proposed increase to duty hours

[Cheeser]

I heard that there were moves by some airlines to increase the amount of on duty hours that could be flown by aircrew. What is the current situation on this?

[Chuffer Chadley]

I know it's terrible to assume the worst about someone you've never met, but you do sound just a smidge journalistic.

Care to comment?

Apologies in advance if I speak out-of-turn.

CC

[Cheeser]

Ha ha ha , no, not a journo. I am starting an Aviation management/ops degree and the question I posed to the forum is one asked opf me !! - didn't realise it was such a political issue. I tried and failed to find any information fm CAP371 etc. Guess I'll have to put an 'X' next to that one... :-)

[Preppy]

Cheeser

Just a suggestion. Why not start with this (http://www.balpa.org/intranet/BALPA-Camp/index.htm)

[Pilot Pete]

And this (http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=78788&perpage=15&highlight=brian%20simpson&pagenumber=1) is where we thrashed it out some time ago. Happy reading.

PP

[Yaw String]

Cheeser,
Spot on.
In Italy,well known for its disregard on matters that may concern safety for civil aviation-at least on the subject of flight time limitations- this is the case.
Alitalia enjoyed protection from operating to the absurdly long and exhausting flight time limitations sanctioned by ENAC,Rome.
MOST of the other italian operators have been working their crews up to such limits as 13 hours flying(brakes off to brakes on) and 17 hours duty(2 pilots) or 17 hours flying and 24 hours duty(3 pilots without adequate rest facilities). All this with absolutely NO regard as to when the duty begins(circadian rythms unheard of here). Also, due to a typing error in translation, the ability to position a crew as passengers even as far as Australia for instance,give them a MAXIMUM(should have read minimum) of 8 hours rest then have them operate back on duty exists. The rule should have read-rest time equal to positioning time with a minimum of 8 hours!
Now, part of the Alitalia recovery plan is to work crews up to these limits.
The pilots of Alitalia are unhappy and quite rightly are pointing out that these limits do nothing to protect the passengers from pilots flying tired!
So yes, at least one company-Alitalia- is pressing to extend flight duty time.
An interesting subject indeed!

[tightcircuit]

It is obvious that the managment in any airline would love to have less restrictive flight time limitations. It is due to the strenuous efforts of BALPA amongst other organisations that a dangerous move towards less restrictive limits was averted earlier this year.

Perhaps our union bashing friends in MYT might like to ponder that point as they spend the extra 1% (before tax relief) that they save.

Thank god someone is looking after our interests and those of our passengers!

[Cheeser]

Thanks Guys, very helpful.