CAPT; OF AN ACR LTT SCHEDULED ACFT; QUESTIONED THE LEGAL STATUS OF HIS FLT TIME DUTY LIMITATIONS FOR A DELAYED SCHEDULED FLT.

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DUE TO A MECHANICAL DELAY; THE FLT DEPARTED MKE APPROX 3- 4 HRS LATE. WHEN THE FLT LEFT MKE IT WAS EXPECTED TO ARRIVE IN CVG WELL WITHIN OUR DUTY TIME LIMITS. ENRTE THE FLT ENCOUNTERED STRONGER THAN FORECAST HEADWINDS. ADDITIONALLY; THE ACFT PERFORMANCE WAS MUCH WORSE THAN PLANNED DUE TO THE FACT THAT THE LNDG GEAR HAD TO REMAIN EXTENDED. AS A RESULT; THE ACFT'S FUEL BURN WAS MUCH HIGHER THAN PLANNED AND THE FLT WAS FORCED TO MAKE AN UNPLANNED FUEL STOP AT IND BEFORE CONTINUING ON TO CVG. WHILE AT IND; A LONGHAND PERFORMANCE CALCULATION HAD TO BE COMPUTED DUE TO THE ACFT'S INABILITY TO RETRACT IT'S LNDG GEAR. WHILE ON THE GND AT IND; IT BECAME APPARENT THAT WE WOULD EXCEED 16 HRS OF DUTY BEFORE THE FLT REACHED ITS DEST. AFTER TALKING WITH DISPATCH AND CREW SCHEDULING IT WAS DECIDED THAT; SINCE WE WERE LEGAL TO START THE FLT AND WERE DELAYED DUE TO HEADWINDS AND WORSE THAN EXPECTED ACFT PERFORMANCE; WE WOULD BE LEGAL TO COMPLETE THE FLT. ALTHOUGH THE INTERP OF THE REG SEEMED CORRECT; I'M NOT 100 PERCENT SURE IT WAS LEGAL! CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING INFO: THIS WAS A LEGAL FLT PER THE FARS WITH REF TO SECTION 135.263(D) WHICH STATES THAT FLC MEMBERS ARE NOT CONSIDERED TO BE ASSIGNED IN EXCESS OF FLT TIME DUTY LIMITATIONS IF THE FLTS TO WHICH ASSIGNED ARE NORMALLY TERMINATED WITHIN THE LIMITATIONS. OF COURSE; THE ACFT HAS TO BE CONSIDERED AIRWORTHY WITH THE LNDG GEAR IN THE DOWN POS.