Originally Posted by
Denti
Quite honestly, pilots are supposed to refer to a manual for pretty much everything they do anyway. Checking a ready available table is a simple task, simply check the check in time (always local), count on your fingers the number of sectors, and you know how long you can be on duty. It really is simple.
EASA rules can get complicated though if standby time has to be taken into account, when the captain has to go into discretion for a single crew member and stuff like that. Oh, and thank god we don't have to take care of acclimatisation on short haul. And yes, my current outfit does neither night flights nor split duties at the moment (it might change), which makes things even easier.
That really depends. I believe my current company suggests for the flight crew that we take a minimal overnight kit (that can be a credit card) and requires that the cabin crew carries one. But quite honestly, on many duties it simply does not make sense. For example, tomorrow midday i will fly a short two sector duty from germany to austria and back. If we go tech, or someone goes sick, there will be other flights on the same route later during the day, there is maintenance at both ends, why would i carry anything? On a long 12 hour day i probably would carry at least a tiny kit, just in case something happens, especially if it is only a two sector duty and we are stuck somewhere without any other flights coming in.
In my past experiences crews, with no disrespec intended, often misinterpreted flight and duty time limitations, just a couple of examples, they knew that a minimum rest period was 12 hours but hadn't read that if it was taken in a hotel it could be 11 hours, that on a creeping delay of up to 4 hours the allowable FDP would be based upon their scheduled report time rather than their actual report time.
I appreciate that the industry now operates with often less than sufficiently knowledgeable ground staff perhaps wearing tee shirts for uniform and it is the Captain who needs to make decisions and call the shots but in my day it was team,work between the Operations staff and the crew to achieve the best result for all concerned parties.