FC5368

I work for an operator that routinely uses airport standby duties at several bases. These are conducted as a whole crew in a separate, designated room, with reclining chairs. The room is supposed to be dark, quiet and comfortable, with the assumption that crew are ‘resting’ for any potential callout. The rostered duties start in the morning ranging from approximately 7-9am, and in the afternoon from 1-3pm. Both early and late duties are for a 6hr period. Crew are required to sit in silence, in their full uniform and react to any callout immediately, with the aim to be airborne within 1hr. By providing this kind of ‘rest facility’, the first 4hrs of the standby duty do not count towards the maximum allowed FDP in the event of any callout. This obviously allows great flexibility to the company, allowing them to allocate crew to an extremely long day, on the assumption that they have been ‘resting’ for the first 4hrs of standby.

However, after conducting these duties for many years, I can say that only on a very few occasions have I seen crew properly resting. It is impossible to sleep when you are in a small room, in group of 6, staring at each other, in full uniform made of polyester. From an ASBY that reports at 1400Z, you can be called at 1955z and operate 2 sectors with a max FDP until 0500Z. How can that be safe and justified? We are expected to turn up for an ASBY duty fully rested in anticipation of a callout the minute we report, but then also be fully rested for a callout the minute it ends. How are we supposed to plan that rest? It is impossible to rest during the duty if you have reported, fully refreshed, prepared for a callout at the start.

Rest is also prevented by the anxiety involved with being called to operate to an unfamiliar airport at minimum notice under commercial pressure. There are no company internal audits/surveys completed, asking crew about the quality of rest they achieve on airport standbys, or for an assessment of their alertness levels during the duty. If the company were serious about ensuring crew are fully rested for such potentially, horrendously long, duties they should:

1) allow crew to rest in comfortable clothing

2) provide dedicated individual hotel rooms

Otherwise, they should remove the practice of not counting the first 4hrs of duty on the assumption that crew are resting, because it simply does not happen.