Flight crew on standby

[Northern Flyer]

Can anyone tell me where to find the standards relating to flight crews on standby? I've searched through the CAR's, but all it talks about is flight crews on reserve.

Thanks in advance

[J31]

There was a reference to “standby” at one time but like you I can not find it now. Maybe it was removed which makes sense to me as a flight crew member is either “on duty, on call, on reserve or free from all duty”. Standby was if the operator could call you to report with more than 1 hour notice which is basically reserve.

[Jaques Strappe]

I would have thought that if you are on Standby you would be considered to be on reserve

Your operator may not think so but if for some unfortunate reason, you wind up in front of a judge explaining your actions leading up to the point of an incident, you might find that reserve and stanby are the same in the eyes of the regulator. Everyone will run to hide behind a rock while pointing at you. "Piot Error" he didn't take adequate rest.

[727driver]

For our ops standby shift is done at the base and means airborne within 1 hour of getting the call from dispatch. Duty time starts when you show at the base to start your standby shift. So if you show up at 21:00hrs and you get called to fly at 02:00hrs have to be on the blocks and shut down by 10:45hrs the next morning. Reserve shift served from home. You need to be at your base within 2hrs of getting the call. Reserve periods usually come with a specified rest period of at least 8 hrs. When you are called out for reserved your good for 14 hrs from the point you arrive at your base.

[Eric Bradley]

The difference between standby and on call or on reserve is that a specific location is included in the standby definition.

Standby requires that a pilot be at a specific location (the airport... or home... or within 50 miles of the airport...) and be available for dispatch on a flight within 1 hour or less.

On Call has no specified location involved and a responce time of 1 hour or less.

On Reserve has no specified location with a response time of more than 1 hour.

There is a proposal NPA that allows for time free from duty credit for any on call/reserve where the response time is more than 1 hour and no flight has been undertaken for 24 consecutive hours to be considered after the fact as time free from duty - a day off.

From the CARs and CASS's

‘flight crew member on call’ - means a flight crew member
who has been designated by an air operator to be available to
report for flight duty on notice of one hour or less; (membre
d'quipage de conduite en disponibilit)

‘flight crew member on reserve’ - means a flight crew
member who has been designated by an air operator to be available
to report for flight duty on more than one hour's notice; (membre
d'equipage de conduite en reserve).

‘flight crew member on standby’ - means a flight crew
member who has been designated by an air operator or private
operator to remain at a specified location in order to be available to
report for flight duty on notice of one hour or less; (membre
d'quipage de conduite en attente)

‘flight duty time’ - means the period that starts when
a flight crew member reports for a flight, or reports as a flight
crew member on standby, and finishes at engines off
or rotors stopped at the end of the final flight,
except in the case of a flight conducted under Subpart 4 or 5
of Part VII, in which case the period finishes 15 minutes after engines
off or rotors stopped at the end of the final flight, and includes
the time required to complete any duties assigned by the
air operator or private operator or delegated by the Minister
prior to the reporting time and includes the time required to
complete aircraft maintenance engineer duties
prior to or following a flight; (temps de service de vol)

‘time free from duty’ - means a designated period of time during which
an operator does not assign any company related responsibilities and
duties to a flight crew member including standby, call and reserve.
(proposed amendment 05/11/00)

Proposed 720.19(3) Any period of 24 consecutive hours may be
designated as one of the required 24 hour periods of time free from
duty if: (proposed amendment 05/11/00)

(a) no flight or other duties were assigned;

(b) the flight crew member is not required to be available for
flight duty on notice of less than one hour; and

(c) the flight crew member is not required to wait at a specified location
during the period.

Too much info....?

[J31]

I stand corrected thanks Eric . Keep up with your great flight duty program!

[Northern Flyer]

Thanks,

I guess that what I need more info on then is "on call"

For instance, if you are on call 24 hours, and you are called to do a trip at 0800, and you are back home at 1200, you could go out and fly untill 2200, and be within your 14 hours.

But if you get home at 1200, and don't get called untill 2100 are you considered refreshed?

I've been getting conflicting info on this, and I can't seem to get any straight answers.

[Eric Bradley]

Good question... A couple of things come into play here. I'm assuming a 703 Air Taxi operation with passengers but non-scheduled.

First, following any duty period you need 8 hours rest. So to be on call 24 hours, you need to have had at least 8 hours, after your last flight, designated as time free from duty and not on call. After that, you can be on call indefinitely until your next flight - then more rest before on call again. You cannot have more than 100 hours flight time in the previous 30 days to be designated as on call. You must have time free from duty of either 36 hours off in each 7 days or 3 dates off in each 17 days in order to be assigned to on call.

Next, your normal limit for duty time is 14 hours. This can be extended to 15 hours in 6 non-overlapping 30 day blocks within each 365 days. But we won't go into that...

However, if your duty time includes a rest period, then you can extend your normal limit (14 hours) by 1/2 the rest period to maximum of 17 hours as long as the rest period is at least 4 hours in suitable accommodation. This is referred to as a Split Duty Assignment and there are also increased rest requirements following the split duty.

In the example you ask about, you would have been on call prior to your flight at 0800h following 8 hours designated free from duty after your last flight. This could have been days ago if you haven't flown in awhile but have been on call. Your duty period starts at 0800h and will be maxed out at 2200h (as you suggest, or 2300 if you have a block of high limits available today)

You have another flight at 2100h after landing at 1200h. This theoretically gives you 8 hours rest between flights and you have satisfied the requirement for time free from duty following the first flight. A new duty period starts and extends 14/15 hours.

It is unlikely, however, that you would have gotten prone rest undisturbed in suitable accommodations for the full 8 hours.

If you get 6-7 hours of prone rest, then the split duty day comes into affect. Your total duty can be 17 hours (extends from 0800h to 0100h) and as long as you were back from the second flight by 0100h, you are OK by the CARs. There would be a requirement for you to get 11 hours of designated rest, before going on call or on another flight, following the split assignment.

This all comes from 700.16(5)(6), 720.16(1), 700.15(1)(c), 700.19(1)(c) and the definitions.

[snaproll20]

It is decidedly odd that Transport has been making noises about how fatigue is a problem in our industry, yet (if I read this right) an operator is going to be allowed to call a 24 hour 'duty free' period when a pilot was on call but did not fly, a day "free from duty" i.e. a day "off".

Are they not contributing to the overall fatigue level of pilots?

I know very well from first hand experience the problems of coping with this, the industry has richocheted all over the place to cope with dumb duty rules. Now is TC allowing more opportunity for fatigue? Who's idea was this anyway...the Operators?

[Eric Bradley]

This NPA has been in the works since late in 2000. The wheels of TC turn slowly...

I'm not sure where the original request for change came from but apparently it is at "Justice" for legal editting today.

Some day it will turn up as an official CARs Amendment. (We're stuck at 2005-2 for now...)

Perhaps the CARAC needs some input: carrac@tc.gc.ca

[flyinhigh]

Eric,
excellent points and thanks for taking the time to post them.
I would also like to add that to the min of 8 hours rest your employer is also required to give time to travel, eat, shit, shave etc. generally you would add an hour to the 8 hours, or if you do a 15 hour duty day add an hour to the 9 hour rest requirement.
I know its a moo point but I felt smart saying , now some one burst my bubble

[Eric Bradley]

I surely agree...!

In my FLTDUTY XLS I run the limits with 8+1 and indicate a violation under 9 hours between duty periods for the travel, meals, sh_, shower and shave. Some users have complained that they can get to bed faster than that, but others actually use 10 hours between duty periods. In the end it's the prone rest that needs to be logged...

In the example, there was in fact 9 hours between 1200h landing and 2100h next flight, but as I said, unlikely to get the full 8 hours prone rest.

You're a little off in the 15 hour duty day under Ops Spec 092, 093, 094 (I can never remember which is which...). You only need to extend the rest to 9 hours if you have flight time over 8 hours. A smal point indeed and definitely not a bubble burster... Note the "or" between (a) and (b).

720.16 Flight Duty Time Limitations and Rest Periods

The standards for increasing the flight duty time limits for flight crew members are:

(1) Where the flight is conducted under Subpart 2 or 3 of Part VII of the Canadian Aviation Regulations or with a deHavilland DHC-6 aircraft not conducting a scheduled passenger service, or with a helicopter not conducting a scheduled passenger service or heli-logging, for the 6 non-overlapping periods of 30 consecutive days referred to in subsection 720.15(1), the maximum flight duty time may be extended to 15 consecutive hours if:
(amended 23/03/1998)

(a) the minimum rest period is increased by 1 hour; or

(b) the maximum flight time does not exceed 8 hours in any 24 consecutive hours.