Required FAA time limitations

[RobbieHe 0]

Could someone clear this up for me? From my understanding, the FAA limits pilots to 8 hours of flying time before they have to be relieved from duty. So, if a pilot is flying a long distance flight that required 9 hours (Say from ATL to LGW), the last hour of the flight, someone else much step in and land. I assume that there is a relief pilot onboard. Does this time limitation apply just for passenger flights or for both passenger and cargo flights? Or, am I mistaken about the time limitation issue?Thanks,RH

[brucek 38]

Hi,As far as I know this limitiation applies to part 135, 121 and some other commercial operations; and does include cargo and passenger planes. It does not include private pilots. Maximum flying time is 8 hours, which can be structured as 4+4, all the 8 together, or any number of segments that total no more than 8. On trips up to 12 hours, there may be 3 pilots sharing the captain/copilot roles (which only works up to 12 hours, then you need 4 pilots or a full relief crew). Maximum duty time is 12 hours I think. Various airlines have different procedures for this. On some, the entire crew changes sopmewhere in flight and a new captain lands the plane. On others there is only one captain, who rests on some of the enroute hours but is always present for both take-offs and landings.I'm about to start my commercial license so am unsure of the accuracy of my response. Maybe some other guys can jump in.Bruce.

[RobbieHe 0]

Thanks for the response. That was good and very useful info. I guess I will try and limit all FS2004 flights to 8 hours to be in charge of the entire flight. Best of luck in your flying career. RH

[Johan_Dees 84]

A real retired NWA pilot told me that he was lucky when he could do about 3 landings a month while doing a cross pacific flight.They end up in hotels, waiting for the next flight, having a FO on board who like to train and so on.Onboard a relief crew is available, and due the shifting of the times the hours might be ok, but the doings not.If your duty is the cruise phase, then you know it will be dull, and no takeoff nor landing is involved.Johan[A HREF=http://jdserver.no-ip.com]Personal Server[/A]or..http://62.238.33.10

[brucek 38]

Hi Robbie,Better still, break your flight so that you can leave it on auto-pilot and go have dinner etc., this simulates you not being on duty.Thanks, Bruce.

[RobbieHe 0]

Thanks a lot guys for the replies. It seems, then, the best overseas duty a pilot could ask for would be something like JKF - LHW or EWR - LGW (both are long distance but within 8 hours).RH

[Guest jrewing]

The flight time limits for pilots for flag operations depends on the number of pilot crew members: You can read more athttp://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-...4.19.18&idno=14John

[RobbieHe 0]

Thanks for the Info! "If a certificate holder conducting flag operations schedules a pilot to fly more than eight hours during any 24 consecutive hours, it shall give him an intervening rest period, at or before the end of eight scheduled hours of flight duty. This rest period must be at least twice the number of hours flown since the preceding rest period, but not less than eight hours. The certificate holder shall relieve that pilot of all duty with it during that rest period."So, on a 11 hour flight, for example, the pilot can take off and command the first four hours, take a three hour break (and let the copilot assume duties, and then fly for the rest and land?"This rest period must be at least twice the number of hours flown since the preceding rest period."I am having difficulty interpreting this sentence. Thanks,RH

[michal 44]

>Could someone clear this up for me? From my understanding,>the FAA limits pilots to 8 hours of flying time before they>have to be relieved from duty.I don't think it is so rigid as you think.The pilots on say 11-hour legs usually fly with no back-up crew. But if the flight is 14-hours or more then there is another crew. I don't know the exact regs but I can assure you that 8-hour limit you quote is not correct. On a typical flights say between US West Coast and Europe there is only one cockpit crew (say London-Los Angeles) but if you fly say Los Angeles - Hongkong then there are 2 cockpit crews aboard. I hope KevinAu who is a line pilot will chime in and tell us how it is all done in practice.Michael J.WinXP-Home SP2,AMD64 3500+,Abit AV8,Radeon X800Pro,36GB Raptor,1GB PC3200,Audigy 2

[Guest P3_Super_Bee]

Hey to toss in some Navy info here for comparision...Max crew day 18 hours. (clock starts at the start of preflight normally 2 hours prior to take-off and ends after post-flight, normally an hour after touch down)On flight longer than 6 hours there must be a 3rd Pilot and 2nd FE (talking P-3's here)Their normal rotation in flight is for pilots 4 in the seat 2 out, and for FEs 3 and 3. Though totally up to the crew how they split the time.IIRC, if flight is over 6 hours there is to be a 12 hour crew rest requirement prior to the next flight, if this cycle goes three days the crew rest between the 3rd and 4th flight will be 18 hours.Max flight hours per month is 150, without a trip to the flight surgon for clearance.:-outtahttp://publish.hometown.aol.com/p3superb/i...s/sign_name.jpgThere is a fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness".- unknown"My daddy gives me up, to fight for you"- a US Military Members Child

[Guest wesl]

If the flight is scheduled more than 8 hrs, there will be a third crew member on two pilot aircraft. If the scheduled flight time is more than 12 hrs, there will be two additional crew members. The key word is scehduled. How many flights are scheduled for 7:59 min but take 8:20 to complete? Do not confuse flight time with duty time.Your day can start at 6 am, fly 3 hrs, sit for 8 hrs, fly for 3 hrs more, and before you know it is 8 pm. Some of the smaller package carriers start the duty day at 7 pm, fly 1 hr, have a bunk available in a rental house/apartment, depart the next day a 7:30 am, fly 1 hr back to home base. The duty day officially ends at 9 am. The downside is you may still have to fly when you were hoping to sleep.As overpaid as many people like to think pilots are, you only get paid when you fly, and a 14 hr day for 6 hrs pay is the norm on short flights. And you can only fly 1000 hrs a year. Most pilots are lucky to get to 800 hrs, because the days just aren't long enough.Wes

[Guest Tim__757]

On top of the FAA regulations 8-30-100-1000 you "may" have the union contract defining how your day and pay is divided up, the use of relief crews, minimum pay hours, pay for training, per-deim and fun stuff that makes your pay-stub look like a phone book.....If you want a really good look at how a line pilot "lives" pick up Mike Ray's: "OPs Guide/New Pilot Stuff/Flying Rules" Using over 37 years of aviation experience, Mike Ray has created a fantastic book for anyone considering an airliner career. Uses real life translations to explain the rules and regulations that airline professionals are required to know and use. A down-to-earth quick reference guide for airline pilot responsibilities. Black and white illustrations, approx. 125 pages, paperback. It is typical Mike Ray work full of how the Real World works. I recommend it for new hires or those interested in how it comes together operationally. It is geared towards UAL but all the US majors are close and we all have the FAA regs...Tim__757