When are you on-reserve

[AHerrera]

Morning all,

I was having a discussion with a friend recently and we couldn't agree on whether he should technically be on reserve at his job.
They run medevac and 703/704 charters. The medevac crews are on call. The other crews are simply on the schedule for charters.
His company is now getting more and more charter work but the company has started calling crews out in the late evening to midnight-ish for charters with very limited notice. The crews aren't explicitly on-call.
Because the charter crews are not scheduled but are expected to be ready for duty on more than an hour would they technically be on reserve?
I've worked for a couple 703 charter operations and was never called that late for a charter so never had to deal with it. I've looked for some sort of guidance on this in the CARs and CASS and on Avcanada but couldn't find any definition. I understand what on-reserve requires from the operator but not when it comes into effect.
Can an operator expect a crew to be available for 24 hours a day with no prior notice of a flight while not on-call or on-reserve?
Maybe this is just the way things are in some charter operations?

I am not sure that he should say anything as the operator may just put every crew on-call instead of on-reserve but it might be nice to have some clarification.

I'm just curious if he has a case that not scheduling an opportunity for rest in some sort of violation of the CARs.

Hopefully, someone can help us resolve this debate.

Thanks

[digits_]

CAR definition:

flight crew member on reserve means a flight crew member who has been designated by an air operator to be available to report for flight duty on notice of more than one hour; (membre d’équipage de conduite en réserve)

So I'd say they are on reserve and the reserve regulations apply.

Out of curiosity, in which province / TC region is this happening?

[Tail-Chaser]

There are some differences in the amount of notice required for a call out with reserve vs on-call. The other major difference is the amount of scheduled days they can do and the required days off. Reserve can go longer without days off compared to on-call. Reserve also has some rules that reduce the maximum duty day if called out during odd hours, something in the middle of the night. On call doesn't if I remember correctly but hopefully some one can confirm or deny that. It's been a while.

[Outlaw58]

Morning all,

I was having a discussion with a friend recently and we couldn't agree on whether he should technically be on reserve at his job.
They run medevac and 703/704 charters. The medevac crews are on call. The other crews are simply on the schedule for charters.
His company is now getting more and more charter work but the company has started calling crews out in the late evening to midnight-ish for charters with very limited notice. The crews aren't explicitly on-call.
Because the charter crews are not scheduled but are expected to be ready for duty on more than an hour would they technically be on reserve?
I've worked for a couple 703 charter operations and was never called that late for a charter so never had to deal with it. I've looked for some sort of guidance on this in the CARs and CASS and on Avcanada but couldn't find any definition. I understand what on-reserve requires from the operator but not when it comes into effect.
Can an operator expect a crew to be available for 24 hours a day with no prior notice of a flight while not on-call or on-reserve?
Maybe this is just the way things are in some charter operations?

I am not sure that he should say anything as the operator may just put every crew on-call instead of on-reserve but it might be nice to have some clarification.

I'm just curious if he has a case that not scheduling an opportunity for rest in some sort of violation of the CARs.

Hopefully, someone can help us resolve this debate.

Thanks

In the specific case you are describing, he is NOT on reserve. Company can take a chance with the pilot and he is under no obligation to take the assignment whatsoever. If the company penalizes him for refusing to fly, he can (AND SHOULD) report the company.

If however the company considers him on reserve, then the company has to pre-determine for each 24 hour period (and obviously communicate that to the pilot) a rest period that meets CARS standard for the type of operation; (703/704) in this case. He can not be called during that defined period.

Ref: CARs 700.19-21

Hope that helps,

58

[Trematode]

In the specific case you are describing, he is NOT on reserve. Company can take a chance with the pilot and he is under no obligation to take the assignment whatsoever. If the company penalizes him for refusing to fly, he can (AND SHOULD) report the company.

If however the company considers him on reserve, then the company has to pre-determine for each 24 hour period (and obviously communicate that to the pilot) a rest period that meets CARS standard for the type of operation; (703/704) in this case. He can not be called during that defined period.

Ref: CARs 700.19-21

Hope that helps,

58

700.19-21 doesn't tell the whole story.

You have to look at the standards (720.21):

720.21 Flight Crew Members on Reserve
The standards for compliance with this section are:

(1) An air operator shall provide each flight crew member with an opportunity to obtain at least 8 consecutive hours sleep in any 24 consecutive hours while on reserve by one of the following methods:

• (a) the air operator shall provide the flight crew member with 24 hours notice of the time of commencement and duration of the rest period. The designated rest period cannot shift more than 3 hours earlier or later than the preceding rest period, nor more than a total of 8 hours in any 7 consecutive days;
  (b) the flight crew member shall be given a minimum of 10 hours notice of the assignment and shall not be assigned any duty for these 10 hours; or
  (c) the air operator shall not assign the flight crew member to flight duty time and shall not interrupt the flight crew member's rest period between 22:00 and 06:00 local time.

(2) Where an air operator is unable to provide a flight crew member with a rest period required by subsection (1) and the flight crew member is notified to report for flight duty or the reporting time occurs between 22:00 and 06:00 local time:

• (a) the maximum flight duty time shall be 10 consecutive hours; and
  (b) the subsequent minimum rest period shall be increased by at least one-half the length of the preceding flight duty time.

Herein lies the big old joke about the reserve regulations in Canadian aviation.

Operators can elect to simply use method (1)(b) -- as long as they get at least 10 hours notice of their assignment, pilots can be on reserve 24 hours a day with no idea how to regulate their sleep schedule. What makes it even worse is that operators can invoke subsection (2) where they can call crew with zero notice -- even in the middle of the night -- and expect them to be good to go. The only catch is that they'd be limited to 10 hours duty and their rest would be extended after the fact.

It's a terribly written and useless standard that effectively offers almost zero regulation.

So yes, I'd say the pilot in question is on reserve. The one place they may be able to push back against the company is if they are trying to send him/her on trips that would exceed 10 hours of Flight Duty time (assuming they have failed to give him 10 hours prior notice of the assignment -- but if they have, then he/she can be pushed to the full duty day of 14 hours, 15 with the 703 OPS SPEC, or even a 17 hour split).

[Outlaw58]

Ok you got me.

Wasn't aware of (more like I didn't bother to check) 721.21 since our COM was in line with the 700 part.

Still, I strongly believe that if a company can't be bothered to tell the crews when they expect them to be available and when not, then the crews shouldn't feel bad about opening a beer whenever they feel like it.

I need to know when I need to be ready for flying and when I can ditch the iPhone. I don't mind a call outside duty hours and would be happy to help out if I can and feel like it but to be expected to be ready to fly anytime with minimal notice better come with the paycheck that goes with those expectations.

58

[AHerrera]

Appreciate the responses.
I am more in line with the opinion he is on reserve. The company could simply put him on call if they didn't want to deal with the on reserve issues which would probably be worse but he also didn't agree to that, so thats another issue.
I found it odd that it hadn't ever been discussed.

[Outlaw58]

...
I found it odd that it hadn't ever been discussed.

That's the dinger!

Under those work conditions, who could blame an individual for not being able to fly for having just opened a beer? That's where my initial assessment of not being on reserve came from. Until the company tells me I am that is...

58

[lownslow]

The company could simply put him on call if they didn't want to deal with the on reserve issues which would probably be worse

It would be a trade-off. On call requires more days off though with some of the ten-ply softies flying airplanes these days it wouldn’t matter. I haven’t made a schedule in a while but if memory serves the max days on/off for a pilot on reserve is something like 42/3 when you stack up all possible Ops Specs and such (and a day without a call can count as a day off) while on call is maxed at 14/3 and those days off must be scheduled before they happen.

[Ki-ll]

(and a day without a call can count as a day off)

Do you have a CAR reference for that?

[lownslow]

(and a day without a call can count as a day off)

Do you have a CAR reference for that?

Nope. I’m not writing an Ops Manual at the moment so I won’t be needing to get too deep and dirty into the regs.

[Ki-ll]

(and a day without a call can count as a day off)

Do you have a CAR reference for that?

Nope. I’m not writing an Ops Manual at the moment so I won’t be needing to get too deep and dirty into the regs.

Fair enough. Was just looking to educate myself on the subject.

[co-joe]

Do you have a CAR reference for that?

Nope. I’m not writing an Ops Manual at the moment so I won’t be needing to get too deep and dirty into the regs.

Fair enough. Was just looking to educate myself on the subject.

The old "a day off was a day we didn't call you to go flying" gag. It's true, by CARs definition, a day off actually can be a day where they didn't call you to fly.

So many grey areas and they all favour the company. Our company occasionally calls us with one hour of notice for an on reserve schedule. If we complain they either say "fine be here in 61 minutes then", or instead of calling at 6 am for a 7:01 check in, they wake you up at 4 am, "now you had 2 hours notice". The best part is TC approved 4 am (instead of 6 am) because the official rest period starts earlier than 22:00, by several hours.

[Ki-ll]

I must be missing something but here is what I know:

R740.21 Flight Crew Members on Reserve

Time spent on reserve is not considered as duty time nor can it be considered as time free from duty. Therefore, when scheduling time free from duty in accordance with 700.19 and 720.19, reserve time must be considered as “counting” as duty time.

https://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/civilaviation/ ... l-3359.htm

So what that says to me is that reserve is not duty but neither it is time off.
I also couldn't find an official definition of a day off.