135 Days Off

[Ernest T. Bass]

4. See also Letter from Donald P. Byrne, Assistant Chief Counsel, FAA, to Frederick G. Pappas, Jr., Director, Flight Services, Midwest Corporate Aviation, Inc. (June 24, 1991) ("[A] rest period must be prospective in nature. Stated another way, a flight crewmember must be told in advance that he or she will be on a rest period for the duration required by the regulations. In addition, a rest period must be free of all restraint. However, the Agency's interpretations hold that receipt of one telephone call or beeper call does not constitute a violation of a rest period provision. Moreover, a flight crewmember in a rest period must be free of present responsibility for work should the occasion arise.").

 

[johnny taliban]

simply document rest

You guys are missing the point I was trying to make. I realize that the Feds "have consistently interpreted rest to mean blah blah blah..." My point is that bottom feeders are not required (at least in my experience) to DOCUMENT when a pilot's rest began. There is no paper work that states that you are in fact in a rest period. The POI has nothing to go buy except your duty on/off times. It is very easy to keep a pilot on call (i.e. not at rest) during a ten hour period and then when a trip comes up send that pilot out and claim (if it ever was questioned) those ten hours where "rest hours".

The Feds do not give a sh1t.

 

[avbug]

The Feds do not give a sh1t.

The "feds" most certainly do...and documentation is required. Lacking documentation, there is no defense against enforcement action. This, and the record keeping requirements, I addressed in my previous post.

Enforcement against operators for rest and duty infractions is common. Remember, guilty until proven innocent. It's administrative law. If you can't prove you didn't violate the regulation, then you have no defense.

 

[johnny taliban]

rest

I have never heard of an FAA inspector going through a 135 operator's paper work to see if in fact rest time is being documented. In fact I have never seen a form of any kind that unambiguously addresses rest. Duty on/off times? Yes but not rest times.

I took a look at the regs you sited and no where does it clearly define that rest be document. 135.63 (vii) "The pilot's FLIGHT TIME in sufficient detail to determine compliance with the FLIGHT TIME limitations of this part" (that helps a lot).

Am I missing something? Can't just be me. If it is then why is the issue ALWAYS on the mind of pilots who work for Part 135 charter companies? Why does this part of the industry have such a bad rap? Maybe I should call all my former employers and thank them for all that "rest time" they gave me? To bad I didn't know it was rest. Oh well...

The bottom line is that there are many companies that do this and they do it because they know that they can get away with it.

Kinda reminds me of the border/immigration issue. Plenty of laws and lip service about enforcement. Thats working out real well too.