In Europe, the maximum flight duty time a pilot can work is 13 hours. However, this assumes only 2 pilots are operating the flight (you may have 3 or 4 pilots to increase the maximum allowable time) and that you start your duty during the morning. This is a bit of a simplification as the limits for how many hours a pilot can work in a day can be complex and depend on a number of variables.

These variables include:

• The time of day a pilot reports for duty (you can work more hours if you start at 10am rather than 10pm for obvious reasons!).
• Whether the pilot is acclimatised to the local time zone (if you are a long haul pilot, you probably won’t be acclimatised when down route)
• How many pilots are operating the flight (on short haul flights you’d normally only ever have 2 pilots but when flying long haul, you can have 3 or 4 pilots operating a flight, sometimes even more)
• How many flights the duty consists of (this might be 4 flights a day for short haul pilots or just 1 flight for long haul pilots)

There are also restrictions on duties that have several early starts in a row or pilots may need some extra time off required following night flights. There is a requirement for a fixed number of days off over a set period and there are maximum flight and duty time limits for periods of 7 days, 14 days, 28 days and annually which can be seen in the example below.

The rules which govern the number of hours that pilots can work are called Flight Time Limitations (FTLs). These rules are mandated by the regulatory authorities such as the CAA, FAA and EASA.

Duty Period vs Flight Duty Period

There is a subtle but important difference between a Duty Period and a Flight Duty Period and they are treated differently in terms of the maximum time allowable for each entity.

A duty period is defined as when a pilot checks into the airport to commence their pre-flight duties, to after landing once they have completed their post flight duties (typically 30 minutes after parking the aircraft at the gate).

This is not the same as a flight duty period, which covers the period from when the pilots check in at the airport for their flight to when the aircraft comes to a stop (parking brake on) for the crews last flight.

By way of example, if a pilot operates a flight to a destination but then they come home as a passenger (at the behest of the airline), the entire day is classed as a duty period. However, only the part from the piloting checking in, to them parking the aircraft for the flight they are actually operating, is classed as a flight duty period.

Unlike duty periods and flight duty periods, flight time (for which there are even more restrictions!) commences when the aircraft’s parking brake is released to commence pushback until the parking brake is set when it arrives at its destination.

Maximum Pilot Duty Hours in 7 days / 14 days / 28 days

EASA who govern European airlines, stipulate the following:

The total duty periods to which a crew member may be assigned shall not exceed:

Maximum Hours a Pilot can Fly in a Day in Detail

In terms of how many hours a pilot can work in one day you may be surprised to learn that it is normally far higher that Lorry drivers. A flight duty period is one day’s work and that starts from when a pilot arrives at the airport to complete their pre-flight duties, which involves looking at fuel planning, weather and briefing the crew. They then have to get to the aircraft early enough to complete their checks and start boarding customers to ensure an on time departure. Most short haul flights have a flight duty period that would start 1 hour before the flight and long haul is typically 90 minutes before.

A flight duty period ends when the pilot sets the park brake at the final arrival airport. Although the pilots still have work to do after this it is not deemed to be dangerous if they are tired as they are not flying customers around any more, although they still have to drive home!

A short haul pilot working for a low-cost airline would typically do 2 long sectors (flights), 4 shorter ones or perhaps even 2 long ones with 2 short ones after or before.

Airline rostering is a complex business. Airlines have a responsibility to roster pilots work that they can safely complete, however pilots are an expensive to airlines so, they also need to get as much work out of them as possible. It is a fine balance to strike.

Below is a table which sets out the normal maximum hours a crew member can work for a flight duty period, assuming the crew member is ‘acclimatised’. These hours can be extended through in-flight rest (i.e. having more than 2 pilots onboard) and Captains discretion, both of which are described later on in the article.

A Typical Short Haul Day for a Pilot

A typical days work for a short haul pilot may for example, see a pilot reporting early in the morning at an airport in the UK, fly down to the Mediterranean, and then fly back again. The day might end there or they might end up doing another shorter flight such as from London to Glasgow and back.

The maximum flight duty period for pilots starting at 0600 and doing 4 flights in the day would be 12 hours.

Although the flight duty period ends when the park brake is set on the final sector, the pilots still then have to say goodbye to their customers, complete their post flight checks onboard, file any paperwork in the office, clear customs and immigration, get to the car park and drive home.

What is Captain’s Discretion?

The Captain has the authority to exercise ‘discretion’, which is an extension to the maximum flight duty period, if he/she feels that they can safely extend their working day. This extension of hours can be used to manage on the day delays, such as due to technical or air traffic control days. The crew can’t be planned to go into discretion before the duty, it must be due to exceptional circumstances on the day.

The rules state that the pilots can extend the maximum duty, using discretion by up to 2 hours. This can be extended to 3 hours if the flight has 3 or more pilots and the aircraft has crew bunks which allow onboard rest.

However it is called ‘discretion’ precisely because the use of this extension is completely down to the discretion of the captain. The captain must make a judgement call as to whether it is safe to exercise discretion or not. This will depend on a wide range of factors, such as:

• How the crew are feeling – if they’ve been up at 4am for every morning for the last 4 days, the might be too tired to safely extend the flight duty time.
• Poor weather requires the pilots to demonstrate greater cognitive capacity. This is harder to do when tired and you’ll inevitably be more tired if you extended your duty period by 2 hours.
• Aircraft technical defects can complicate the operation, so it may not be appropriate to extend the flight duty period.

The airline should not put any pressure on the crew to operate into discretion, and it is the Captain’s decision only, the airline can only ask if they are willing and able.

What happens to maximum pilot hours when a delay occur?

What happens if the flight is running late? You may have been on a flight and heard the expression by pilots, cabin crew or ground staff that ‘the pilots are out of hours’. This means they can not legally complete the flight within the maximum number of hours they are permitted to work. If the pilots are out of hours it isn’t that they are just a little tired and don’t fancy competing the day’s work. If pilots exceeded the maximum allowable duty hours, they would be breaking the law and risk losing their licence and potentially be criminally prosecuted should anything un-towards happen,

Long Haul Pilot Hours

On long haul flights there is also a requirement for a number of local nights rest at home base / airport depending on the time zone you have been in (if equal or greater to 4 hours difference to home base / airport) and the number of nights you have spent in the different time zone. This is to try to ensure pilots are adequately rested and acclimatised for their next duty.

So as you can see there are many factors involved and some regulations are based on scientific research to help prevent fatigue. It is a well known fact and genuine concern in the industry as increased fatigue has a direct correlation to reducing safety as most air accidents are caused by some sort of pilot error at some point and many of these incidents have fatigue as a contributing factor.

The FAA (American authority) made changes to their regulations in a bid to reduce fatigue particularly in the small commuter airlines after the Colgan Air flight 3407 in 2009 accident which was attributed to pilot error likely caused by fatigue. Other air accidents attributed to fatigue include Korean Airlines flight 801, American Airlines flight 1420 and Corporate Airlines flight 1566.

Typical Long Haul Day for a Pilot

Long haul flights are slightly different as they sometimes have more than 2 pilots to allow a longer flight duty period by giving each pilot some rest away from the controls, these areas are called bunks as they are like bunk bed areas normally in the roof space of long haul aircraft. Some long haul aircraft do not have bunk areas so the airline would have to block a seat off (normally a first class or club class seat) so the pilot can get some rest there instead.

If a pilot started early in the morning like the example above and did one flight then the maximum duty period is 13 hours. The increase in maximum flight duty period is due to the fact it is deemed less fatiguing to do 1 flight than 2, 3 or 4. There are also fewer mistakes likely to be made as they are only setting up the aircraft and departing and arriving once.

If you’re interested in a comprehensive description of a day in the life of a long haul pilot, check out our article here.

Pilot Rest Areas Onboard an Aircraft

Many long haul aircraft are fitted with crew rest areas referred to as ‘crew bunks’. These are flat beds separate from the passenger compartment where both pilots and cabin crew can sleep during the flight.

On very long flights (such as from Heathrow to Hong Kong) airlines are able to extend the crews maximum duty period by rostering 3 or 4 pilots for the duty. In the case of 3 pilots, this allows 1 pilot to always be resting in the bunks (except for take-off, approach and landing), or 2 pilots to be in the bunks if there are 4 pilots in total. With one extra pilot and bunk rest facilities onboard the authorities allow an airline to extend the maximum duty period to 16 hours without the use of discretion (19 hours if discretion is used).

Cabin Crew Flight Duty Time Restrictions

Cabin crew have similar duty time restrictions to the pilots and are often identical limits. The main objective of these regulations is to ensure pilots and cabin crew have the required alertness levels at crucial stages of flight, i.e. take off and landing.

Pilot Controlled Rest on the Flight Deck During Flight

If pilots still feel tired during a flight duty period, they can opt to have ‘controlled rest’. This is a short period (no longer than 45 minutes) of sleep in the seat at the controls. There are various requirements such:

• The seat has to be pulled back from the controls
• The rudder pedals moved forward so the pilot cannot inadvertently move the pedals while asleep
• The other pilot must feel alert enough to fly the aircraft
• It must be during a period of low workload during the cruise.
• It is normally a requirement to inform the cabin crew to ensure they keep checking on the other operating pilot.

Most aircraft have systems fitted whereby if no controls are touched or buttons pushed for a period of time an alarm will sound. The maximum of 45 minutes sleep / rest has been scientifically researched to increase your alertness levels for the landing phase of the flight without allowing the pilot to fall into a deep sleep. Once awake again the pilot that was sleeping must not touch the controls for 10-15 minutes until they have fully woken and feel fit and alert once more.

It may sound alarming that pilots have a quick nap on occasions whilst at the controls of a plane, but it has been proven to significantly reduce fatigue and improve alertness levels for the critical landing phase.

Remember the key objective with any flight time limitation rules is to allow airlines to operate their schedules as efficiently as possible while ensuring pilots and cabin crew are sufficiently rested to perform their duties safely.

How Much Rest Do Pilots Need Between Flights?

Generally speaking, pilots need 12 hours rest or the length of the preceding duty if it was more than 12 hours. If a pilot was on duty for 8 hours, they would need 12 hours rest, but if they were on duty for 16 hours, they would need 16 hours rest. This can be lowered under some circumstances when delays occur, and you are away from your home base. ‘Split Duties’ can also be utilised where crew rest in a hotel whilst in the middle of a duty, which has the same effect as in-flight rest – it extends their max allowable duty time.