CAO 48
Perusing the CAO instrument 2013 it is interesting that the cumulative flight time limit in 28 days for a two pilot RPT operation is 100hrs, yet it appears that for an aerial work operation for the same period the cumulative limit is a massive 70% higher at 170 hours. Is that interpretation correct? The previous limit set out in CAO 48 was 100 hours in 30 days. If the new CAO 48 is reportedly based on scientific facts how is it that a human being's resilience to fatigue varies by the category of operation. Some aerial work operations are physically and mentally very intensive, where does the instrument scientifically account for that? It has been suggested that the reason of "science" is just a label and the underpinning changes were essentially the product of involvement by industry management to achieve significant gains in productivity. Apparently some low calibre operators are taking advantage of the new arrangement to administer flight and duty periods by rostering flight crew to do many hours of work and not classifying it as duty time.