Dewdrop - w.r.t. which companies Ops Manual.... I think you'll find that all UK CAA ( JAR? ) approved versions of this tome have the following statements within their FTL section(7), i.e. mine reads as follows:
OPERATIONS MANUAL / Part A / Flight & Duty Time Limitations Scheme
Section 7.4.2 - Responsibility for the proper control of flight and duty time does not rest wholly with the Company. Crew members have the responsibility to make optimum use of the opportunities and facilities for rest provided. They are also responsible for planning and using their rest periods properly in order to minimise incurring fatigue.
The ANO places a further responsibility on crew members. Simply put, crew members shall not act as operating crew if they know, or suspect, that their physical or mental condition renders them unfit to operate. Furthermore, they must not fly if they know that they are, or are likely to be, in breach of this scheme.
Section 7.9.2 – Travelling time, from home to departure aerodrome, if long distances are involved, is a factor influencing any subsequent onset of fatigue. If the journey time from home to normal departure airfield is usually in excess of 1 hour, crew members should make arrangements for temporary accommodation nearer to base.
I'm sure that we'd all like to live within a sensible commuting distance of our base airport. However the problem is that, as good as the job is, the pay ( for a great many ) does not stretch so far as to allow either the purchase of a primary home in the locale of the airport, or renting of digs for the provision of pre/post flight rest ( on top of keeping a home elsewhere ).
E.g. Let's say that you’re a 30 year old newly qualified F/O, flying jets with a LGW based airline, and say your partner’s at home looking after your two young children, i.e. you’re the sole bread winner in your family.
Your total gross salary might be in the region of, say, £40,000 - which, after tax, will give you an approx net / take-home figure of £2,395 per month.
To live within a reasonable commute your base, i.e. less than one hour away, the kind of housing costs you’re looking at are:
East Sussex :
Average Cost: £184,315 / Detached: £281,966 / Semi-detached: £176,192 / Terraced: £152,140
West Sussex :
Average Cost: £206,886 / Detached: £325,707 / Semi-detached: £199,711 / Terraced: £165,294
Gatwick / Crawley :
Average Cost: £169,922 / Detached: £269,099 / Semi-detached: £191,716 / Terraced: £151,107
Banks and Building Societies will presently / typically lend 3.75x salary ( I’ve just checked that with
HSBC ).
Thus, assuming you needed a mortgage for a property purchase in the Gatwick / Crawley area – average cost £169,992 and where you supply a 10% / £17,000 down payment ( “Oh look, there’s a money tree !” ).
Your repayments on that will, at present interest rates, be approx £900 per month – which will leave you & your family with £1,495 per month to live on ( i.e. £345 per week ) - and gawd help you when the Bank Of England raise interest rates !
Of course having paid £900 on your mortgage, what’s left of your salary will then need to cover Council tax, house insurance, electricity, gas, water rates, food, vehicle ( insurance, tax, mot, servicing, and petrol at +80p per litre ), pension & life-cover, union fees, clothing, etc, etc, etc........ and, needless to say, all of this assumes that your net income is ‘entirely disposable’, i.e. that you have no other pre-existing major debts, such as repaying your flying training and / or a type-rating, perhaps ?!
So, apart from the fact that you will struggle to find a house near your base that you can afford and / or one that’s in a locale that you’ll want to live in ( rather than in some ‘sink estate’ ) if you do manage to find one you’ll be close to skint - and if you’re able to stand financially still you’d be doing well – where the likelihood is that an unexpected bill will wipe you out.
Veritably we have to live in the real world. So what’s the answer ? Uhm, how about putting fares up and paying the crews more money, so that they can afford to live nearby ?
With everybody driving costs down, just what price does Joe Public put on safety – you can’t have it both ways, can you ?!