Dead Horse: Duty Time   

Okay, Max duty time is 14 hours. Can you exceed 14 hours?  Some would say, heck yeah you can.  You can work 20 hours as long as you get 10 hours of rest afterwards.  Some would say, heck no. 

You can exceed 8 or 10 hrs of flight time (not pre-planned to do so) as long as you don't exceed a 14 hr duty day. Correct?  As long as you get the prescibed rest afterwards (more than 8 hrs flight time but less than 30 over 8 hrs of flight time, more than 30 mins but less than 60, & more than 60 mins......).  

Then how can you exceed a 14 hr duty day?  Where is it written?

Example:  You flew 5.5 hrs and are approaching a 14 hr duty day within 15 mins.  You are a few hundred miles from the home base.  You call company ops and they dispatched the night pilot in the company van who is driving to your location.  The night pilot will get the van to you in about 2-3 hrs for which you will drive the van back to base and the night pilot who is on duty will fly the helicopter back.  So you drive the van back and have been on duty for 19 hours when you reach the base.  The night pilot was brought in an hour early in order to get on the road to bring the van to you.  You wait 2 hrs past your 14 hrs and another 3 hrs to drive back to the base.  Now you must be back on duty after 10 hrs of rest.  WT F?

After a 19 hour day and only 10 hrs of rest?  I wouldn't be able to decouple after 19 hrs on duty of flying, refueling, coordinating, waiting, and driving a company van with red swollen eyes.

What's the policy?

What's your company policy?

What's your individual personal policy?