Single day free of duty ORO FTL 105 (23): A ‘single day free of duty’ consists of one day and two local nights. Does the last day of several consecutive days free of duty need to contain at least one day and two nights?
Answer
Whenever one of the local days prescribed by Clause 9, Directive No 2000/79/EC, is assigned as a single day, it must contain two local nights. Whenever consecutive local days are assigned, the last day may not contain a local night. However, from a fatigue management perspective, planning the last day to end at midnight, reduces the restorative effect of that last day to a minimum. Rising before midnight to report at 00:01 on the last day could generate sleep debt.
The term ‘single day free of duty’ has been included in Regulation No 965/2012 in order to enable the implementation of Directive No 2000/79/EC, in particular its Clause 9:
‘Clause 9
Without prejudice to Clause 3, mobile staff in civil aviation shall be given days free of all duty and standby, which are notified in advance, as follows:
(a) at least seven local days in each calendar month, which may include any rest periods required by law; and
(b) at least 96 local days in each calendar year, which may include any rest periods required by law.’
Clause 9 above employs the term ‘local day’ i.e. a period of 24 hours finishing at 00:00 LT. At the same time, a ‘single day free of duty’ is a period of one day, including two local nights, that may finish between 06:00 and 08:00 LT, depending on the local night start and end times.