On 24th August 2023, the UK CAA sent an open letter to all operators about Commander’s Discretion “in response to feedback via various safety forums that the use of Commander’s Discretion (‘CD’) is being inconsistently interpreted by industry stakeholders, leading to inappropriate application (or the perception of inappropriate application) of CD.”

CHIRP has received a number of reports associated with this topic over recent months and we welcome the CAA’s amplification of a number of areas. We’re also heartened to see that at the end of the note the CAA says that “The CAA intends to review existing FTL regulation/amc/gm over the next 24 months as part of its continuous review programme, which will include those areas pertinent to CD“.

We look forward to the outcome of their FTL review given the increasing number of fatigue reports that we’ve been receiving in the last few months during the post-COVID recovery of aviation.

The CAA’s open letter can be viewed at the link below.