Parliament approved the Civil Aviation (No 2) Operations Regulations (TTCARs No 2) which provides regulatory guidance based on the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) standards for a flight and duty times limitation scheme. This scheme is approved by the Trinidad and Tobago Civil Aviation Authority (TTCAA).
The issue of flight and cabin crew flight-duty times limitations is a key area regulated by the TTCAA to ensure all crew members have adequate rest periods to prevent fatigue, which can impair their performance while on duty. This is in keeping with one of the primary functions of the TTCAA, which is the regulation of all civil aviation operations in TT to ensure it meets the highest levels of international safety standards.
Under the TTCARs No 2 – operations, Caribbean Airlines Ltd (CAL) cannot engage in commercial operations unless it has established a scheme approved by the TTCAA for the regulation of flight-duty times of every person operating as an aircraft crew member.
The approved scheme is incorporated in CAL’s operations manual and the airline must take steps to ensure that everyone flying on an aircraft as a crew member complies with the approved scheme.
A crew member cannot fly for CAL, and the airline cannot require a crew member to fly, where either has reason to believe that the crew member is suffering or likely to suffer from fatigue while flying which may endanger the safety of the aircraft and its occupants.
Similarly, a person shall not act as a member of an operating crew if that person knows or suspects there is a physical or mental condition that can render him or her unfit to perform duties as a flight-crew member.
CAL is required to publish flight-crew rosters in advance to allow operating crews to plan adequate pre-duty rest.
Both CAL and crew members are jointly responsible for the proper control of flight and duty times. Flight-crew members are responsible for making optimum use of the opportunities for rest facilities provided, and for planning and using their rest periods properly in order to minimise the risk of incurring fatigue.
The maximum duty times for flight crew prescribed in the approved scheme is determined by the number of sectors in a flight and the crossing of time zones, which affects the body’s circadian rhythm.
CAL has a system approved by the TTCAA to monitor the flight time, flight-duty time and rest periods of all flight crew to ensure that flight-time limitations prescribed by the approved scheme are not exceeded. The details of the monitoring system are included in CAL’s operations manual.
After a flight-duty time assignment, CAL crew members must have the minimum rest period and any additional rest period required by the approved flight-duty time scheme.
The minimum rest period for crew shall be as long as the preceding duty period or such as to allow the crew member to have a minimum of eight hours of sleep in a furnished bedroom which is subject to minimum noise, is well ventilated and has the facility to control the levels
