NEW FLIGHT, duty and rest rules for commercial pilots have been proposed by the US Federal Aviation Administration in a move to improve aviation safety.
The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) reduces the number of duty hours (the time a flight crewmember is on the job available to fly) from 16h to 14h for two-pilot crews.
The NPRM also restricts actual flight hours to a maximum of 10h during a crewmember's duty time.
Additional duty hours would be permitted only for unexpected operational problems, such as flight delays. In no event could such delays add more than 2h to the duty day.
To ensure adequate rest, off-duty time will be increased from 8h to 10h, and pilots would have to be given at least one 36h off-duty period every seven days. Current rules call for a 24h period.
Source: Flight International
