Base month, grace month and staying legal

[getonit]

My base month is March, which means my grace month would be April. I did my first checkride in March 2004 but in 2005 I did it in April. My understanding is my base month can't change, and past grace month you can't fly at all. All of the checkrides were done in a sim. My company still has me scheduled for 135 in May. I don't know how that is legal. I asked and the CP said it is OK, they are usually pretty good about the rules but I don't know how they think they justify this, legally. Any opinion? I hate to call the local FSDO.

 

[cvsfly]

You should have access to your training records. Make sure they haven't changed anything on your 8410 form to changed your base month. If you go into May you will not only have to document your recurrent training, but re-qualification training as well. As of 5/1 you can't serve as a crew member. This is your annual 135.293, .297 & .299 checks correct? And not just a 6 mo. .297, right? If the later you may still be able to operate as SIC or PIC VFR.

 

[Rick1128]

The company can reset your base month. Usually most compananies do not. If you go past your grave month late, then you have to take requalification training. depending on how far you have gone past your base month and your program makes the difference on what you have to do.

A point on grace months. Each training and checking event has two grace month. The month before which is grace month early and the one after the base month, which is grace month late.

 

[Lostdog65]

You can re-establish your base month. That said, if you flew in your grace month, ie: April and then got a check ride in May, the FAA may look at the flying done in April as illegal...especially for 135. Make sure it's all documented...very well...

Eric

 

[HS125]

You can re-establish your base month. That said, if you flew in your grace month, ie: April and then got a check ride in May, the FAA may look at the flying done in April as illegal...especially for 135. Make sure it's all documented...very well...

Eric

You can continue to fly up to the end of your grace month. If you do not get a checkride before the end of your grace month, the only ramification is that you cannot continue to fly until you get a checkride. Nothing illegal about it and you will not get in any trouble for it. Your new base month will be the month that you take your next checkride. The only requalification training required will be spelled out in your companies approved training curriculum.

 

[HS125]

My base month is March, which means my grace month would be April. I did my first checkride in March 2004 but in 2005 I did it in April. My understanding is my base month can't change, and past grace month you can't fly at all. All of the checkrides were done in a sim. My company still has me scheduled for 135 in May. I don't know how that is legal. I asked and the CP said it is OK, they are usually pretty good about the rules but I don't know how they think they justify this, legally. Any opinion? I hate to call the local FSDO.

The company can change your due month to the month that you actually take the checkride if they want. There is no rule that says that you have to have a set due month, only that you take a checkride every twelve months. The FAA gives the company a little lee way as to when the checkride is accomplished for scheduling reasons, thus the early and grace months. Therefore, if the company changed your due month to April on your last checkride, your new grace month is now May. I would look at your training records to make sure that is indeed what they did before you fly into May. Some companies don't like to change the due month to prevent confusion as to when the required checkride is due and when the pilot turns into a pumpkin.

If you are training in a simulator, it is not uncommon for a company to do what yours is doing. Insurance requirements often will allow you to go more than 12 months between simulator based training (usually 13 months). So by sliding your required training by a month, the company can get 13 months of flying out of your training bill instead of only 12 months. So every 12 years, the cheap SOB's get a free year of training out of FSI or Simuflite.

 

[getonit]

HS125 has it partially right, cheap SOB's. I won't get started on that.

But the other part of what you said, leads me to believe that they changed my due month, due to the sim training. I will have to look into that. I was always under the impression that base was base and didn't change unless you went thru the expanded training program.

CVSFLY, this is for my annual check.

 

[Otter]

getonit,

I am going to give my .02 cents worth, and I am sure there are differing opinions, but if I were in my grace month, or the grace month post my last grace from a previous year.....well to the heart of it. I think some/most/many operators and POI's request/suggest/require that a notation be made in the airman's records to indicate reseting the base month.

Often this notation is made in the remarks section of a FAR part 142 or 135 form 8410, or on the appropriate form for annual currency from the operator regarding the airman, or possibly the annual res, who knows really. Long and the short of it...if you have no record to indicate that your base month was re-established it is whatever was last, or in your case, first memorialized as being. If you are past the 13th month, dont fly until you are confident that you are still in grace or get a checkride.

The rule says, no pilot shall accept or operator assign an airman...UGH, always falls on the airman....

I am sure there are many differing opinions, but the person most interested in your ticket is you....be cautious the rules are pretty clear on this.

P.S. on a layover in the islands, have enjoyed the local food and beverage and will opt to not spell check, go easy with the spelling and grammer police...

 

[cvsfly]

I'm also curious when you said all of the checks were done in the sim. Is this a third party vendor -i.e. Part 142, like FSI - or in house? Revisions came to Part 142 training programs in the last year or two. They have not been able to .299 line checks as long as I know. We can only do 135.293 (a) 2 & 3 now and .297 with FSI. The rest (135.293 (a) 1, 4-8) we do with the FSDO.

 

[kingairyahoo]

ok, to summarize...

• your base month stays the same unless your company reset it, very simple process...check that first.
• you can fly all the way thru your late grace month with no penalty.
• if you do fly thru late grace, all it takes is some additional training on your next ride to get current again.

and perhaps im alone in this...

I hate to call the local FSDO.

...but why in the hell would you consider calling the FSDO to rat your own company out???