I am going to start off by saying that I am not opposed to change. I recognize that the existing regulations leave far too much chance for extreme fatigue. But overall, the proposed regulation is too complicated. There are too many different limitations for a crew member, especially one working in an on-demand charter operation, to keep track of. It is obvious that these proposed regulations were written with scheduled airlines in mind. There are many of us out there that do not fly for a scheduled airline, and those operations are quite different from those who know exactly where and when they are flying a month in advance. I fly in an on demand charter environment, including government, private and air ambulance charters. Some of these trips are booked well in advance, but others, by the nature of the type of work, are not scheduled until the last minute. I enjoy the variety that this provides, but it does leave an ambiguity of where and when I am going to finish my day. About 99% of the time, I end up back at home base, in my own bed, at the end of the day, but there have been cases where I have run out of duty many miles from home, using a "simple" 14 hour duty day calculation. Another facet of my job involves taking people some place, waiting for them to do their jobs, then bringing them home. Sometimes they are quick, sometimes they are slow, and I have to make sure that they know the cut off time after which we cannot get home within our duty day.
Here are some of my comments regarding the proposed regulations:
- FDP.JPG (96.39 KiB) Viewed 5850 times
Table 1 from proposed 700.20 includes 12 different FDP start periods, 5 of which are only 30 minutes long (5 others are 2:00, while the other two are 5:30 and 6:00). There is room here to simplify the regulation by reducing the number of changes.
The reduction of duty time based on number of sectors flown has a much larger impact on smaller aircraft operators, as we are the most likely to do multiple short legs. It is not unusual for our aircraft to fly 8 sectors in 5 hours, and VFR sightseeing, glider towing, parachute dropping, and floatplane operations will likely do even more. At the same time, there is no change in FDP limits for operations doing only 1 or 2 sectors per day: if the difference in limit between doing 3 sectors and 4 sectors is 0.5 hrs, shouldn’t a similar difference apply between 2 sectors and 3 sectors, etc.
Proposed 700.28 wrote:
No air operator shall assign a flight crew member to duty and no flight crew member shall accept such an assignment, where the total duration of duty periods to which a flight crew member is assigned will exceed:
(1) 1,928 duty hours in any 365 consecutive days;
(2) 190 duty hours in any 28 consecutive days; and,
(3) 60 duty hours in any 7 consecutive days when using Time Free from Duty Option 1 found in Subsection 700.xx; or,
(4) 70 duty hours in any 7 consecutive days when using Time Free from Duty Option 2 found in Subsection 700.xx and the air operator shall not:
(a) assign early, late or night duties to the flight crew member;
(b) schedule the flight crew member to duty periods greater than 12 hours duration; and
(c) permit a flight crew member to exceed a maximum of 24 duty hours in any 2 consecutive days.
(1) is far too restrictive. 1928 duty hours in 365 days is less than what a “normal” full-time hourly employee will work in a year, before any overtime. 1928 hours per year averages to just over 148 hours in 28 days, yet the 28 day limit is 190 hours (2), which is a much more reasonable number. (4) (a) is too restrictive. Time free from Duty Option 2 should be enough of a mitigation, without restricting early, late and night duties. While on the topic of early duty, the cutoff time of 06:59 is too late. 05:59 would be a much more logical end to “early duty”. 700.28(4)(b) and (c) are also more restrictive than need be.
Split Duty
700.31
(1) The maximum FDP may be increased where the air operator provides the flight crew member with a break
during the FDP (split duty). The air operator shall provide a break in accordance with the following conditions:
(a) A break on the ground within the FDP shall have a minimum duration of 60 consecutive minutes in the suitable accommodation.
(b) The break will begin after the flight crew member is in the suitable accommodation.
(c) The break excludes travel time to and from the suitable accommodation.
(d) The maximum FDP may be increased by an amount of time equal to:
(i) 100% of the duration of the break during the hours of 00:00 to 05:59 at the flight crew member‘s acclimatized time;
(ii) 50% of the duration of the break during the hours of 06:00 to 23:59 at the flight crew member‘s acclimatized time; or,
(iii) In the case of short-term re-planning due to unforeseen operational circumstances, 50% of the duration of the break; and,
(e) 45 minutes of the break in the suitable accommodation does not count towards the increase in the flight duty period.
(2) In the case of a FDP assignment, that includes a split duty, following a Standby assignment;
(a) The flight crew member’s SDP may be increased by a maximum of 2 hours if a break is provided in accordance with the criteria above.
(b) This FDP is limited to 2 sectors following the break.
Proposed 700.31(1) is an improvement on the present split duty regulations, however (2)(b) is too restrictive. There should not be a restriction on number of sectors flown following the break, as SDP restrictions should provide sufficient limits on fatigue following a break.
Standby
700.32
(1) Where an air operator assigns a flight crew member to Standby, the air operator shall:
(a) notify the flight crew member in advance of the start time, end time, and nature [location - at home or hotel] of the SAP;
(b) notify the flight crew member:
(i) at least 12 hours prior to the beginning of the SAP, if the assigned SAP does not infringe upon the WOCL; or
(ii) at least 32 hours prior to the beginning of the SAP, if the assigned SAP does infringe upon the WOCL.
(2) The air operator shall not shift the designated SAP by more than:
(i) 2 hours earlier or 4 hours later than the preceding SAP; and
(ii) a total of 8 hours from the original SAP start time in any 7 consecutive days unless the flight crew member is provided with 2 consecutive days free from all duties within the 7 consecutive days.
(3) If the shift of the start time of the SAP crosses 02:00, the air operator shall not introduce an additional SAP shift unless the flight crew member is provided with 2 consecutive days free from all duties prior to beginning a subsequently shifted SAP.
(4) The air operator shall not shift the start time of the SAP into the flight crew member‘s WOCL without notifying the flight crew member of the SAP at least 24 hours prior to the beginning of the SAP.
(5) The air operator shall not assign a flight crew member to a FDP outside of the aggregate maximum SDP unless:
(a) the air operator provides the flight crew member with minimum 24 hours notice of the assignment, prior to the beginning of the FDP;
(b) The air operator shall not provide this notification to the flight crew member between the hours of 22:30 to 07:30; and
(c) the air operator shall not assign the flight crew member to any duties from the time of the notification until the beginning of the FDP.
(6) When assigning a flight crew member to Standby, the air operator shall:
(a) not assign a flight crew member to a SAP that exceeds 14 hours;
(b) after a flight crew member is assigned to a FDP, the SAP ends;
(c) provide the flight crew member with a minimum rest period of 10 hours between SAPs;
(d) limit the maximum duration of a SDP for un-augmented flight crew members as follows:
(i) for SAPs starting between 0200 and 1759 the maximum SDP is 18 hours;
(ii) for SAPs starting between 1800 and 1859 the maximum SDP is 17 hours;
(iii) for SAPs starting between 1900 and 2059 the maximum SDP is 16 hours;
(iv) for SAPs starting between 2100 and 2259 the maximum SDP is 15 hours; and
(v) for SAPs starting between 2300 and 0159 the maximum SDP is 14 hours.
(e) Calculate the SDP limits for augmented flight crew members as follows:
(i) the maximum SDP for a flight crew augmented with one additional flight crew member is 20 hours and with a class 1 or 2 rest facility; or
(ii) the maximum SDP for a flight crew augmented with two additional flight crew members is 22 hours and with class 1 or 2 rest facilities.
(7) When the SAP begins between 02:00 and 05:59 (flight crew member‘s acclimatized time), the air operator may increase the maximum SDP by 50% of the time period between 02:00 and 05:59 that the flight crew member was not disturbed by the air operator, to a maximum of 2 hours.
(8) The air operator shall not assign the flight crew member to a flight duty that exceeds the lesser of either the SDP maximum or the FDP maximum from Table 1 (Subsection 700.20).
(9) The air operator shall count all time spent on standby by a flight crew member as duty at a rate of 33% for the calculation of cumulative duty limitations.
(10) Transition from SDP to SAP
(a) Following a SDP and subsequent rest period, the air operator may have the flight crew member resume the previously scheduled SAP in progress.
(b) When a flight crew member resumes a previously scheduled SAP in progress, as long as the end time of the SAP remains the same as the previously scheduled SAP end time, the SAP is not considered to have shifted. The SDP limit is calculated from the start of the previously scheduled SAP.
(c) When the air operator wishes to change the start time of the SAP, all provisions related to the shifting of the start time of the SAP apply.
Proposed 700.32 is possibly the best planned section of the NPA. It demonstrates a reasonable balance between operating efficiency and fatigue management. It is still incredibly complicated, but at least has some logic to it.
Rest Periods
700.34 The air operator shall provide a flight crew member with basic minimum rest as follows:
(1) minimum rest period at home base: the minimum rest period provided before undertaking an FDP starting at home base shall be 12 hours;
(2) minimum rest period away from home base: the minimum rest period provided before undertaking a flight duty period starting away from home base shall be 10 hours in the suitable accommodation;
(3) where the air operator provides a suitable accommodation to the flight crew at home base, the away from home base provision (Subsection (2) may be applied (10 hours in the suitable accommodation); and
(4) where the duration of a duty period exceeds the maximum permitted FDP plus 1 hour (with the exception of positioning), the subsequent rest period shall be at least as long as the preceding duty period.
Proposed 700.34(1) is too restrictive. They seem to assume that everybody in Canadian aviation works out of YYZ and lives in Peterborough/London/Bracebridge, and is going to spend 2 hours in traffic getting to and from work. Many of us chose to live close to our places of work, in fact my company requires all pilots, by contract, to live within 30 minutes of the airport. These crews should be able to acquire sufficient rest at home base with only 10 hours free from duty, which has always been my company's policy anyways.
Consecutive Duties Infringing on the WOCL
700.38
(1) FDPs are considered consecutive when scheduled without an intervening local night‘s rest.
(2) The air operator shall, following 3 consecutive FDPs that infringe upon the hours between 02:00 and 05:59, provide the flight crew member with a local night‘s rest;
(3) The break resulting from a split duty may be used to increase the FDP length as per the Split Duty provisions (Subsection 700.31); or
(4) The air operator may schedule a flight crew member to 5 consecutive FDPs that infringe upon the hours between 02:00 and 05:59 if:
(a) each FDP includes a split duty with a scheduled break that provides the flight crew member with a minimum of 3 hours opportunity for rest in the suitable accommodation and the flight crew member is provided with this break;
(b) following the 4th or 5th consecutive FDPs that infringe upon the hours between 02:00 and 05:59, provide the flight crew member with a minimum period of 56 consecutive hours free from duty; and
(c) the break on each of the duties infringing the WOCL shall not be used to increase the FDP as per Split Duty provisions (Subsection 700.31).
Proposed 700.38 is going to have a large effect on overnight cargo and air ambulance operations. Many crews who work these overnight shifts acclimate to that schedule, and have less performance degradation than others during WOCL operations. 700.38(2) should be increased to at least 4 consecutive FDPs, to allow for longer pairings, with corresponding longer time off between flight assignments, and fewer swaps between day and night flying. (4) is helpful for freight operations and continuous duty scheduled operations, but does not adequately address the night air ambulance operations that do not usually provide an opportunity for rest in suitable accommodation.
Anyways: how about this for a solution to some of the complexity: Overall, there are a lot of similarities between the NPA and the US’s 14 CFR part 117. As this type of duty limitation seems to be the industry wide answer to fatigue management, perhaps the best way to simplify the tracking process for operators is to simply adopt identical limitations to FAR 117. This way any tracking tools developed for US airlines can be used by Canadian operators without the cost and complexity of developing CARs specific software and tools. FAR 117 only has 10 FDP start times, simplifying the chart slightly, but has 7 columns, including 1 and 2 sector duty limits. The net result is fairly similar to the NPA, with some periods slightly more restrictive, and some slightly less restrictive.
