There was a claim made that contractors are self-employed and have to make their own arrangements to transfer between home and their various places of work; and that this time is not calculated by RYR as duty time. If they were employees of RYR then it would be included in roster calculations. That difference seems curious. It must have some effect on the pilot.
It is said by RYR that they are self-employed, so that answers the question; but the transfer time is duty time for their own company and must be accounted for in their annual accounts. Self-employed people have to keep a record of their working hours, and travelling across borders, or considerable distances to a work place, is working time. As pilots you are allowed 2000 duty hours per 12 months and all the other various duty time limits over 7 days, 1 month, 3 months etc. They are employed by their own company to provide their services as pilots and so I would have thought they are responsible for abiding by FTL duty times in their company accounts.
I'm sure a question to IAA, CAA or the XAA's of any of the countries where pilots are based would clarify this matter. If it goes in the pilots' favour the cat would be amongst the pigeons I wonder what the truth is.
There are many airlines no using contractors, so this is not an isolated RYR matter.
Last edited by RAT 5; 16th Aug 2013 at 19:49.