Flight Time Limitations, Federal Register NPRM

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Aviation Administration
14 CFR Part 121
[Docket No. FAA–2011–0045]
Proposed Legal Interpretation
AGENCY: Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA).
ACTION: Proposed interpretation.
SUMMARY: The FAA is considering
clarifying the application of flight time
limitations and rest requirements in 14
CFR 121.481 and 121.483 for pilots
operating in flag operations as part of a
two-pilot crew and as part of a two-pilot
crew and one additional flightcrew
member during a seven-day period.
DATES: Comments must be received on
or before May 2, 2011.
ADDRESSES: You may send comments
identified by Docket Number FAA–
2011–0045 using any of the following
methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to
Regulations. and follow
the online instructions for sending your
comments electronically.


Mail: Send comments to Docket
Operations, M–30; U.S. Department of
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey
Avenue, SE., Room W12–140, West
Building Ground Floor, Washington, DC
20590–0001.


Hand Delivery or Courier: Bring
comments to Docket Operations in
Room W12–140 of the West Building
Ground Floor at 1200 New Jersey
Avenue, SE., Washington, DC, between
9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through
Friday, except Federal holidays.


Fax: Fax comments to Docket
Operations at 202–493–2251.


FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sara
Mikolop, Attorney, Regulations
Division, Office of the Chief Counsel,
Federal Aviation Administration, 800
Independence Avenue, SW.,
Washington, DC 20591;
telephone: 202–267–3073.



SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The FAA
provides flight time and rest
requirements for flightcrew members
used in flag operations in 14 CFR
subpart R. Within subpart R, § 121.481
provides flight time limitations for one or
two-pilot crews and § 121.483
provides flight time limitations for
crews of two pilots and one additional
flight crewmember.


The flight time limitations are more
restrictive for operations under
§ 121.481 than § 121.483 because the
crew size is smaller and thus each pilot
must assume responsibilities for more
in-flight duties. See Legal Interpretation
from Donald P. Byrne to James W.
Johnson (August 24, 1999).

In contrast,
when a crew of two pilots and one
additional flightcrew member operates
under § 121.483, the in-flight duties are
divided among more crewmembers and
so the overall burden on any one
crewmember may be reduced as
crewmembers rotate through flight deck
duties and may be provided an
opportunity for rest. See Legal
Interpretation from Donald P. Byrne to
James W. Johnson (August 24, 1999).
Thus, when the number of flightcrew
members used in a flag operation
increases, Subpart R allows for
increased flight time. Compare 14 CFR
121.481 with 14 CFR 121.483 and 14
CFR 121.485.

PROPOSALS
Federal Register /Vol. 76, No. 40 /Tuesday, March 1, 2011 / Proposed Rules 11177
1 § 121.483 does not contain a provision that is
parallel to § 121.481(d). Nevertheless, the flight
time limits for 48 and 72 hour periods found in
§ 121.483(b) are less restrictive than the flight time
limitations in § 121.481(d).
On July 15, 2010, the FAA received a
request for a legal interpretation
regarding how to apply flight time
limitations and rest requirements for
pilots engaged in flag operations when
those pilots participate in varying sizes
of flightcrews during a seven-day
period. Specifically, a pilot labor
organization requested a legal
interpretation regarding the application
14 CFR 121.481(d), limiting a two-pilot
crew to 32 hours of flight time within
any seven consecutive days, when that
same crew is augmented with an
additional pilot during or after the
completion of 32 hours of flight time
within a seven-day period. We have not
previously addressed these questions.
We do not require an air carrier to use
a pilot for just one flightcrew
complement in flag operations. Air
carriers engaged in flag operations are
permitted to use the same pilot as part
of a crew of two pilots, a crew of two
pilots and one additional flightcrew
member, or a crew of three pilots and
one additional flightcrew member. This
flexibility allows certificate holders who
use multiple flightcrew complements
throughout their operations to use
flightcrew members interchangeably.
The FAA’s rules have a long history
of acknowledging that pilots may be
used in flightcrews of varying sizes, in
that § 121.487 provides a framework for
calculating monthly and quarterly flight
time limitations for such pilots. In an
early version of the current requirement,
Special Civil Air Regulation No. 386F,
it was envisioned that this rule would
‘‘not allow evasion of the stricter
limitations applicable to smaller crew
combinations, but will allow assignment
of a pilot in any given month to another
type of crew combination without
additional flight time limitations if he
flies not more than 20 hours in the type
of crew to which the more restrictive
flight time limitations apply and if such
assignment is not interrupted more than
once during such month.’’ See 28 Fed.
Reg. 2000, 2000 (1963).

Although
§ 121.487 provides a structure for
calculating monthly and quarterly flight
time limitations for pilots used in
varying sizes of flightcrews, neither the
current § 121.487 nor the regulatory
history answer the question of how to
apply daily and weekly flight time
limitations for these same pilots.
We did not intend, however, for this
flexibility to be used by a certificate
holder to select less restrictive flight
time limitations for a flightcrew by
augmenting that flightcrew midway or
at the completion of a scheduling
period. For example, the flight time
limits of 14 CFR 121.481(d) would be
circumvented if a certificate holder
schedules a two-pilot crew for a series
of operations and then augments that
two-pilot flightcrew during or at the
completion of a 32 hours of flight time
within any seven-day period, for the
purposes of extending the flightcrew’s
flight time under the less restrictive
framework of § 121.483.
Although we have not clarified the
effects of augmenting a two-pilot
flightcrew within a seven-day period, in
a Legal Interpretation issued August 24,
1999, we examined the application of
§§ 121.481 and 121.483 when a twopilot
flightcrew is augmented so as to
extend the duty times for the original
two-pilot flightcrew members within a
24-hour period. See Legal Interpretation
from Donald P. Byrne to James W.
Johnson (August 24, 1999). As
previously stated, § 121.481 applies
when a certificate holder conducts flag
operations with a one- or two-pilot
crew. When a certificate holder
conducts flag operations with a twopilot
crew with one additional
flightcrew member, § 121.483 applies.
However, in an August 24, 1999 Legal
Interpretation, we stated that once an air
carrier conducting flag operations
schedules a pilot to fly under § 121.481
and the pilot completes the flight time,
it would be contrary to the intent of
§ 121.481 to then schedule that pilot to
fly under § 121.483 without providing
the rest required within a 24-hour
period as required by §§ 121.481(a) or
(b). See Legal Interpretation from
Donald P. Byrne to James W. Johnson
(August 24, 1999) (stating that the
regulations prohibit augmenting a twopilot
crew after completing a 55 minute
flight, subject to § 121.481, so that those
two pilots may then continue on to
operate a 9 hour and 50 minute flight
subject to § 121.483(b) without
providing the rest required by
§ 121.481(a) or (b)). The August 24,
1999, Legal Interpretation ensures that
pilots who have operated as part of a
two-pilot crew receive the rest intended
by 14 CFR 121.481(a) and (b).
Finally, our knowledge regarding the
causes and effects of fatigue has
significantly increased since the
regulations on flight time limitations
were drafted. We now know that the
longer one has been awake and the
longer one spends on task, the greater
the likelihood of fatigue. We also know
more about transient and cumulative
fatigue. Transient fatigue and
cumulative fatigue are conditions
brought on by sleep restriction that
occurs over one or two days or a series
of days respectively, thus making the
daily and weekly flight time limitations
and rest requirements a significant
safeguard to ensure adequately rested
pilots.


Therefore, similar to the principle
articulated in the August 24, 1999 legal
interpretation and considering what we
now know about fatigue, to fulfill the
intended rest requirements of
§ 121.481(d), the FAA has tentatively
determined that once a flightcrew has
completed 32 hours of flight time under
14 CFR 121.481(d), that flightcrew must
be provided the rest required by
§ 121.481(d) before being scheduledunder § 121.483.

Further, should an air
carrier engaged in flag operations use
two pilots in both a two-pilot flightcrew
and a flightcrew of two pilots and one
additional flightcrew member, within
any seven consecutive days, then the
flight time limitations and rest
requirements of § 121.481(d) would
apply to the two pilots who have moved
between crew complements.


This clarification would fulfill the
intent that pilots serving in two-pilot
crews in flag operations are afforded the
rest contemplated by § 121.481.
Issued in Washington, DC, on February 22,
2011.
Rebecca B. MacPherson,
Assistant Chief Counsel for Regulations,
AGC–200.
[FR Doc. 2011–4271 Filed 2–28–11; 8:45 am]
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