maximum of 55 duty hours in 7 consecutive days
Easy life! Maybe not so easy for you commuter types, but for the long haul types amongst you this is what seems to be a typical week.
Day 1. Check in and prepare for the long flight ahead. Check the weather, routing etc then find your seat and punch in the AP details.
Following pushback, startup and move out to the runway. Line up and, if your feeling brave today, take off. Floowing the required checks etc, enable the AP and sit back with a coffee and the Times crossword.
Every now and then for the next 9 hours, check the instruments to make sure that everything is OK and read the rest of the paper.
Time to liven up, fly the approach manually, land, shutdown and following any paperwork 1/2 an hour later you are on your way to the hotel for a well earned rest.
Day 2. Rest
Day 3. Repeat Day 1 if unlucky or day 2 if lucky.
Day 4. Rest
Day 5. ..... Well you get the picture.
So in one week, they do maybe 36 duty hours, but only actually work about 10 hours, get lots of holidays in the sun with all the TD's and then complain that they don't get enough time off or money.
I agree that the short haul jockeys among you have a different story, but you have to get the seniority somewhere.