Hi all, would it be possible to have two rest periods on board for cabin crew?
For example: for a max FDP between 16:01 and 16:30 hrs the table inCS FTL.1.205(c)(3) prescribes a minimum in-flight rest of 2:35 hrs.
Can the cabin crew have an inflight rest of 90 minutes in the first rest period and the remaining rest of 65 minutes in a second rest period?
The inflight rest for cabin crew does not need to be consecutive, as CS FTL.1.205(c)(3) does not specifically require it. Best practices should permit a sufficient time to actually sleep. When a cabin crew member is provided 10 minute periods to sleep, while technically meeting the constraints of the CS, it is not meeting the intent; to provide an opportunity to sleep. However; the periods of 90 minutes and 65 minutes may provide the sufficient rest for the cabin crew member to perform the duties.
Thank you both for your answer. I understand that CS FTL.1205(c)(3) does not specify how the inflight rest should be enjoyed, the explanation about the sleep cycle and mitigation however is clear to me.
This raises another question: would it be possible to split a 3 hrs inflight rest into 1:30 and a second 1:30 hrs?
same response that my previous one, it is not effective at all. Technical staff involved in operator fatigue management shall follow specialized training in accordance ORO.FTL.250
Thanks again for your answer and I totally agree that staff should follow a specialized training. It’s hard to convince collegues who haven’t had such a training. We often use the EASA FTL FAQ for this purpose. Would you think it be possible to have a question and answer on this topic written in the FAQ?
FAQ is not developed for training purpouse, FTL.250 include the required training syllabus
Ah no, sorry, I didn’t mean the training part, I meant the convincing part: we have some collegues who haven’t had the FRM training and they want to see a written explanation/interpretation. If the FAQ gives us a clear interpretation, we use that to show it to those collegues.
Dear Faith, sorry to say that but your interpretation is just a literal reading of the regulatory text without understanding its safety objective and the related mitigation.
As one of the rulemaking members that drafted this rule, I can say, that if you do not put together all the required rest period, then it would be impossible to assure a minimum four phases of sleep and some REM sleep, therefore the alertness level would not be recovered.