Well, I haven't been trolling the AvCan for awhile, but since you asked...altiplano wrote:CARS duty regs are worse than the Americans, Europeans... Maybe the worst in the civilised world?
They are worse than ICAO standard so maybe worse than much of the rest?
Who's worse? What's the schtick?
Try any of the Gulf carriers if you want to see fatiguing schedules. Unlike most North American airlines, the widebodies fly mixed rosters: short, medium, long and ultra-longhaul in the same month. I doubt an AC B777 pilot does any short flights and only a few longhaul due to the sector lengths, while likewise a narrowbody pilot will do more sectors but stay in a much narrower timezone band and less (or zero) night flying.
The ME hubs have a huge amount of flying on the backside of the clock due to the hub-and-spoke model and location. As well as east-west mix, shorter rest times, shorter layovers, lighter augmenting, fewer days off, and higher monthly scheduled hours, around 95/month for the last couple years. Try DXB-BOS-DXB with a 26 hour layover, then a couple days off and then DXB-KIX (2 pilots). What's that crossing, a total of like 17 timezones in both directions? Follow that with a day or two off, a rest day, and then perhaps a night turnaround flight to Hyderabad. Pickup time 0030, departure time 0245, two 4 hour sectors, and returning to DXB around 1300. 2 pilots. It's called an "Annex 1" flight, because it actually exceeds the maximum operating time for only 2 pilots but EK has a waiver to do it as long as they meet certain conditions (i.e. can't do more than 3 in one month, etc). Throw in some Euro trips (6-8 hours sectors), maybe another night turn leaving at 10pm returning at 6am just to round out the month. Ground duties are not credited, so if it's PPC month or CRM or SEP or online training, all must be completed in addition to the monthly flying. This is why crews are resigning at unprecedented rates, and they have lowered the experience requirements to join to a bare ATPL, no jet experience required - the model is not sustainable, and the word is out. People are exhausted.
These are the fastest growing, most profitable airlines in the world, not to mention rapidly becoming the largest. (EK is apparently, the world's largest international airline now). And it's no coincidence that they also have the most "productive" workforces. Sadly, I doubt they are trying to match their regulatory levels to that of the Europeans or the North Americans, if anything I'm absolutely sure companies like AC would LOVE to have the same leeway with scheduling enjoyed in the ME. It is always a race to the bottom.
But that's why I have to laugh when I hear a rant about how Canada's regs are "the worst". Not a chance. They could be better, and pilots need to advocate endlessly to improve them. But don't feel too sorry for yourself, it's all relative and a schedule at any Canadian 705 is pretty cushy. Just underpaid and overtaxed.
