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Flight/duty Time Limitations


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well heres what you do!

 

you get a job flying a large helicopter of canadian registry,preferably black,in australia.

 

then you can fly or be on duty, continuously for as long as you like without any regard for the cars,because you forgot that book way back in a snow bank somewhere.

 

then when you come back to canada,you pray transport canada are so retarded,they believe that on days you didnt enter anything in the logbook,it was actually a day off!

 

mostly because that part of the rules that say"when deployed,if you report to an aircraft,are on less than 1 hr callout,or are restricted to staying at a certain location,it is considered on duty"must just be a suggestion!

 

im sure you can tell a story of how some jackass con,who has never heard of our bible called "the cars" said it would be ok and get away with it,until something fails,someone is injured,and you forfeit your lifes,wifes,and future earnings to some poor aussies family.(or get the cuffs slapped on you when you land back home,and get a 2 year flight suspension,and a 1500 dollar/day over fine,or,god forbid,cause a loss of life due to your own negligence)

 

always remember that is you(the pilot in command) who is responsible for your own times,and its good to see some people actually are interested in learning some of the rules,not bend them to suit there financial needs.

 

safety is an attitude,not an action!

 

im tc and im here to help!

 

gday!

 

 

Well said!

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  • 1 month later...
Clear as mud, yeah!! Thanks for the info - Maybe I'm dumb, but im still having a lot of trouble understanding the 30 overlapping periods thing.

 

Also, I've heard lots of good things about Flight Duty XLS, but I am really interested in getting a solid understanding of the system before I let something else take care of the calculations for me. I believe I actually have a copy of that program somewhere.

 

Thanks again for the help ;)

 

Here's what FLTDUTY XLS does with the "6 non-overlapping periods of 30 consecutive days...". You are alowed to use the High Limits set out in the Standards for roughly 6 months of the year - not perpetually. But these 6 months don't have to be calendar months and they don't have to be consecutive - like months in a season.

 

So... If you've reset your flight times to zero following a 5 day break (720.15) or if you've had flight time totals over the Regulations but under the Standards (720.15) or if you've had a duty day over 14 hours but less than 15 hours (720.16), then you've had an incidence of using the Standards and that day is in a "block". Each time you use one of these options (allowed by the Standards), you mark a day. If these days occur close to each other and within 30 days of the first time, then they are all in the same block. Otherwise, they cover more blocks, but not necessarily without a gap.

 

FLTDUTY XLS keeps track of each time there is a use of the higher limits allowed by the Standards. It separates them into blocks of 30 days by optimizing the distribution to make the blocks non-overlapping and makes a Table (High Limits summary table). You can check the table and see each incidence of your use of the higher limits allowed by the Standards, see how many blocks are used up in the previous 365 days, and find out if there is a block available today (if you haven't used all 6 blocks recently).

 

I don't know how you would do this without a computer... Perhaps track your incidents of the use of the higher limits and try to see where 30 day blocks start and end and then count the blocks.

 

I sometimes get questions from users of FLTDUTY XLS about it not allowing them to use the higher flight time totals (like 150 hours in 30 days from 720.15 instead of 120 hours in 30 days from 700.15). It is usually a case of having too much use of the high limits in the previous 365 days which doesn't allow the higher limits to be used today. The restriction of "6 non-overlapping 30 consecutive day" periods has come into play. There is too much activity recently and throughout the year so the Standards cannot apply. The Regulations then become the limit.

 

I suspect this is too long (and boring) for a post. Sorry. You can PM me if you like.

 

Eric :)

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I'm sent out on a job and then fly 26 days in a row - At this point can I take the next 3 days off and have it satisfy the 3 in 30 rule? Or would I need 5 days off because the 'assignment' exceeded 27 days?

 

Not sure if this is a stupid question. Feel free to tell me if it is!

 

I've got another couple questions, too...

 

Is it legal to fly an entire duty day? It seems obvious that there has to be time to prepare the machine in the morning and put it to bed at night, but what's the minimum time required for that if any? What if (just for the sake of argument) my engineer did all the flight planning, DI, etc for me before I even woke up; so I basically just walk to the machine and start it up - Then at the end of the day I step out of the aircraft just as my duty day rolls from 13:59 over to 14:00 and my engineer puts the machine to bed. Am I legal?

 

and finally...

 

The 365 day total, the 180 day total and the 7 day total can never get reset....(correct me if I'm wrong)

In tracking these totals, am I correct in thinking of it as a window that moves forward everyday, where I add the current days flight time and subtract the flight time from 'the limit + 1' days in the past? For example... The 365 day total, every new day the flight time for the 366th day in the past gets subtracted from the total and whatever flight time accumulated during the current day gets added....

 

Please tell me if I'm out to lunch!

 

Cheers

 

If you've come off a rest period (would have to be 3 days) before you took the assignment away and flew 26 days, then you are good to go following another 3 day (a day is 24 consecutive hours...) rest. This keeps the 3 days off in 30 days satisfied.

 

You need 8 hours rest following any flight duty period. Therefore the most you can fly in any 24 consecutive hour period is 16 hours. Notwithstanding any travel, meals and hygiene... you are limited to 15 hours of flight duty (if you have the Ops Spec allowing the use of the Standards for 6 months of the year...) so that becomes the practical limit. Without the Ops Spec (or after a busy season), you are limited to 14 hours of duty/flight time. Flight duty "On Standby" is defined as being available from a specific location for assignment to a flight. Standby time counts as duty time. If you arrive at work and are available for a flight, your duty time starts. If you have landed and are no longer available for dispatch, your duty time has ended. If you do "other related duties" before running off to get some rest, then you are not on duty, but also not at rest. You still need the 8 hours prone rest.

 

You have the right idea for calculating flight time totals for the various periods that CARs and CASS have limits for. Resetting to zero can be done for some totals under some operations for some of the year, but not always. I always caution FLTDUTY XLS users not to reset flight times to zero following EVERY 5 day break because it uses up one of the blocks in the "6 non-overlapping periods of 30 consecutive days" referred to in CASS 720.15 and 720.16. You might need that block later...

 

Eric :)

 

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Thanks so much for your input, Eric. That is all very good information. Things are starting to become clear! I just checked out your website, too. Great resource with lots of good info. Not to mention FLTDUTY looks like a pretty decent little program.

 

I'll PM you later with a couple additional questions.

 

Thanks again!

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