135.267

[avpro91]

A pilot begins a part 135 trip as a single pilot in lets say a king air 200, and the original assignment includes 5 hours of flight time. Upon completion of the last leg, the company wants to dispatch the pilot and aircraft for another two legs planned also at 5 hours of flight time. (Total planned flight time for the duty period 10 hrs.) Being single pilot this is illegal as per 135.267 (single pilot- unscheduled operations: 8 hrs flight time max). However.....dispatch wants to add a qualified co-pilot for the next two legs (thus making it a two-pilot crew). With a two pilot crew, they can fly for 10 hrs under 135.267. BUT the trip/duty day started single pilot.(My argument) Is it legal to accept the second duty assignment with the co-pilot???

Let me put this another way: Single pilot still in a king air 200. Planned duty /flight day calls for 8.0 hours of flying. All legal right? (within 8 hours flt time) Yes. Then you get done with the trip and dispatch wants you to do another trip consisting of two one hour legs. ( 2 more hours of flight time...10.0 total for the day) And they will give you a qualified co-pilot to make you a two pilot crew. Is this also legal then???

Keep in mind both trips are within a 14 hour duty day.....which is not an issue...the flight time is.


Myself and 90 percent of others I have talked to as well as all of my former employers say this is ILLEGAL. My current employer seems to think otherwise. The FAR doesn't specify if you can do this or not, so I guess its up to interpertation like everything else in the book.

I say if you start the day single pilot, single pilot duty/flight time rules apply.....all day.

Any other operators out there that say this is legal????

 

[avbug]

Your question regards the ethical and legal implication of a pilot employed for eight hours in a single-pilot situation. After eight hours of flying time, an employer wishes to add a crewmember to make a crew of two, and fly that pilot an additional two hours. The regulation governing the flight time limitation, as you have identified is 14 CFR 135.267(b).

You question weather the pilot who has flown eight hours under 135.267(b)(1) may continue to legally fly the additional two hours under 135.267(b)(2).

Leaving aside any ethical implication, the answer is yes. The employer may assign, and the pilot may accept, the additional two hours.

Let's examine the language of the regulation.

14 CFR 135.267 speaks to the individual crewmember. 135.267(a) begins this section by stipulating "No certificate holder may assign any flight crewmember, and no flight crewmember may accept an assignment..." Note the use of flight crewmember in the singular.

135.267(b) provides that "during any 24 consecutive hours the total fligth time of the assigned flight,...", thus further clarifying that the regulation applies in the singular to each individual pilot, and applies to the specific flight in question. To clarify this; if in the scenario under consideration, the pilot has flown eight hours as a single pilot, he is being assigned a new flight. He has been reassigned as part of a two member crew, and 135.267(b) speaks to the individual assignment. This assignment, when added to any other commercial flying, may not exceed 10 hours for a crew of two.

The pilot, operating previously under the limitation provided by 135.267(b)(1), operated to the maximum flight time allowed under that subparagraph. Upon returning home, he is assigned a new flight. This flight, conducted as a crew of two, may not exceed a ten hour period when added to any other commercial flying. As the pilot has already completed eight hours of commercial flying, he is limited to an additional two hours, provided that he operates as part of a crew of two pilots.

However, to understand the regulation, we must consider the reverse. Imagine that the pilot was assigned that morning a two hour flight as a crew of two. Upon completion of that two hours flying time, he returned back to his base, to learn that a new assignment awaited him. Having completed two hours of commercial flying as a crew of two, 135.267(b)(2) permits the employer to assign an additional eight hours if the pilot continues to operate as a crew of two.

For the sake of discussion, let us assume, however, that the employer assigns the pilot to operate the B200 single pilot for this next assignment. In accordance with the limitations imposed by 135.267(b)(1), we must treat this new assignment on it's own merits. As a single pilot operation, he is restricted to eight hours of flying, when this trip is added to any other commercial flying within the previous 24 consecutive hours. Accordingly, he may only fly 6 hours more, for a total of eight hours. Do you see where this is headed?

Now, let's change the scenario a little. This pilot flew two hours as a crew of two in the morning. He continued to legally operate on a new assignment as a crew of one for an additional six hours. He has now flown eight hours in the previous twenty four consecutive hours. Upon returning home, he learns that a new assignment exists. He cannot take that assignment as a single pilot operation, due to the limitations imposed by 135.267(b)(1). However, by taking on a second pilot crewmember, and operating as a two-pilot crew, he may go an additional two hours.

Why? As noted before, 135.267(b) stipulates that the assigned flight, when added to any other commercial flying in the preceeding 24 hours, cannot exceed eight hours for a crew of one, or ten hours for a crew of two. The assigned flight points to the specific assignment currently being undertaken. The pilot has flown his limit of eight hours commercially in the previous 24 consecutive hours, and cannot take an additional flight under 135 alone. However, he is permitted to do so under 135.267(b)(2) because this flight is conducted with two pilots. Now, operating with two pilots, this flight, when added to any other commercial flying within the preceeding 24 consecutive hours, cannot exceed 10 hours. The pilot may fly an additional two hours, for a total of ten hours within the 24 hour consecutive period.

Another way of looking at this is a pilot who flies eight hours of crop dusting on the side, between eight AM and five PM. Well within the regular duty period, this pilot the stops in at the office where he flies 135 charter. The dispatcher tells him she has a trip for him. Can he take it? He has just flown eight hours. Those eight hours are other commercial flying. If he accepts this assignment, as a crew of two, he can fly for two hours.

Is there a difference between having crop dusted for eight hours earlier in the day, or having flown the B200 for eight hours in single pilot operations? Not so far as the regulation is concerned. The regulation considers only the present assignment, and adds all previous flying to it to arrive at a total. All previous flying is only flying...weather it involved single pilot operations or crewed operations is irrelevant. The regulation speaks to the current assignment, and then stipulates that the current assignment, when added to all previous commercial flying with any 24 consecutive hours, may not exceed 8 hours if the current assignment is a crew of one, or ten hours if it's a crew of two.