These questions and answers are based upon the Federal Aviation Regulations. Collective Bargaining Agreements may be more restrictive than the Regulations.
1. Is a pilot who is assigned reserve status required to be given rest?
Yes. If a pilot on reserve status is to be given a flight assignment, he/she must be able to look back 24 hours at the completion of each segment of the flight assignment and have had, at a minimum, 9 hours of continuous rest in the 24-hour period. The rest period must be pre-assigned; it is not possible to retroactively designate a rest period. Alternatively, a carrier may keep a pilot on call for the entire 24-hour period providing that if the pilot is given a flight assignment, he must be given the required rest (9 hours reducible to 8 hours) prior to reporting for the assignment.
2. Can the 9 hours of required rest be reduced?
Yes. The 9 hours can be reduced to 8 hours providing a compensatory rest is given. The compensatory rest is 10 hours if the flight time is less than 8 hours; 11 hours if the flight time is less than 9 hours; and 12 hours if the flight time is more than 9 hours. The compensatory rest must begin no later than 24 hours from the beginning of the reduced rest.
3. How does the FAA define rest?
The FAA has consistently interpreted "rest" to mean a continuous period of time during which the flight crewmember is free from all restraint by a certificate holder. This includes freedom from work and freedom from responsibility for work should the occasion arise. Thus, a crewmember who was required to be near a phone, carry a beeper, or maintain contact by computer so that he would be available should the carrier need to notify him/her of a reassignment would not be on rest. However, there would be no rest violation where an air carrier does not impose any requirements on the crewmember during the rest period, and the crewmember just happens to answer the phone (or otherwise contact the employer) when the air carrier calls to notify him/her of a reassignment that will begin after the completion of his/her rest.
4. If a reserve or any pilot is on an assigned rest period can the air carrier require the pilot to respond to the telephone pager or beeper?
No. If the air carrier requires a pilot to respond to its call, that is a present responsibility for duty and is not rest.
5. Can an air carrier require a pilot to call the air carrier when he is on an assigned rest period?
No. To require a pilot to call the air carrier wold be a present responsibility for duty and not rest.
6. Can a pilot voluntarily accept a contact from the air carrier when he/she is on an assigned rest period?
Yes. A carrier can call a pilot once during the assigned rest period and it will not interrupt the rest period. If the pilot elects to answer the call, a flight duty assignment can be given.
7. Can a pilot be given advance notice of a flight assignment?
Yes. A pilot can be placed on "long call" reserve for an entire 24-hour period. However, before he/she can accept a flight assignment, the pilot must be placed on rest for at least 9 hours reducible to 8 hours with compensatory rest prior to the flight assignment.
8. Can the air carrier call a pilot and extend his/her rest period?
Yes. For example, you are not required to be telephone available until 0001 following your rest. In this case, the Company would have to contact you before your rest starts, to extend your rest period. However it could contact you during your rest period and if you answered, it could extend your rest period.
9. Does the reserve rest requirement apply to international or supplemental operations?
No.
10. What action should a pilot take if he believes he is too fatigued to fly?
The pilot should inform the air carrier of his condition and decline to fly. The FAA has consistently said that if a crewmember operates an aircraft with insufficient rest, the pilot could be charged with a careless and reckless violation, as provided by FAR 91.13. The FAA has also stated that the "lack of rest of the pilot is certainly a circumstance which could endanger others, and it is not necessary that the situation devolve into actual endangerment for there to be a violation of FAR 91.13."
11. What does the FAA advise a reserve crewmember to do if he/she is scheduled for flight duty and he/she has not received an appropriate prospective rest period as required by FAR 121.471(b)?
First, the reserve crewmember must determine whether all of the elements of §121.471, including the reduced rest provisions in §121.471(c), have been met. Second, if §121.471(c) cannot be used, you are hereby advised that §122.471(b) specifically prohibits a flight crewmember from accepting an assignment that violates this provision. In the event any flight crewmember finds himself/herself scheduled in violation of §121.471, he/she should, at a minimum, advise the appropriate person at the air carrier. Depending on the air carrier’s protocol, this may be the Chief Pilot, the Director of Operations or the Director of Safety. Additionally, a pilot always has a duty under §91.13(a) to notify the certificate holder when he/she is too fatigued to fly.
12. Must a pilot assigned reserve status be given 24 hours free of duty every 7 days?
The 24 hours free of duty every 7 days is also a lookback to determine compliance. Therefore, if a pilot is scheduled for flight time, the pilot should look back 7 days and if there has not been a 24-hour period free of all duty or responsibility for duty, then the pilot cannot accept the assignment.
13. Can a pilot be assigned reserve status for more than six consecutive days?
Yes, but in this circumstance, before the pilot can accept a flight assignment, he/she must be given 24 hours free of all duty.
14. A pilot has just completed a designated rest period. Can the Company now call him and give him another designated rest period that starts very shortly after his previous rest period ended?
Yes. While this may not be desirable from a physiological point of view, for the purposes of the 24 look back test it satisfies the rule.
15. Can the Company move up a previously designated rest period? (E.g., a pilot has a designated rest period from 2400 to 0900 and a trip opens up with a check in time of 0800 – can this pilot’s rest period now be changed from 2300 to 0800?)
Yes. Actually, in the example cited above, there are two possible solutions. If the Company contacts the pilot before 2300, the rest period could be moved up in order to have the pilot available for check in at 0800. The second solution would be for the Company to call during his designated rest period and if the pilot answered, his rest period could be reduced to 8 hours in order to have him available for the 0800 check in.
16. A pilot is assigned reserve status for a mixed line (domestic and international) of flying. Can he be on 24-hour call and required to answer the phone and accept a flight assignment?
A pilot can be placed on call for a 24-hour period. He can be required to answer the phone and can accept an international flight assignment. However, if the assignment is for a domestic flight, the pilot must be placed on rest for 9 hours that can be reduced to 8 hours before he can report for the assignment. During the rest period the pilot has no obligation to answer the phone.
