Sleep Between Flights Question

[Mike Tee]

Hi all,
if a pilot flies a late evening sector and then flies the same aircraft early the next day is there a legal requirement as to the amount of sleep/rest he has to have in between those flights.
Thanks.

[Lord Spandex Masher]

12 hours, or the length of your last duty whichever is longer.

[Hartington]

Yes. The rules vary a bit as you move around the world and I suspect (but cannot prove) that in a few places the rules that may exist are an aspiration rather than an absolute.

[AerocatS2A]

10 hours between duties for us, or the length of the previous duty, whichever is longer.

[jb5000]

They can operate these as 'split duties', rules of which vary by each operator.

We need a minimum of 3 hours, maximum of 10 hours, and you can extend the max FDP by half of your total rest time.

Some suitable accommodation must be provided for a rest of 6 hours or more.

This means that, for instance, the following could be possible:

London - Berlin, arrive at hotel 10pm, Berlin - London, hotel pickup 4am.

Your max FDP is 2 sectors reporting at your original check in time, extended by half the rest period i.e. 3 hours more.

[Denti]

Really depends, according to european rules a full rest out of base is only 10 hours or the duration of the last duty time, whichever is longer. However, as said above, split duty is possible and since it is not defined in EU OPS how that really works the rules currently differ by country. In my case all i need is three hours of rest (in a "quiet" hotel, including temperature and complete lighting control) within that duty and up to 18 hours in total is possible, however only two landings after the break are allowed for the whole crew.

[PPL Hobbyist]

14 CFR part 121, Section 471 says the following:

(a) No certificate holder conducting domestic operations may schedule any flight crewmember and no flight crewmember may accept an assignment for flight time in scheduled air transportation or in other commercial flying if that crewmember's total flight time in all commercial flying will exceed—
(1) 1,000 hours in any calendar year;
(2) 100 hours in any calendar month;
(3) 30 hours in any 7 consecutive days;
(4) 8 hours between required rest periods.
(b) Except as provided in paragraph (c) of this section, no certificate holder conducting domestic operations may schedule a flight crewmember and no flight crewmember may accept an assignment for flight time during the 24 consecutive hours preceding the scheduled completion of any flight segment without a scheduled rest period during that 24 hours of at least the following:
(1) 9 consecutive hours of rest for less than 8 hours of scheduled flight time.
(2) 10 consecutive hours of rest for 8 or more but less than 9 hours of scheduled flight time.
(3) 11 consecutive hours of rest for 9 or more hours of scheduled flight time.
(c) A certificate holder may schedule a flight crewmember for less than the rest required in paragraph (b) of this section or may reduce a scheduled rest under the following conditions:
(1) A rest required under paragraph (b)(1) of this section may be scheduled for or reduced to a minimum of 8 hours if the flight crewmember is given a rest period of at least 10 hours that must begin no later than 24 hours after the commencement of the reduced rest period.
(2) A rest required under paragraph (b)(2) of this section may be scheduled for or reduced to a minimum of 8 hours if the flight crewmember is given a rest period of at least 11 hours that must begin no later than 24 hours after the commencement of the reduced rest period.
(3) A rest required under paragraph (b)(3) of this section may be scheduled for or reduced to a minimum of 9 hours if the flight crewmember is given a rest period of at least 12 hours that must begin no later than 24 hours after the commencement of the reduced rest period.
(4) No certificate holder may assign, nor may any flight crewmember perform any flight time with the certificate holder unless the flight crewmember has had at least the minimum rest required under this paragraph.
(d) Each certificate holder conducting domestic operations shall relieve each flight crewmember engaged in scheduled air transportation from all further duty for at least 24 consecutive hours during any 7 consecutive days.
(e) No certificate holder conducting domestic operations may assign any flight crewmember and no flight crewmember may accept assignment to any duty with the air carrier during any required rest period.
(f) Time spent in transportation, not local in character, that a certificate holder requires of a flight crewmember and provides to transport the crewmember to an airport at which he is to serve on a flight as a crewmember, or from an airport at which he was relieved from duty to return to his home station, is not considered part of a rest period.
(g) A flight crewmember is not considered to be scheduled for flight time in excess of flight time limitations if the flights to which he is assigned are scheduled and normally terminate within the limitations, but due to circumstances beyond the control of the certificate holder (such as adverse weather conditions), are not at the time of departure expected to reach their destination within the scheduled time. Is it safe to say that as long as airline rules meet, or are less than the above limitations, that the pilots are flying legally? Does any airline exceed it?

[Mike Tee]

Thanks for the answers guys. Complicated isn't it !!.