Basil,
Please tell me you are happily retired, and all of this recklessness you are professing to was "back in the good old days"?
When you (Basil) and the reckless KA crew decide to exceed the normal flight duty limits, you must remember that you are already exceeding your duty limits, and any incident you have during this time will call into question the reasons for using discretion.
The use of discretion is for, in the real world, unforeseen circumstances, and not for fixing the mess that other people create through poor planning.
Deciding on whether to use discretion is easy:
1) I am sitting on the apron of any airport and when calculating my return flight time and comparing it with the remaining duty, I can determine that it will exceed max duty, and hence is NOT unforeseen. Yes, we could still use discretion to continue, but is there a valid reason? Is it safe? Is it legal?
Therefore I should, in most circumstances, call the company and inform them that their aircraft will be able to depart after achieving a rest period.
2) If we had departed knowing that we could arrive before needing discretion, and en-route we encountered unforecast weather, or an aircraft had become disabled on a runway and this had resulted in arrival holding, we could now use discretion to extend our duty period!
The fact (allegedly) that the KA crew exceeded the limits of both the normal duty limit, and then the discretionary period is reckless, not to mention illegal, and just plain stupid, and in my opinion, they should be suspended, demoted, fined, and/or fired. The F/O could have easily solved the problem by walking off the flight deck. The Captain shouldn't have suggested it in the first place.
This type of behaviour is found at other 3rd world airlines, and not at KA. Our passengers expect a high level of safety. They pay a premium for it, and we have the responsibility to ensure that they receive a proper duty of care.
Last edited by clear.right; 17th Mar 2016 at 22:34.