The Hong Kong Civil Aviation Department (CAD) is planning pioneering new rules on maximum permissible flight hours and minimum stand down periods, which will require Cathay Pacific Airways to overhaul crew rostering for long haul flights.
Cathay has until 30 November to submit its response to the CAD 371 standards, due to come into force in March 1999. The new regulations contain changes, "-intended to be binding", says Capt Jim Adams, CAD acting chief of flight standards.
The CAD has decreed that aircrew crossing six or more time zones need 72h to adjust their sleep patterns to local time. To avoid cumulative fatigue from flying again within this period, rostering will have to correspond to body time at the point of original departure.
Recovery times on return to home bases will be pro-rated to the number of time zones crossed during a flight, not just the hours flown. These changes are likely to affect Cathay's practice of "out porting" many of its pilots overseas.
Flight time limits are normally based on the time of day a pilot reports for work and the number of sectors flown. The ceiling on long- haul flights equipped with in-flight rest facilities will vary with the number of relief crew on board, with two-man flight duty limited to 10h, three to 13h and four to 18h
The new rules follow a 15-month joint study by the CAD, local airlines, the Hong Kong Airline Pilot's Association (HKALPA), the Guild of Air Pilots and Navigators and aeromedical specialists. "We wanted to look solely at medical, scientific and flight safety factors," says HKALPA general secretary John Findlay.
Source: Flight International
