Crew Composition, Flight and Duty Time Limitations and Rest Requirements
This domain tests Part-ORO Subpart FTL: the definitions, the maximum flight duty period, cumulative flight and duty limits, rest, standby and positioning. Most items are exact definitions or simple arithmetic on rest and duty.
Definitions (ORO.FTL.105)
- Flight duty period (FDP): the period beginning when a crew member is required to report for duty, including flight time, and ending when the aircraft finally comes to rest and the engines are shut down.
- Flight time: from the first movement of the aircraft for take-off until it comes to rest at the parking position.
- Duty period: any period in which the crew member is on duty, including positioning and standby when called out.
- Rest period: continuous and uninterrupted; minimum 12 hours before an FDP, reducible to 10 hours away from home base where the OM allows, with compensatory rest.
- Local night: a period of 8 hours falling between 22:00 and 08:00 local time. Others tested: acclimatisation, standby, split duty, disruptive schedule.
Core limits (ORO.FTL.205 and .210)
- Maximum FDP comes from a table driven by report time, number of sectors and crew complement; augmentation extends it.
- Duty: not more than 14 hours in any 24 consecutive hours, 55 hours in 7 days, 95 hours in 14 days, 190 hours in 28 days.
- Flight time: 100 hours in 28 days, 900 hours in a calendar year, 1000 hours in 12 consecutive months.
- Weekly rest of 36 hours including a local night; commander's discretion may extend an FDP within defined limits after consulting the crew, with a report.
Worked example
A crew finishes duty at 23:30 and is rostered to report at 07:00 the next morning. That gives 7.5 hours of rest, below the 12-hour minimum at home base and even below the reduced 10-hour figure allowed away from base. The roster is illegal; the earliest legal report is 11:30 at home base. Now suppose the same crew instead positions by surface transport for two hours before an FDP: that positioning counts as duty but not as flight time, so the duty total grows while the flight-time total does not.
Traps
- Counting only flight time when checking a duty period.
- Treating home standby or airport standby as rest.
- Forgetting that positioning is duty but not flight time.
- Using one FDP limit for every report time and sector count.