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-   -   Is QR the only airline in the world operating 3 crew on ULR? (https://www.pprune.org/middle-east/621993-qr-only-airline-world-operating-3-crew-ulr.html)

WhySoTough 29th May 2019 09:01

Is QR the only airline in the world operating 3 crew on ULR?
 
Granted QR now only categorize Aukland as "ULR" officially, this is absolute criminal.
I really hope they won't get away with this 3 crew operations on flight times as long as 14 hours.

It is absolutely outrageous. 12-14 hour flight inbound, 24 hour layover after minimal rest and a horrible time difference at destination, followed by minimal rest on the flight back.
Leaves you jet lagged and fatigued for days after.

This is coming from a guy that is and has been otherwise happy in QR for over 5 years.
If you are joining on 777 or 350 in specific, be warned, this operation is absolutely brutal.
First officers "factored" hours is also something that they took, despite it not being done in EASA. Go figure!

This alone is worth not joining. On the 777 you are looking at a trip or two a month some months. 1 of these is enough to leave you restless for 10 days.

White Knight 29th May 2019 10:28

No, QR is not the only airline doing 3 pilot ULRs.......

WhySoTough 29th May 2019 10:37


Originally Posted by White Knight (Post 10481897)
No, QR is not the only airline doing 3 pilot ULRs.......

Thanks for the response.
Was my understanding that EK implemented similar not long ago, but changed it back to 4 with countless fatigue reports. Not sure to what extent this is true.
Currently two crew trips of 10 hour flight time is normal here in QR on day trips. Cabin crew are normally given rest (though it is not mandatory), but no rest for the pilots as they save a $ with a DH pilot only to operate on the night sector (either inbound or outbound).

level_change 30th May 2019 18:13

It is truly brutal but that seems to be exactly what they want - on target. Fatigue reports skyrocketing and still no change. Pilots working their asses off and now the overtime pay is "pending higher management approval" whatever that means. Like when they raised the threshold last year just before it was due.

Phantom Driver 31st May 2019 22:34


It is absolutely outrageous. 12-14 hour flight inbound, 24 hour layover after minimal rest and a horrible time difference at destination, followed by minimal rest on the flight back.
Leaves you jet lagged and fatigued for days after.
Looks like the holes in the cheese are starting to line up....

On the other hand , maybe a chance to have a good kip in the bunk . I personally found the 2-3 hour break on "normal" 3 P ops pretty useless . No sooner had you settled down and it was time to get up again . To compound matters , quite a few of those trips were conducted with 1 Captain and 2 F/O's ; competent guys , yes , but still the nagging thought that it was your signature on all the docs . Not sure what the industry standard practice is, these days .

Give me double crew shift any day ; spend some time watching movies before hitting the sack ; you and F/O wake up fully refreshed and ready to deal with the trials and tribulations that await at the end of any long haul to the far ends of the earth .

fatbus 1st Jun 2019 04:13

A show of hands of carriers that do 4 pilot ops with 2 crew . Curious , that's all.

atpcliff 1st Jun 2019 05:26

We (usually) use the old FAA rules, so over 8 flight hours three pilots, and over 12 flight hours four pilots. We are contractually limited to a max 20 hour duty day (duty day starts 1.5 hours prior to scheduled block, and ends 0.5 hours after block in), extendable to 22 hours max. If we have a deadhead at the end of the "day", then we are limited to a 20 hour duty day, unless we are going home...then WE can waive the 20 hour limitation...

Our min rest is 12 hours block to block, and we frequently have 24 hours rest. If we know we will not have the rest time we need before the flight, we can call scheduling and tell them to delay our wakeup call to whatever time we want. If we are fatigued, including at the time of the wakeup call, we call fatigued, and automatically get 12 hours crew rest...they ask us if we need more time.


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