A B737 FLT CREW IS NOTIFIED BY COMPANY THAT THEY ARE UNABLE TO FLY DUE TO THEIR DUTY TIME EXPIRING.
Synopsis
A B737 FLT CREW IS NOTIFIED BY COMPANY THAT THEY ARE UNABLE TO FLY DUE TO THEIR DUTY TIME EXPIRING.
Narrative
DAY #2 OF A 2 DAY EVENING PAIRING. SCHEDULED AS A 10 HR 25 MIN DUTY DAY WITH A BLOCK OF 7 HRS 25 MINS SCHEDULED. THE FIRST 2 LEGS OF THE DAY WERE UNEVENTFUL. ON THE THIRD LEG (ZZZ TO ZZZ1) THE WX HAD BECOME INCREASINGLY BAD. WE HAD TO CROSS SEVERAL LINES OF WX TO GET TO ZZZ1. I SHOT AN ILS ZZZ1; BUT THE RAIN WAS SO HVY WE EXECUTED A GAR. WE CAME BACK AROUND; SHOT ANOTHER ILS AND LANDED WITH NO PROBS. AT THE TIME WE WERE ONLY 5 MINS LATE. WE WAITED FOR SOME ARRIVING PAX; BUT COULD ONLY HOLD AT THE GATE FOR 15 MINS BECAUSE THERE WAS ANOTHER FLT IN ABOUT 1 1/2 HRS. 35 MINS LATER; WE PUSHED OFF THE GATE ONLY TO BE TOLD BY GND CTL THAT ZZZ2 WAS ON A GND STOP. WE WENT TO RWY HOLDING PAD AT ZZZ1 TO WAIT. AFTER ABOUT 30 MINS AND TALKING WITH DISPATCH AND OPS WE DECIDED THAT IF THE WX WAS SO BAD AT ZZZ2 MAYBE WE NEEDED MORE FUEL. SO WE RETURNED TO GATE AND ON-LOADED MORE FUEL. APPROX 45 MINS LATER; THE GND STOP AT ZZZ2 WAS LIFTED. WE BOARDED THE PAX AND DEPARTED. ASIDE FROM BEING BUMPY XING THE LINES OF WX AGAIN; THE FLT TO ZZZ2 WAS UNEVENTFUL. BECAUSE WE WERE LATE; OPS AND DISPATCH HAD CHANGED OUR FLT TO THE NEXT FLT TO ZZZ1. ANOTHER CREW TOOK OUR FLT. THE WX WAS BAD AND CLRNC DELIVERY AND GND CTL AT ZZZ2 WAS A MAD HOUSE. WE TALKED TO BOTH DISPATCH AND OPS SEVERAL TIMES ABOUT HOW IT WAS GETTING BACK TO ZZZ1. WHEN WE STARTED GETTING LATE AT ZZZ1 WE HAD CHKED TO SEE HOW LONG WE WOULD BE LEGAL FOR DUTY; BUT DIDN'T REALIZE WE WERE PUSHING MAX BLOCK TIME (8+ HRS). THE FLT HAD ALREADY PUSHED AT ZZZ2 WHEN WE ARRIVED AND BY THE TIME WE WERE READY TO PUSH THEY HAD RECEIVED THEIR CLRNC AND WERE PREPARING TO LEAVE. WE PUSHED; BUT COULDN'T GET OUR RERTE CLRNC FROM CLRNC DELIVERY. AFTER FLT DEPARTED AND ABOUT 10 MINS HAD PASSED WE ASKED CLRNC DELIVERY ABOUT OUR CLRNC AND WERE TOLD THAT WE HAD BEEN TOLD TO MONITOR THE FREQ AND THAT IS WHAT WE SHOULD DO. AFTER ABOUT 30 MINS OF NOTHING; WE ASKED THEM AGAIN. WE HAD ALSO ASKED DISPATCH TO CHK ON OUR CLRNC ABOUT 3 TIMES. NOW; WE HAD BEEN SITTING ON THE RAMP; PUSHED BACK FROM GATE AND BLOCKING OUR COMPANY WHO PUSHED BEHIND US SHORTLY AFTER WE PUSHED FOR OVER 30 MINS. OPS AND DISPATCH TOLD US THAT THERE WERE BREAKS IN THE LINES OF WX AND THAT OUR CLRNC SHOULD ALREADY BE UP. AFTER QUESTIONING CLRNC DELIVERY AGAIN; THEY SAID THEY COULDN'T FIND A CLRNC FOR US. WE THEN CONTACTED GND CTL AND ASKED IF HE COULD CHK INTO OUR CLRNC. AFTER A FEW MOMENTS; HE CAME BACK WITH OUR ORIGINAL CLRNC. WE TOLD OPS WE HAD OUR CLRNC AND DEPARTED THE FIELD FOR ZZZ1. THE FLT WAS BUMPY; BUT UNEVENTFUL. AFTER WE ARRIVED AT THE GATE; WE TALKED TO THE CREW THAT WERE TAKING THE ACFT; AND THEN I WENT TO THE PLT LOUNGE. SHORTLY AFTER THAT THE CAPT CALLED ME FROM THE GATE. (HE WAS COMMUTING HOME ON THE FLT.) HE SAID THAT CREW SCHEDULING HAD CALLED AND SAID THAT WE WERE NOT LEGAL TO FLY THE LEG FROM ZZZ2 TO ZZZ1 BECAUSE WE WERE OVER OUR MAX FLT TIME OF 8+ HRS. AFTER BEING MADE AWARE OF THIS; I CALLED CREW SCHEDULING FROM THE PLT LOUNGE AND TALKED TO XXX AT THE DESK. SHE SAID THAT WHEN OUR FLT NUMBER HAD BEEN CHANGED THAT IT WAS A RERTE EVEN THOUGH WE WERE GOING TO THE SAME DEST AND THAT WE SHOULD HAVE CALLED SCHEDULING. THIS MAY BE TRUE; BUT WITH EVERYTHING THAT HAD TAKEN PLACE WITH THE WX AND OUR CLRNCS; WE HAD NOT. I ASKED HER THAT IF CREW SCHEDULING HAD OBVIOUSLY KNOWN THIS BEFORE WE DEPARTED ZZZ2 WHY WE HAD NOT BEEN TOLD IN THE 10-12 TIMES WE HAD SPOKEN TO OPS AND DISPATCH. AFTER TALKING TO XXX'S SUPVR; XXX SAID THAT THEY HAD TRIED TO CONTACT US BEFORE WE HAD DEPARTED ZZZ1 BUT THAT WE HAD ALREADY PUSHED. SO; I ASKED WHY WE WERE NOT TOLD AT ZZZ2. XXX SAID THEY LEFT US A MESSAGE; BUT WE MUST NOT HAVE GOTTEN IT AND THAT WE SHOULD FILE A RPT. I UNDERSTAND PLTS ARE TO KEEP UP WITH THEIR TIMES; BUT IN SITS LIKE THIS; IT WOULD HAVE BEEN VERY HELPFUL IF AT SOME POINT DURING ALL THE CONVERSATIONS WE HAD WITH OPS AND DISPATCH THEY HAD TOLD US WE WOULD BE ILLEGAL TO FLY TO ZZZ1.
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Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.