Duty Time, Flight, Rest, and The FAA

The airlines aka 121 Air Carriers are and On Demand Charter aka 135 operators are generally held to the same standards by the FAA. Almost all the rules are Identical albeit with one major difference... DUTY and FLIGHT time.

Duty time is that which is spent On Duty. The second you show up to the airport with the intention of flying, you are on Duty. That Duty does not end until you leave the airport. Flight time is that time from Engine Start to Engine Stop.

Airline Pilots are allowed to be on duty for up to 16 hours and fly up to 8 hours in any 24 hour period. The rest time a pilot must have is 9 hours and can be reduced to 8 hours. Charter pilots can be on duty for 14 hours, fly 10 hours and MUST have 10 hours rest, and cannot be reduced. Both airline and charter pilots are professionals who do the same thing at the end of the day. Both are tired, albeit sometimes for different reasons, but why the double standard? Why not one system for commercially employed pilots? How about 14 hours of duty, 8 hours of flight, and 10 hours of rest with NO reduction available?

I spent much of my time at the airlines in a state of constant fatigue. The NTSB has stated time and time again that crews need more rest and less duty time. Why hasn’t the FAA stepped up to the plate in an effort to reduce accidents and incidents due to crew fatigue?

What say you? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below.