, for example,

you may have to exercise it if a lower

performance aircraft is used instead

of a larger one, and consequently

takes longer to get round the route.

This discretion is yours (as

Commander), but some Companies

will make the decision for you

before the first flight of the day,

which is not when it should be used.

In these circumstances, you may

only extend the FDP by 1½ hours,

saving the remainder of the 3

normally permitted for later.

In UK, extensions up to 3 hours are

regarded as the absolute limit, except

in emergencies, which are situations

that, in your judgment, present

serious risks to health and safety,

such as Air Ambulance flights,

where the patient may be put at risk

by the delay caused by a rest-period.

In such cases, the figures may be

extended by up to 4 hours, provided

that no in-flight relief has been

allowed for and the previous rest

period has been taken in full.

There must be at least 48 hours

between Air Ambulance flights, and

a spare (qualified) commander must

be carried if you plan to extend by

more than 2 hours of the permitted

4. The need for the trip itself must

also be certified by a competent

medical authority, and no passengers

(other than next-of-kin of the

patient) must be carried. Once the

patient has been de-planed, you can't

use any further discretion over the

permitted 4 hours to get you home.

You can only do 3 of these flights in

any consecutive 28 days.

Whenever discretion is exercised, the

circumstances should be reported to

Ops on the Discretion Report Form (in

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the Ops Manual). If the Duty Period

is extended for more than 2 hours,

the report should also be forwarded

to the CAA within 30 days.

In Canada, most people extend to 15

hours, if the following rest period is

extended by the same amount (1

hour) or you do less than 8 hours’

flying a day. Transport Canada can

issue a special permission for 15

hours, so check your Ops Manual -

in some cases, your next rest period

must also be an hour longer, or you

can’t do more than 8 hours flying

the next day. Spray pilots are

restricted to 14 hours anyway (and

must have 5 days off in every 30).

Flight Time And Duty Hours 41

Minimum Rest Periods

As well as having a maximum

number of hours on duty, there's

also a minimum rest time between

duty periods. A Rest Period is time

before a Flying Duty Period which is

intended to ensure that you're

adequately rested before a flight. It

doesn't include excessive Travelling

Time (over 90 minutes or so) or

Positioning. During it, you should be

free from all duties, not interrupted

by the Company and have the

opportunity for a minimum number

of consecutive hours sleep (8, in

Canada) in suitable accommodation,

plus time to travel there and back,

and for personal hygiene and meals.

In Canada, the minimum rest period

is defined in only one place in CARs,

right at the front, under Interpretation,

where it says that you should be free

from all duties, not be interrupted

and be able to get at least eight

hours’ sleep in suitable

accommodation, travel there (and

back) and take care of personal

hygiene. Realistically, therefore, the

rest period should be about nine

hours long. It’s an hour extra anyway

for spraying, with 5 hours of sleep

taking place between 2000 and 0600

hours. Time spent on essential duties

required by the Company after duty

are not part of any rest period.

You should have your rest periods

(see also Duty Cycles) rostered enough

in advance to get your proper rest.

Minimum Rest Periods should be at

least as long as the preceding Duty

Period, and at least 12 hours (in

UK), except when accommodation

is provided by the Company, in

which case the minimum may be 11,

subject to any exemptions you have.

Rest starts from the end of the Duty

Period and not the Flying Duty

Period (see earlier for the

differences). A Rest Period must

include a Local Night if it follows a

Duty Period longer than 18 hours.

Discretion to Reduce a Rest Period

You can reduce Rest Periods below

the minimum, but like extending

Duty Time, it's at your discretion,

and can only be done after

consulting the crew. In any event,

you must be able to get at least 10

hours at the accommodation where

you take your rest, subject to the

requirements of Travelling Time.

Use of discretion for reducing rest is

considered exceptional and shouldn't

be done to successive Rest Periods

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(it's very much frowned upon). In

general, you're better off extending

an FDP than reducing a Rest Period

if at all possible. Also, at no time

should a Rest Period be reduced if it

immediately follows an extended

Duty Period, or vice versa (this is even

more frowned upon).

Your discretion to reduce a rest

period (following a non-extended

FDP) should not be for longer than

1 hour. If a Rest period is reduced, a

written report should be submitted

to Operations on the Discretion Report

Form (again, in the Ops Manual). If

the reduction is by more than 1

hour, both you and the company

must forward the report to your

Inspector within 30 days.

Split Duties

You can extend a duty day by other

means than discretion, though, and

you can do it on duties with a long

time gap between flights.

Technically, a Split Duty is a Flying

Duty Period with two or more

42 Operational Flying

sectors separated by less than a

minimum Rest Period, typically

being a situation where you deliver

people to a place and wait for them

to come back. In other words, you

can claim some of the period spent

hanging around in the middle as

"rest" and tack it on to the end of

the basic working day. What's more,

you can plan to do this from the

start, extending the FDP by half of

the "rest" taken if it's between 3-10

hours (inclusive, providing the hours

are consecutive). In Canada, the

extension is up to 3 hours, so you

need 6 hours off.

The Company should make

arrangements for a quiet and

comfortable place (not open to the

public, which doesn't mean the

aircraft) for the rest to be taken. If

your rest is longer than 6

consecutive hours, they should also

provide a bed in the previously

mentioned "satisfactory

accommodation".

The rest period doesn't include any

time required for immediate post-

and pre-flight duties, typically 15

minutes for each (see also Pre/Post

Flight Activities).

If the rest period gets to be longer

than 10 hours, just start a new FDP

(but see also Minimum Rest Periods).

Also, there's nothing to stop you

having two split duties within one

FDP—the only proviso is that the

different sectors (and their duty

periods) should be separated by

more than 3 hours to claim the extra.

In Canada, you can go beyond 14

hours by half the rest period up to 3

hours, if you have been given

advance notice and you get 4 hours

in suitable accommodation, and are

uninterrupted. This means that the

maximum time you can possibly be

on duty is 17 hours, if you have 6

hours off during the day. Your next

rest period must be increased by at

least the extended time.

In-Flight Relief

Although small operators don't

require it (because their aircraft don't

generally have the endurance), just in

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case you were wondering, this works

in a similar way to Split Duties, in

that you can extend the working day

by using a proportion of "rest" taken

within it, but you must be away from

both Flight Deck and passengers,

and it’s subject to certain limitations

outside the scope of this book. If

you've been relieved and have no

further duties on the flight, then the

remainder of the FDP is treated as

positioning.

Positioning

Positioning means being transferred

from place to place as a passenger in

surface or air transport, usually

before or after a FDP, but also at

any time as required by the

Company (this shouldn't be

confused with normal travel from

home to work—see Travelling Time

below). Many airlines use taxis for

this, but you may be lucky and get a

comfortable bus or a light aeroplane.

All time spent on positioning is

classed as Duty, and when it comes

immediately before a Flying Duty

Period is included in it, so the

subsequent rest period must account

for (and be at least as long as) the

total FDP and positioning.

Positioning is not, however, counted

as a sector, and in case I haven’t

mentioned it before, a sector is the

Flight Time And Duty Hours 43

time between an aircraft first moving

under its own power until it next

comes to rest after landing (there are

no sector limits for helicopters).

Travelling Time

Travelling time (that is, not

Positioning but normal travel from

home to work) is not classed as duty

and therefore not included in the

totals, but should your journey

exceed "a lengthy period" (about 90

minutes), you should make

arrangements to get nearer. When

away from base and travelling times

between the aerodrome and sleeping

accommodation exceed 30 minutes

each way, the resulting rest period

should be increased by the excess (or

a lesser time) enough for at least 10

hours (9 for cabin crews) there.

If you have to travel from your

home to an aerodrome other than

your normal one, the actual time

between the two aerodromes (if any)

is also Positioning (for example, your

normal trip to A is 20 minutes, but it

takes ten to get to B from A, so

there's 10 minutes' extra to add to

the FDP). You must also include

excess travel to the new aerodrome

over and above your normal

travelling time.

Standby Duty

Aside from crews actually flying,

resting or taking time off, some must

be available for emergencies, like

sickness or extra flights. Standby is

when the Company requires you to

be on call and able to report within,

say, 90 minutes, but not where you

need merely to be contactable for

notification of a duty that starts 10

or more hours ahead.

Should you get called out, your

maximum Duty Period is what your

maximum allowable FDP should be,

according to the tables, plus 6 hours

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for the standby itself, which

presumably means that if you

haven't been called out after that,

you're safe. The ensuing Rest Period

must be based on the combined

length of Standby, FDP and

positioning. Standby alone should

not exceed 12 hours, and all standby

time counts towards the totals,

except when a predetermined notice

has been given before reporting,

when it can be halved.

In Canada, you can either be on On

Standby, On Call, On Reserve or Free of

Duty. For the first, you must be in a

specified location and available at

less than an hours’ notice - for the

second, the location requirement is

removed (these are for commuter or

airline operations). When on reserve,

the notice period is more than one

hour, with each day having an

uninterrupted rest period scheduled

in advance, giving you the chance of

at least 8 hours’ sleep. There are 3

ways of dealing with this:

· You get 24 hours’ notice of

when your rest period will start,

and how long it will be. It

cannot start more than 3 hours

earlier or later than the

preceding rest period, or more

than 8 hours in a week (that’s

1.1 hours a day). So, if your first

rest period starts at 8 in the

evening, the next one must start

between 5 and 11 (pm), and

those for the rest of the week

around 7-9.

· You get at least 10 hours notice,

free of all duty.

44 Operational Flying

· You get no duties and are not

interrupted between 2200-0600

hours.

Most companies use the third. If the

above cannot be complied with, that

is, you get no notice at all, your

maximum duty time is 10 hours, and

the next rest period must be

increased by 5 hours (actually half

the duty time).

Cumulative Limits

UK

Your weekly total of Duty Hours

should not exceed 55 (60 for

helicopters), with an occasional

increase to 60, counting everything

(flying duty, ground duty, split duty,

standby and positioning). In any 28

consecutive days, it’s 190 (200).

The number of early starts and late

finishes must not exceed 3

consecutively, or 4 in a week.

Officially, Early Starts and Late

Finishes arise from duty periods that

impinge on the period between 01-

0700 local acclimatised time, to

cover ringing your customers

between 23-0700 hours before you

propose to fly, and letting them

know if you can go or not because

of weather. If this go/no go time is

earlier than 1 hour before the

proposed start of the FDP, it must

also be added to the FDP.

Your total hours in the previous 28

consecutive days should not exceed

100 (90 for helicopters) at the

beginning of any flight, but the expiry of

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the 28 days is at the end of the day

the flight begins, so a bit of bad

drafting makes things confusing,

because you don't know what you're

going to do that day. Also, helicopter

pilots shouldn't do more than 18

hours in 3 days, 30 in 7 and 240 in

84 (3 x 28). You shouldn't do over

900 hours (800 helicopter) in a year.

Canada

1200 flying hours a year, 300 every

90 days, 120 hours every 30 days or,

if you’re on call, 100 hours every 30

days. For commuter and airline

operations with aeroplanes, 40 hours

a week, or 60 hours a week for aerial

work or air taxi. For single-pilot IFR,

8 hours a day. There are no

cumulative limits for duty hours.

Duty Cycles

Days off are periods available for

leisure and relaxation that are not

part of a Duty Period (that is, not

rest periods, although their function

is the same; the essential phrase is

free from all duty). A single Day Off

includes two local nights (defined

below) and should be at least 34

hours long. Subsequent days off will

include a further local night for each

additional one, the first being at least

20 hours long and the rest 24. A day

off may include a Rest Period. A

Local Night is 8 hours falling between

2200 and 0800 local time.

If the Company can't manage to

schedule much in advance (although

they must make the effort), days off

must be rostered at least 7 days

ahead and may only be given up with

your permission, assuming that

rostering limits are not exceeded. If

you lose a day off you must have one

to make up for it inside the next 28

days (days off are intended to be

sacrosanct).

You should not work more than 7

consecutive days between days off

and must have 2 consecutive days

off in any consecutive 14. You

Flight Time And Duty Hours 45

should also have at least 7 days off in

any consecutive 4 weeks and an

average of at least 8 days off in each

consecutive 4-week period, averaged

over 3 such periods. Helicopter

pilots (as always, a special case)

should also have 2 consecutive days

off after 7 consecutive days on duty

and at least 3 days off in any

consecutive 14 (a single day off for

helicopter crews may only follow up

to a maximum of 6 days duty).

In Canada, for commuter and airline

operations using aeroplanes, or when

on call, at least 36 hours a week or 3

days every 17 days (all in one go).

For aerial work, air taxi and

helicopters, 13 days every 90 or 3

every 30, although you can be

assigned duty for up to 42 days after

5 days off instead of the latter

requirement. You must, in any case,

have 5 days off after every

assignment over 27 days. In other

words, before and after any

assignment of duty over 27 days, you

must have 5 days off, and the

maximum assignment is 42 days.

Records To Be Maintained

Operations are responsible for

completing your Record of Flying and

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Duty Hours from the information you

give them at the end of each flight.

Try and resist maintaining them on

their behalf, as this will ensure that,

if somebody is fiddling the hours, it

won't be you that gets it in the neck

first (I once worked for a company

whose totals were consistently 100

hours a month less than my figures).

Records must contain information

concerning the beginning, end and

duration of each FDP (and the

function performed during that

period); the duration of each duty

period (whether or not it includes a

FDP); the duration of each rest

period prior to a FDP or standby

duty period; the dates of days off

and weekly totals of duty. These

must be preserved for 1 year from

the last entry, while discretion

reports are kept for at least 6

months. There's a 7-day example of

an FTL record overleaf. The left

hand side deals with flying hours and

the right with duty hours.

Pre And Post Flight Activity

Pre-flight activity (for flight

planning, etc.) is about 30 minutes

before the first departure; Post-flight

activity is about 15 minutes after last

chocks on/rotors last stopped time.

For a Split Duty, they are about 15

minutes each. All these may be

shorter if the flight is despatched (that

is, the work is done by other people).

Delayed Reporting Time

If you're informed of a delay to your

reporting time before leaving your

place of rest, the new FDP

commences 4 hours after the

original reporting time, or at the new

time, whichever is earlier. The max

permitted re-scheduled FDP,

however, is based on the original

reporting time from the tables.

In Canada, if the delay is over 3

hours, flight duty time starts 3 hours

after the original reporting time.

Pleasure Flying

Briefly (because it's dealt with more

fully in Chapter 12), pleasure flying

involves short flights which take off

and land at the same aerodrome (not

including photography). This

presumably includes load slinging

46 Operational Flying

from helicopters. Under these

circumstances (if you only do

pleasure flying), a single FDP

shouldn't exceed 10 hours, but you

can stretch this to 12 if you're

positioning to and from base. Within

that FDP, you should not spend

more than a total of 7 hours at the

controls, except for up to an

additional 2 when positioning only (in

any case, you should not be at the

controls continuously for more than

3 hours). Also, you should have

breaks at least 30 minutes long

according to this:

FDP Duration Rest

up to 6 hours at least 1 hour

6-8 hours at least 1½ hours

over 8 hours at least 2 hours

Split Duties do not apply, but

normal rest periods do.

Definitions

A couple of stray definitions that I

couldn’t fit in earlier:

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Week

7 consecutive days starting at 0001

local time on any set day of the

week, as determined.

Rostering Period

Normally four consecutive weeks.

Rostered, Scheduled or Planned

Duties

Single or a series of duty days

notified to you in advance.

Operational

Procedures

How a company operates, from

weather minima to deicing …..

Flight Planning

Proper Planning Prevents Poor

Performance. Quite true. As we're not

strictly talking about drawing lines

on maps (which you should know

about already), I've combined the

operational planning that technically

is up to you with the procedure for

setting up a charter, since they are

both part and parcel of the same

thing. With any luck, Ops will have

done their part for you, but there

will always be some overlap which

will have to be sorted out amongst

yourselves.

Procedure For Charter Queries

You may be the only one in the

office one day, and a customer wants

to go somewhere. How do you

quote for a job? There's no

substitute for experience in what is

really the function of Ops or Sales,

but the following is based on sound

practice. All quotes (including subcharters) should be recorded—there

will be a book or file somewhere,

and your figures must be put under

the appropriate headings. Initially,

you need to know:

· Customer's Name & Contact no

· Date of trip

· Route details

· Load details

· Timings

· Alternative action if diverted

The last one is quite important, as

you will quite often have to make

that decision on their behalf, and the

more knowledge you can get before

you go, the better you will look if

things go wrong.

This information (and more) is put

on the Flight Brief, a document you

get before you take off telling you

what you're going to be doing. The

charterer shouldn't be expecting a

48 Operational Flying

service that's illegal or unsafe—the

most common is landing without

permission ("It's alright, he's a friend

of mine") and flying overweight

("We got it all in last week"), not to

mention bad weather at the

destination ("I can see the end of the

garden"). It's too easy to get a

reputation as a cowboy company

when attempting to give customers

what they want, and they’ll drop you

in it if something happens, so why

bother? Actually, whilst on this

subject, if a customer insists the last

pilot managed to do the job, check

that he wasn’t using something a lot

bigger (“Oh yes, now you mention

it, it was an Astar” Duh).

When quoting, try to give the

information they want, so they will

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be less likely to go elsewhere. If you

have to call back, do so within, say,

15 minutes. Always ring back when

you say you will, even if it's just to

say you haven't got the information

yet—it's all salesmanship! Quotes

should be valid for about 7 days,

because things change, as if you

didn't know already.

Invoicing is based on flight times, so

keep them and costs down, which is

as much for the customer's benefit

as yours. It's hard enough to sell

flying, but once you start the addons, they often start to back off.

Normally, just take the hourly rate

and multiply it by the flying time,

rounded up to the nearest 5 or 6

minutes (the latter for decimal

accounting). The aircraft speed for

flight planning purposes should be

in the Flight Planning or Technical

section of the Ops Manual, and

hourly rates should be on a chart in

the office. Some companies have

precalculated figures for frequent

destinations in a spreadsheet or on

the wall somewhere. You will then

need to add up everything else that

costs money, namely landing fees,

handling charges, Customs/Special

Branch etc., not to mention

purchase taxes, except for foreign

trips and those in aircraft with more

than 12 seats, which are exempt

(more details on going overseas later,

but don’t forget to claim the fuel

drawback).

Payment should be made in advance,

as it would be if they went by train,

though some approved customers

may be invoiced afterwards, but

even then a written or faxed

confirmation of the booking, or the

equivalent of a purchase order is

required. This next bit is VERY

important: The more rush on the part of

the customer, the greater must be your

insistence on payment first!

If they can’t pay in advance (no

credit cards, cheque book eaten by

the dog, whatever) politely refer

them somewhere else; you won't

look very good if you incur a bad

debt, as, once the panic's over, they'll

likely complain about the weather,

service, etc., and make every excuse

not to pay. The Company should

accept all major credit cards anyway.

Tip: Some customers say they're

going to put a lot of work your way

and want a discount as a result.

There's nothing wrong with that, it's

normal business practice, but don't

give the discount straight away,

otherwise you'll find they have only

one or two trips and disappear,

effectively getting cheap flying. The

best way to deal with anyone who

may be half-serious is to give a

retrospective discount, such as every

Operational Procedures 49

13th hour free, or a cheque for 10%

of the money spent every fortnight.

If he's any sort of businessman, your

customer will understand. If he

doesn't, then he may cause other

trouble as well, like arguing about

the bill. For photographers, take the

money first and refund it when their

stuff is published.

When invoicing, have some sort of

system where the customer signs for