Commander's discretion explained, can they really extend my duty by 2 hours?
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#1 Had a delayed day and the captain "went into discretion" to extend our duty. Nobody explained it. What are the rules and can I say no?
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#2 Under EASA the commander can extend an FDP by up to 2 hours (3 with augmented flight crew), only for unforeseen circumstances arising at or after report, never as a rostering tool, and only after considering the alertness of all crew. That consultation is a legal step: if you are too fatigued to safely continue, say so during it, the commander doesn't want to operate a discretion extension with a crew member who declared themselves unfit. Repeated discretion on the same pairing is itself reportable.
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#3 And file a fatigue report after any discretion extension that left you wrecked, even if it was legal. That's the data that changes rosters.
