Regulation 83/2014 – Flight Time Limitations
Regulation 83/2014 – Flight Time Limitations
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Subject Matter and Scope
This Regulation establishes the requirements to be met by an operator and its crew members with regard to flight and duty time limitations and to rest requirements for crew members. It does so by amending Regulation (EU) No 965/2012 laying down technical requirements and administrative procedures related to air operations.
The Regulation applies without prejudice to the limits and minimum standards already established by Council Directive 2000/79/EC (4), in particular the provisions on working time and days free of duty, which should always be respected for mobile staff in civil aviation. The provisions of this Regulation and other provisions approved pursuant to this Regulation are not intended to justify any reductions in existing levels of protections for that mobile staff. The provisions of this Regulation do not preclude and should be without prejudice to more protective national social legislation and collective labour agreements concerning working conditions and health and safety at work.
Definitions
"Acclimatised" means a state in which a crew member’s circadian biological clock is synchronised to the time zone where the crew member is. A crew member is considered to be acclimatised to a 2-hour wide time zone surrounding the local time at the point of departure. When the local time at the place where a duty commences differs by more than 2 hours from the local time at the place where the next duty starts, the crew member, for the calculation of the maximum daily flight duty period, is considered to be acclimatised in accordance with the values in the Table 1, where:
- “B” means acclimatised to the local time of the departure time zone,
- “D” means acclimatised to the local time where the crew member starts his/her next duty
- “X” means that a crew member is in an unknown state of acclimatisation;
Crew acclimatisation table, Source: FTL Regulation, Annex II
“Disruptive Schedule” means a crew member’s roster which disrupts the sleep opportunity during the optimal sleep time window by comprising an FDP or a combination of FDPs which encroach, start or finish during any portion of the day or of the night where a crew member is acclimatised. A schedule may be disruptive due to early starts, late finishes or night duties "Duty Period" means a period which starts when a crew member is required by an operator to report for or to commence a duty and ends when that person is free of all duties, including post-flight duty
“Duty Period” means a period which starts when a crew member is required by an operator to report for or to commence a duty and ends when that person is free of all duties, including post-flight duty
"Flight Duty Period (‘FDP’)" means a period that commences when a crew member is required to report for duty, which includes a sector or a series of sectors, and finishes when the aircraft finally comes to rest and the engines are shut down, at the end of the last sector on which the crew member acts as an operating crew member
"Rest Period" means a continuous, uninterrupted and defined period of time, following duty or prior to duty, during which a crew member is free of all duties, standby and reserve
Operator Responsibilities
An operator shall:
- publish duty rosters sufficiently in advance to provide the opportunity for crew members to plan adequate rest;
- ensure that flight duty periods are planned in a way that enables crew members to remain sufficiently free from fatigue so that they can operate to a satisfactory level of safety under all circumstances;
- specify reporting times that allow sufficient time for ground duties;
- take into account the relationship between the frequency and pattern of flight duty periods and rest periods and give consideration to the cumulative effects of undertaking long duty hours combined with minimum rest periods;
- allocate duty patterns which avoid practices that cause a serious disruption of an established sleep/work pattern, such as alternating day/night duties;
- comply with the provisions concerning disruptive schedules in accordance with ARO.OPS.230;
- provide rest periods of sufficient time to enable crew members to overcome the effects of the previous duties and to be rested by the start of the following flight duty period;
- plan recurrent extended recovery rest periods and notify crew members sufficiently in advance;
- plan flight duties in order to be completed within the allowable flight duty period taking into account the time necessary for pre-flight duties, the sector and turnaround times;
- change a schedule and/or crew arrangements if the actual operation exceeds the maximum flight duty period on more than 33 % of the flight duties in that schedule during a scheduled seasonal period.
Fatigue Risk Management (FRM)
The FRM shall correspond to the flight time specification scheme, the size of the operator and the nature and complexity of its activities, taking into account the hazards and associated risks inherent in those activities and the applicable flight time specification scheme. The FRM established, implemented and maintained shall provide for continuous improvement to the overall performance of the FRM and shall include:
- a description of the philosophy and principles of the operator with regard to FRM, referred to as the FRM policy;
- documentation of the FRM processes, including a process for making personnel aware of their responsibilities and the procedure for amending this documentation;
- scientific principles and knowledge;
- a hazard identification and risk assessment process that allows managing the operational risk(s) of the operator arising from crew member fatigue on a continuous basis;
- a risk mitigation process that provides for remedial actions to be implemented promptly, which are necessary to effectively mitigate the operator’s risk(s) arising from crew member fatigue and for continuous monitoring and regular assessment of the mitigation of fatigue risks achieved by such actions;
- FRM safety assurance processes;
- FRM promotion processes.
Flight Time Specification Schemes
Operators shall establish, implement and maintain flight time specification schemes that are appropriate for the type(s) of operation performed. Before being implemented, flight time specification schemes, including any related FRM where required, shall be approved by the competent authority.
Commercial Air Transport (CAT) Operators
A CAT operator shall assign a home base to each crew member. The operator shall establish procedures specifying how the commander shall, in case of special circumstances which could lead to severe fatigue, and after consultation with the crew members concerned, reduce the actual flight duty period (FDP) and/or increase the rest period in order to eliminate any detrimental effect on flight safety.
Whenever cabin crew requires more time than the flight crew for their pre-flight briefing for the same sector or series of sectors, the FDP of the cabin crew may be extended by the difference in reporting time between the cabin crew and the flight crew. The difference shall not exceed 1 hour. The maximum daily FDP for cabin crew shall be based on the time at which the flight crew report for their FDP, but the FDP shall start at the reporting time of the cabin crew.
The maximum daily FDP may be extended by up to 1 hour not more than twice in any 7 consecutive days. In that case:
- the minimum pre-flight and post-flight rest periods shall be increased by 2 hours; or
- the post-flight rest period shall be increased by 4 hours.
Flight time specification schemes shall specify the conditions for extensions of the maximum basic daily FDP with in-flight rest in accordance with the certification specifications applicable to the type of operation, taking into account:
- the number of sectors flown;
- the minimum in-flight rest allocated to each crew member;
- the type of in-flight rest facilities;
- the augmentation of the basic flight crew.
The conditions to modify the limits on flight duty, duty and rest periods by the commander in the case of unforeseen circumstances in flight operations, which start at or after the reporting time, shall comply with the following:
- the maximum daily FDP may not be increased by more than 2 hours unless the flight crew has been augmented, in which case the maximum flight duty period may be increased by not more than 3 hours;
- if on the final sector within an FDP the allowed increase is exceeded because of unforeseen circumstances after take-off, the flight may continue to the planned destination or alternate aerodrome; and
- the rest period following the FDP may be reduced but can never be less than 10 hours.
Where the increase of an FDP or reduction of a rest period exceeds 1 hour, a copy of the report, to which the operator shall add its comments, shall be sent by the CAT operator to the competent authority not later than 28 days after the event.
Flight Times and Duty Periods
The total duty periods to which a crew member may be assigned shall not exceed:
- 60 duty hours in any 7 consecutive days;
- 110 duty hours in any 14 consecutive days;
- 190 duty hours in any 28 consecutive days, spread as evenly as practicable throughout that period.
The total flight time of the sectors on which an individual crew member is assigned as an operating crew member shall not exceed:
- 100 hours of flight time in any 28 consecutive days
- 900 hours of flight time in any calendar year;
- 1,000 hours of flight time in any 12 consecutive calendar months.
Reserve
If an operator assigns crew members to reserve, the following requirements shall apply in accordance with the certification specifications applicable to the type of operation:
- reserve shall be in the roster;
- flight time specification schemes shall specify the following elements:
- the maximum duration of any single reserve period;
- the number of consecutive reserve days that may be assigned to a crew member.
Rest Periods
The minimum rest period provided before undertaking an FDP starting at home base shall be at least as long as the preceding duty period, or 12 hours, whichever is greater. The minimum rest period provided before undertaking an FDP starting away from home base shall be at least as long as the preceding duty period, or 10 hours, whichever is greater. This period shall include an 8-hour sleep opportunity in addition to the time for travelling and physiological needs.
Records of Home Base, Flight Times, Duty and Rest Periods
An operator shall maintain, for a period of 24 months:
- individual records for each crew member including:
- flight times;
- start, duration and end of each duty period and FDP;
- rest periods and days free of all duties;
- assigned home base;
- reports on extended flight duty periods and reduced rest periods.
Fatigue Management Training
The operator shall provide initial and recurrent fatigue management training to crew members, personnel responsible for preparation and maintenance of crew rosters and management personnel concerned.
This training shall follow a training programme established by the operator and described in the operations manual. The training syllabus shall cover the possible causes and effects of fatigue and fatigue countermeasure.
Implementation
This Regulation is applicable as from 18 February 2016.
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