Standby Duty at Flex

[gunfyter]

Okay, Okay....let's recap.

Part 91K and Part 135 stipulate that, when you COMPLETE a duty assignment, you must have had 10 hours of uninterrupted, scheduled rest within the past 24 hours (the "lookback" rule).

Let's look at an example. If you dutied off at 8 PM the night before and you are scheduled for a noon show the next day, the company can call you at 0601 to show BUT ONLY TO CONDUCT A PART 91 FERRY OR MAINTENANCE LEG. You CANNOT fly a "program" (91K or 135) leg if you report prior to the previously scheduled report time until you have gone BACK into rest for at least 10 hours. The minute you go off the night before, your scheduled report time becomes the earliest possible show time for a revenue leg. The company can revise it to a later report but not an earlier one.

Now, here's where it gets interesting and subject to some interpretation. Netjets (and any other fractional for that matter) is a Part 91K and Part 135 company. When you are given a scheduled report time, that is so the company can comply with the lookback rule. That means your rest period for program flights actually begins 10 hours PRIOR to your scheduled report time. You were released from duty at 8 PM and scheduled for a noon show that means you have 16 hours free from duty but the REST period actually began at 2 AM. And my FOM states the company cannot contact me during a rest period for the purpose of company operations.

There are many that believe you have to be available at 0601 and they ARE willing to answer the phone. But even our management recognizes that is strictly to perform Part 91 flights. I'm not trying to place undue burdens on my employer but I don't believe you can be available for duty AND be in rest at the same time. Therefore, I choose not to answer the phone until the designated show time (okay, maybe 10 minutes early).

This is how most of our pilots operate and we actually see very little FBO show or FBO standby. But guess what, even if they chose to have us do FBO show, I figure that's their time and they can utilize my available duty as they see fit. The time free from duty is mine to do with as I see fit.

All correct.

 

[gunfyter]

March 14, 1991
Mr. Thomas T. Gasta
Dear Mr. Gasta:
Thank you for your letter of September 13, 1990, regarding "standby and reserve duty." We apologize for the delay in responding to you.

You advise that you work as a pilot for an on-demand Part 135 charter company. Your question deals with the flight and duty time limitations outlined in Part 135. You ask what the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) considers to be duty or "required rest" when dealing with a flight crewmember who is performing a "standby" or "reserve" function for the air carrier.
The facts as we understand them are that at 600 a.m. you called the certificate holder to obtain your flight assignments for that day. You were told that as of 600 a.m. there were no flights to assign to you, but you were instructed to await immediate flight assignment by remaining at the hotel for contact by the certificate holder or, if not in your room at the hotel, to call the certificate holder every hour without fail to ascertain if a flight assignment materialized. We infer that the purpose of this procedure was to place you in the status of being immediately available for flight assignment if the occasion arose.

Your specific question is whether the period from 600 a.m. to 600 p.m. Tuesday, in the fact situation described in your letter, qualifies as a rest period under FAR Sec. 135.263(b) and Sec. 135.263(d). We shall discuss rest requirements as applied to standby/reserve principles generally and then answer your specific question.

FAR Sec. 135.263(b) reads:
(b) No certificate holder may assign any flight crewmember to any duty with the certificate holder during any required rest period.
FAR Sec. 135.263(d) reads:
(d) Each assignment under paragraph (b) of this section must provide for at least 10 consecutive hours of rest during the 24 hour period that precedes the planned completion time of the assignment.
The FAA has consistently interpreted duty in FAR Sec. 135.263(b) and other similar regulations to mean either actual work for the air carrier, or present responsibility for work should the occasion arise. In addition, the period of relief from all duty must be prospective and free from all restraint to qualify as rest under that rule. When a flight crewmember is required to hold himself available for immediate assignment to flight duty by standing by the telephone (or via other communicative device, e.g., beeper), it constitutes restraint which precludes counting such time as a required rest period. Thus, under Sec. 135.263(b), an air carrier is prohibited from requiring a flight crewmember to standby the telephone for immediate availability during a required rest period.

The answer to your question is that the period 600 a.m. to 600 p.m. Tuesday does not qualify as a rest period required by FAR Sec. 135.263(b) because you were required to standby the telephone and keep yourself available for immediate assignment to flight duty. As such, that period constitutes a present responsibility for work should the occasion arise, and therefore is duty.

We feel constrained to comment that apparently the air carrier did not consider the 600 a.m. to 600 p.m. period as a required rest period because the air carrier assigned you to a required rest period of 1000 p.m. Tuesday to 800 a.m. Wednesday for the 800 a.m. Wednesday flight. It was only after the air carrier changed the schedule by assigning you the Miami-Houston and subsequent flight that the air carrier retroactively treated the 600 a.m. to 600 p.m. Tuesday period as a required rest period.

We also note that you raise a point on page 2 of your letter regarding the requirement for scheduled operators to relieve a flight crewmember engaged in scheduled air transportation from all further duty for at least 24 consecutive hours in any 7 consecutive days (FAR Sec. 135.265(d)). At this time, without the specific facts being available to us, all we can say is that you have raised a valid question. If you want to give us the precise facts concerning what was required of the flight crewmember, we will be glad to give you an interpretation.

We trust that we have satisfactorily answered your questions.

This response has been coordinated with the Air Transportation Division of the Flight Standards Service.

Sincerely,
Donald P. Byrne
Assistant Chief Counsel
Regulations and Enforcement Division
cc:AGC-220/200

 

[gunfyter]

United States Court of Appeals
For the First Circuit


No. 99-1888

AVIATORS FOR SAFE AND FAIRER REGULATION, INC.,

Petitioner,

v.

FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION,

Respondent.


ON PETITION FOR REVIEW OF AN ORDER OF
THE FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION
http://www.law.emory.edu/1circuit/au...-1888.01a.html​

 

[gunfyter]

We have been through this before...

Blasts from the past
Duty and Rest:

Response Time


Legal to Start legal to Finish?

Flexjet info...

 

[gutshotdraw]

Good links Gun. And Sctt@NJA is partly right in that Netjets is one of the first (if not THE first and still relatively few) on-demand/fractional operators to CORRECTLY apply rest period regulations.

 

[BeeDubya]

gunfyter,

You found the letter I was thinking of! :beer:

 

[gunfyter]

Gutshot,

Seems like we have to go through this topic every 14 months or so.... .

BW...

All you have to do is google "Tom Gasta Duty Rest"

 

[Club ORD FO]

as far as our company is concerned, the official policy is we dont HAVE to answer our phones, but they ask us to "be reasonable," or at least thats how i think they word it. Not much in written in the FOM about it, it would be nice to have an official policy in a company manual to refer to.

 

[TurboHonda]

Gunfyter,

Excellant info. The law is the law. Companys that try to circumvent it, POIs that help them, and enabling pilots that let them is what brings unions on the property.

 

[BeeDubya]

BW...

All you have to do is google "Tom Gasta Duty Rest"

Honestly, I couldn't remember if it was the Gasta Letter I was looking for or one of the others. I've got a bunch of them on my hard drive and just hadn't taken the time to find the one I wanted.