Nil requirement to log bunk time - what does your CAA do for you?

[Plank Cap]

Those operators who cry foul over the uneven playing ground to be found in some airlines seven hours east of London may just have a bit more fuel for their fire. The regulator (GCAA) in the UAE, home to at least a couple of 'world class' operators, have elected to change the logging of flight time and duty.

Notably, any time spent resting in the bunk counts for precisely zero hours towards the 28 day and annual total flying hour limits (currently 100 and 900 block hours respectively.) Previously as operating crew, these bunk hours counted in full toward the limits, though as augmenting crew only 'stick' time counted. The limits will remain at 100 and 900 hours, but the new change ensures that neither operating nor augmenting pilots will log those resting hours.

For example, for the two sectors DXB-LAX-DXB, an actual block time of 31 hours gets recorded as approximately 17 hours only. The upshot being that more flights per month can be squeezed into the same 100hr limit, and more per year can be squeezed into the same 900hr limit.

The crew of course have no say - even filling out fatigue reports can be a career threatening move in some circumstances. And take it from one who has flown these patterns, this will lead to an increase in the all ready concerning fatigue levels.

Uneven playing ground / commercial advantage? Is your CAA as generous to your country's airlines.....? If not, offer to put them in touch with the GCAA in the UAE to show them how it's done - if they don't like the idea of adopting the same methods on safety grounds then perhaps ask them how come they are happy to have that country's aircraft and crews flying through your airspace and landing at your airports operating under just such conditions....?

[sprite1]

Couldn't agree more. It's madness. You're still in uniform, alert for noises, failures. To say you're off-duty, resting like your colleagues back home is just corporate greed.

Wasn't there an Emirates 380 a couple of months ago routing West Coast USA to Dubai that had to stop off somewhere in North America/Canada with a tech problem? Total travel time was something like 22-23hrs solely because they had 2 crews on board.

Unfortunately, I think it'll just be seen by the various European CAA's/EASA as a hidden issue that the public don't know about or even comprehend. When a crash happens, the spin will be one of, 'they were all rested, within limits, everything above board, etc'

[RexBanner]

Airline FTL's are fast becoming an utter joke, especially in that part of the world. Presumably the same airline that thinks that 24 hours rest after a 14 hour ultra long haul sector is adequate. How much longer will they continue to take the piss?

[RAT 5]

You say that Flight Duty Time has been altered; I assume duty time is still logged. However, if you want to alert someone to the problem; it has been the case where XAA's have banned some operators from their airspace on safety grounds. This duty you say enters USA airspace. In the light of recent various incidents the FAA have been a little more alert to operating practices than they were previously. Might you find a listening ear, anonymously, over there?

[somethingclever]

The hamster wheel that is society has to spin faster every year, ok? What other options could there possibly be for the human race?

And if the hamsters start dying, breed more hamster, jeeez.... it's not rocket science here people.

[Plank Cap]

RAT 5 you may be correct with your suggestion that the FAA could take note, but a bit like Sprite 1 alludes to above, this has previously failed to attract their attention. It has been reported back by various overseas FAA / CAA authorities that "your own operator has established a Flight Time and Duty programme that has been accepted by your regulator," and therefore by deduction is deemed a non issue.

What is seldom admitted though by the US FAA / UK CAA, is that the aviation authorities in several Gulf countries have insufficient regulatory ability to control those country's airlines. Some suggest in fact the opposite occurs, that the airlines control the regulators. This is particularly apparent in the area of Flight Time and Duty limitations, in comparison with industry standards.......

[Bokkenrijder]

...but nobody will care.

There are a IMHO three, well four really, key factors at play here;

1) the European and North American carriers won't care because they'll simply use this as leverage during upcoming CLA negotiations. Less for us and more bonuses for them, and we pilots are so dumb to believe that we have to play along with this in order 'to stay competitive.' It's a race to the bottom with no end in sight.

2a) two words; oil and gas! There are many despotic regimes in the Middle East (supporting brutal terrorist groups like ISIS (https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#newwindow=1&q=qatar+support+for+isis) for example) but western governments don't dare criticize them out of fear that they'll close the oil/gas tap. To the contrary, when one of these old farts dies, they all fly over to 'pay their respects.' :yuk:

2b) As a direct result from 2a, many ME carriers have tall order books in Toulouse and Seattle. Criticizing their business practices would require a joint effort from the EU and US, quite difficult to imagine in today's "beggar thy neighbor" economy. Just look at that clown out of DOH and see how he constantly is playing out one manufacturer against the other.

3) the authorities won't care at all. As we've seen in 2008 when the financial system almost collapsed, the responsible authorities had no clue what was about to happen and how to prevent it, and only massive amounts of tax money could avert a systemic meltdown. Just like in the financial services' where safety nets have been dismantled one by one by politicians and 'authorities' in order to facilitate the greed by bank managers, the same has happened in aviation. Pay to fly schemes, students loaded up with debt, turning a blind eye on union mobbing and criminally negligent FTL's facilitated by "bought and paid for experts" who have never seen the inside of a cockpit, all have one goal: satisfy the short term greed of airline managers.

The major difference between the banking industry and aviation? If one single bank collapses it might bring down the whole house of cards, but a single crash in aviation can quickly be blamed on "pilot error" and the charade can continue. Then of course there is always that 'get out of jail free card' that authorities and airline managers have cleverly put in every OM-A: "in the interest of safety, the commander is allowed to deviate....bla bla bla..." If anything happens then they'll quickly turn the tables and say: "well, why didn't they call in fatigued?" leaving the ignorant public further in the illusion that we are all overpaid, only work half of the time, have fantastic layovers with gorgeous cabin crew and that we can even call in sick/unfit if we've had a bad night's sleep. :ugh:

As Jean-Claude Juncker said: "We all know what to do, we just don’t know how to get re-elected after we’ve done it." (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jean-Claude_Juncker) Well, the same goes for us pilots. We all know what to do, but we won't be employed for long if we do it. :sad:

[Smokie]

Ya hit the nail well and truly on the Head :D