Many of the Far Eastern airlines who employ expats on commuting contracts have been using the FTLs as a target for decades.
I stand to be corrected, but I believe KAL require 80 stick hours per month, and as the 777 and 744 pilots fly mainly ULR, they tend to accumulate a lot of hours in the aircraft in order to achieve this, > 120 hours per month on average.
Both Taiwanese outfits operate to a different set of rules, but 900 stick hours is the target. There is no rolling total in Taiwan. If on Dec 31 one has accumulated 900 hours, Jan 1 one is back to zero. Same story month to month.
My point is that all these outfits are following the laws of their land and the FAA, EASA, etc, etc, etc don't care as long as they do so.
It's the same in the ME. It might not seem fair or reasonable that we fly such tiring rosters, but as long as the outfits here operate within the confines of their respective OM-As, they're bullet proof.
The onus is on the crews to call SKF(sick fatigue).
Last edited by nakbin330; 24th Mar 2016 at 10:55.