Part 135 Scheduled days off

R

rasec

Well-Known Member
Heres a question for all of you Part 135 guys. Per the regs, 135.267 subpart F, pilots are entitled to 13 days of scheduled "rest periods" each quarter. Meaning you will not be placed on duty even if work were to arise. Do your operators abide by this rule and if so how do they go about choosing a schedule for pilots in the flight department? Thanks
 
Agreed. How does your company schedule or decides who is off on what day? Do they allow the pilots to come together and choose or does the office decide for you?
 
Im pretty much always on call, no rotation or anything. Somehow they end up working in more than 13 off a quarter, but you just never know when it is.
 
Basically, any day we don't have a flight scheduled or don't get called out is counted as a "scheduled day off" at my company. We average 14 days a month, may that be flying or away from home.
 
My company gives us 5 hard days per month. We find out around the 25th of the month prior when our 5 days will be. It is 24 hour on call the rest of the time. It's blatantly illegal, but they get away with it. The funny/sad part to me is that the company is very inconsistent on this issue. Take this month as an example.

The owner of the plane that I fly wanted to fly on 2 of my days off and I said sure. The company then had to go in and look to make sure that I would still get my 13 per quarter. Since I will now be at exactly 13 this quarter (I decided on my own not to reschedule the 2 days that I missed), they said that if I fly on another day off, I will have to reschedule. This is where I think their inconsistency shows. To them, days off have to be known in advance. They understand that on call does not equal a day off. However, somehow they feel that on call equals rest for the day to day operations. I don't get it.

Here is a thread that I started a few months ago that may help others understand the on call issues. http://forums.jetcareers.com/threads/on-call-and-rest-for-part-135.157898/
 
Stone Cold said:
Where are the 135 regs gurus? Skypilot and Calvin, you might want to rethink where you work, as what you are doing is illegal. Days off is not a "look back" policy.
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I should rephrase that a little. My company is really good about getting days off as needed, but as far as meeting the 13 days, Im first on call today but scheduled off tomorrow. We dont do the look back deal. Im home 10-15 days a month just not always a "Hard" day off. Regardless Im seeking new employment for other reasons.
 
Our company gives 6 hard days off that are chosen a month in advance by each pilot. If multiple pilots want the same day off seniority is considered to determine which pilots get it. This weekend, for example, everyone requested off (memorial day), but everyone can't have it off, so a few pilots had to select alternate days off. We never use the look back method. We may have months were we didn't happen to work 18 days but we don't count those towards the required 13. We like to give our pilots the best QOL we can give them. If I can't select my days off what's the point of having time off? A day off is useless to me if I didn't know I was off.
 
13/8 schedule. However, I've flown 75hrs since Jan. 1st and 20 of those hours were in my Cherokee.
 
I work for a similar style operation as skypilot and I don't know how they get away with it. I don't know from one day to the next if I'm working. They claim we aren't always on call, which is illegal, but we catch Hell if we don't answer our phones. Our boss has said "You don't have to answer your phone, but I pay your paycheck" which is salaried and on a per month basis. I'm on day 21 today though I am only contracted for 16. Overtime isn't paid until the end of the year, if at all.

Also like skypilot, I am looking for new employment for these and other reasons.
 
My company has a system that isn't too bad. We're on standby duty from 0600 till 2000 if we are not flying, and if we need a day off, we ask for it. You'll most likely get it off, assuming you don't abuse it. They've airlined me home when there has been a trip that fell when I asked for a weekend off. We are staffed very lean, and the company has the attitude that they'd rather miss out on a charter every now and then, vs paying for extra employees. Sure it's not the best schedule ever, but it is better than a 24/7/365 kind of deal. I'm able to have a beer with dinner every day, if I'd like.
 
Stone Cold said:
See post #8. But I do agree with you.
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I saw it, just agreeing with you. The "on call" stuff is how a bunch of operators do it, but your hard days off is what really determines what the FAA is willing to look at or not. The FAA knows how these companies operate, and which companies do it, it isn't a big secret, but they aren't willing to press the issue. Where they will press the issue is scheduled days off, at least that is what I have seen, and to me is a bigger issue than on call.

We get 4 days minimum a month off, we get to pick and it is in advance.
 
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