Marcellus
Im afraid it is what it says :-
Note 3 applies to what we would describe as "Block Hours" i.e. if your not in the operating seat you are not technically operating the aircraft and the time DOES NOT count towards the FLIGHT TIME LIMITS of 100 in a month or 900 in a year.
Your full time from Check IN (Dependent on your operator) to Check Out (30 minutes post block on same for both UAE Long Haul Operators) counts towards the 190 Duty Hours per 30 days, and 2000 Per Year.
So regardless of Operator's
To keep the maths simple lets just split the time in seat evenly between "Operating" and "Augmenting" Crew (in reality time in seat will be a little over 1 hour more per sector for the Operating crew)
Say you operate 3 ULR's
pr month (currently the max) at 32 "Block Hours" per trip, thats 96 Hours total as we traditionally calculate it, so your done for the month!
Lets apply the GCAA change,
You have actually only spent 48 hours in a seat (the time in the crew rest facility does not count)
You have 52 Hours you may then still fly.
You can still operate as many augmented Long Range trips <14 hours as operator wishes to roster, so lets assume you do 3 SLR trips at 12 block each way (24 hours per trip)
3*24 = 72 Hours "Block Hours"
Time in seat is 12 Hours per trip, Flying time counted towards Flying limit is 36.
To Conclude from the Flying Time Limit you have done 3 * 32 "Block Hour" Trips and 3 * 24 "Block Hour" Trips but the operator under the new rule will conclude you have only flown:-
84 Hours Total and you have
16 "Flying Hours" to spare, you really flew
168 "Block Hours"
From a "Duty Time" perspective, all hours count, there is no deduction for time not spent in an Operating Seat.
So at The Airline that "Keeps Discovering", you check in 60 minutes prior to departure and check out 30 minutes after block on. You have flown 12 sectors thats
Pre and Post Departure Duty Time =
18 Hours
Duty Time in Aircraft =
168 Hours
Total Duty Time is
186 Hours versus the GCAA Limit of
190
ALL IS LEGAL ACCORDING TO THE GCAA
I have had this verified by the GCAA that this is the intent; if you fly Long Haul your productivity is about to be increase by almost
70%
DO NOT WRITE TO YOUR COMPANY, WRITE TO THE GCAA, WRITE TO IFALPA about the GCAA, your operators response is that they only comply with the law of the land.
THIS IS MADNESS AND ITS NO RUMOUR AND ITS DANGEROUS