Tiempo de vuelo

El tiempo de vuelo o tiempo de bloque es un término aeronáutico que se refiere al tiempo total dedicado a pilotar una aeronave y sirve como medida principal de la experiencia de un piloto. ^{[ 1 ]} La Organización de Aviación Civil Internacional (OACI) define el tiempo de vuelo como "el tiempo total desde el momento en que un avión se mueve por primera vez con el propósito de despegar hasta el momento en que finalmente se detiene al final del vuelo", ^{[ 2 ]} e incluye, por lo tanto, el tiempo dedicado al rodaje y a realizar las comprobaciones previas al vuelo en tierra, siempre que el motor esté en marcha. Coloquialmente se le conoce como tiempo "de bloques a bloques" o " de calzos a calzos". ^{[ 2 ]} En la aviación comercial, esto significa el tiempo desde que el avión retrocede en la puerta de embarque hasta que llega a la puerta de destino. ^{[ 3 ]}

El tiempo de vuelo se define como "el tiempo desde el momento en que una aeronave abandona la superficie hasta que entra en contacto con ella en el siguiente punto de aterrizaje". ^{[ 4 ]}

Para los planeadores sin capacidad de autolanzamiento, el tiempo de vuelo "comienza cuando el planeador es remolcado con el propósito de volar y termina cuando el planeador se detiene después del aterrizaje". ^{[ 5 ]}

Para los helicópteros , la OACI define el "tiempo de vuelo" como "El tiempo total desde el momento en que las palas del rotor de un helicóptero comienzan a girar hasta el momento en que el helicóptero finalmente se detiene al final de un vuelo y las palas del rotor se detienen". ^{[ 4 ]}

Most government licensing regulations have specific flight hour requirements, as do virtually all airline job listings.^[6] Consequently, all pilots maintain a logbook, which is a legal document.^[7] In commercial aviation, flight time is recorded to the nearest minute. In general aviation it is often rounded to the nearest 5 minutes or recorded in decimal rounded to the nearest 0.1 hour, which corresponds to the resolution of a typical Hobbs meter, an odometer-like instrument installed in most light aircraft. Pilots record many details about their flight time, such as whether a flight occurred during the day or at night, in a single- or multi-engine aircraft, in visual or instrument conditions, and the pilot's role during the flight.^[7]

In European Union Aviation Safety Agency states, flight time per crew member may not exceed:^[8][9]

• 100 hours in any 28 consecutive days
• 900 hours in any calendar year
• 1000 hours in any 12 consecutive calendar months.

Professional pilots also have maximum duty times, and minimum rest times.^[10]

In the United States, the Federal Aviation Administration imposes different flight time limits for each type of air carrier operations. For passenger operations governed by Part 121 of the Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR), the limits are found in Part 117 of the FAR.^[11] As defined in Part 117, the daily flight time limits are extremely complex. The regulations take into account the ability of airlines to rotate crew members operating airliners through a crew rest compartment to get adequate rest on long-haul flights (which the FAA calls "augmented operations").^[11] They also take into account that an airline might schedule a particular set of crew members to operate multiple short-haul flights (flight segments) with the same aircraft on a single day, without any opportunity to sleep during those flights (which the FAA calls "unaugmented operations").^[11]

Within Part 117, Section 117.23 imposes maximum cumulative limitations on flight time as follows:

• 100 hours in any 672 consecutive hours or
• 1,000 hours in any 365 consecutive calendar day period.^[11]

In the United States, time spent de-icing between taxi and takeoff is considered flight time, even if the engines are shut down. If an aircraft becomes unserviceable during taxi, and a replacement aircraft is used, time spent taxiing the first aircraft is still included in the total flight time.^[12]

• Flight length
• Endurance (aeronautics)
• Pilot licensing and certification

• EASA definitions