Crew, Logs and Records — Page 106, Lesson 174

Let’s turn to the records we keep for other operations personnel — that is, people who aren’t flight crew but still work under an approved training programme required by EU-OPS. For those individuals, we must retain their training and qualification records, and specifically the last two training records. That’s illustrated in Figure 1.5. Now, there are also what the book calls “Other Records.” Let me walk you through each one. First, cosmic and solar radiation dosage records for cabin crew. We keep those until 12 months after the cabin crew member has left the operator’s employment. So even after they’ve left, we hold that radiation exposure data for a full year. Next, quality system records — those are kept for 5 years. Then we have dangerous goods transport documentation and the dangerous goods acceptance checklist. Both of these are kept for 3 months after the completion of the flight. So once the flight is finished, the clock starts ticking, and three months later those documents can be disposed of. That’s all shown in Figure 1.6. Now, let’s move into a new area: Flight and Duty Time Limitations. Operators are required to keep records of flight times and duty times for all crew members, and they must ensure that the defined maximum is not exceeded. In the UK, those flight and duty limitations are defined in CAP 393, which is the Air Navigation Order. The book then gives us a set of definitions that apply for the purposes of this regulation. Let’s go through each one carefully. First, augmented flight crew. This is a flight crew that comprises more than the minimum number required for the operation of the aeroplane. And importantly, in an augmented flight crew, each flight crew member can leave his or her post and be replaced by another appropriately qualified flight crew member. So you have extra pilots on board, and they can swap seats during the flight. Second, block time. This is the time between an aeroplane first moving from its parking place for the purpose of taking off, until it comes to rest on the designated parking position and all engines or propellers are stopped. So it’s from the moment you push back or taxi out, all the way until you park at the gate and shut down. Third, break. A break is a period free of all duties, but it counts as duty because it is less than a rest period. So it’s a short pause during the duty day — you’re not working, but it’s not long enough to be considered a proper rest period. Fourth, duty. Duty is any task that a crew member is required to carry out associated with the business of an Air Operator Certificate holder — that’s the AOC holder. Unless specific rules are provided for by this regulation, the Authority — that’s the national aviation authority — shall define whether and to what extent standby is to be accounted for as duty. So standby time may or may not count as duty, depending on the Authority’s rules. That covers the definitions we need for flight and duty time limitations.