Duty & FTL

The Duty tab is Pilot EFB's flight time limitations module: a duty log with a live calculator over it. You record or import your duties, and the app works out where you stand against the limits of your chosen regime, EASA ORO.FTL or FAA Part 117, and shows its working. The line at the foot of every Duty screen, "Personal planning only.", is the module's standing framing: your operator's crew control and OM-A remain the authority on what you may fly.

Find your way around

The Duty tab has one segmented control at the top:

The header holds the rest: the + button that starts a new duty, and Duty actions (the ... button), where you find Add duties manually, Import roster, Export duties (CSV), Duty settings, Operator config and the FTL rules guide.

How to pick your rules

The calculator follows one regime at a time.

1. The first time you open the Duty tab, answer the prompt: EASA ORO.FTL or FAA Part 117.
2. To change it later, open Duty actions > Duty settings and pick the other regime. The same screen sets your usual crew complement.
3. Or open Settings > Pilot & aircraft > Your flying profile, which sets the same regime.

How to log a duty

1. On the Duty tab, tap + (or open Duty actions and choose Add duties manually).
2. Enter the Report: reporting airport and reporting time. Type the time in the airport's local time; the UTC equivalent is shown as you type and both are stored.
3. Add Sectors: departure, destination, off-block and on-block for each leg. Mark positioning legs as such.
4. If you need them, open the two optional sections. Crew, rest & end of duty holds the crew complement (single, 2, 3 or 4 pilot), the rest facility on an augmented duty and the end of duty, which is set just after your last on-block unless you change it. Notes, discretion & standby holds your notes and Called out from standby.
5. Check the live FDP readout pinned to the bottom of the form. It evaluates against your maximum as you type. Then tap Save duty.

How to read the Dashboard

1. Open the Dashboard segment.
2. Read the hero card for the duty in progress: time remaining, the planned FDP against the applicable maximum, the report, FDP-end and limit instants, and your earliest report after minimum rest.
3. Scroll to the cumulative limit cards: your rolling flight-time and duty-time totals over the windows your regime uses, each graded against its ceiling and citing the governing rule.
4. Read the warnings: a late finish, a window-of-circadian-low start, an unacclimatised day. Each carries the rule reference and a plain-language line on what it means.
5. When a number looks surprising, tap Why? (beside Edit duty) for the explanation. It leads with the answer: your regime, crew and acclimatisation as chips, then the FDP remaining as the big figure with used and max beside it and a gauge under them. Below that, a three-step rail walks max, used and remaining with the calculator's own sentence and a "Reference:" citation under each step, a cumulative card lays each rolling window out as used-of-max with its own gauge, and the rules applied sit as chips. Share and Copy are side by side at the foot. Every figure is read off the same engine result as the Dashboard tile, so the two can never disagree. Above Share and Copy, Save calculation report freezes this calculation as a hash-checked record and shares it as a PDF; Duty actions > Saved reports brings every saved report back.

How to import your roster Pro

1. Open Duty actions > Import roster (or tap Import on the Roster segment).
2. Pick the file: a CSV export, a calendar (.ics) file, or a roster PDF.
3. Review what was recognised. Every duty is shown before anything is written. When the columns were matched from the header names the review says so, with Change matches one tap away.
4. Fix any card in place: Edit, or Fix on an invalid duty, with one-tap fixes for the usual roster quirks such as a release printed without its next-day marker. More on a flagged card holds Why was this flagged?, which explains the reading rules.
5. Commit the batch.

How to undo a bad import

Imports are tracked as batches.

1. On the Roster segment, tap Import history (the row appears once you have imported something; the import's Done screen links to it too).
2. Find the committed batch.
3. Remove it as one unit. A removed batch can be restored the same way, so a bad file never has to be picked apart duty by duty.

How to repeat a duty across dates

For patterns rather than files:

1. On the Roster segment, tap Repeat.
2. Pick an existing duty and the dates to lay it across.
3. Check the preview, then commit.

Duplicate on the same segment copies a single duty to another day.

How to build and check your roster

The Roster segment is your forward view. It is free at every tier.

1. Open the Roster segment. Your upcoming duties are listed under the build actions: Add duty, then Repeat, Duplicate, Reserve, Ground, Position and Import.
2. Read the Roster legality card. It projects your saved roster forward as if each duty is flown as planned and flags what would not fit, such as a rest gap below the minimum, before the day arrives.
3. Tap a duty to edit it.

How to add ground duty, training, a sim session or a day off

Not every roster day is a flight. Record the others so the limits count them the way your regime does.

1. On the Roster segment, tap Ground.
2. Under What is it?, pick Office / ground duty, Training / class, Simulator session or Day off. The line under each kind says how it counts.
3. Add a title if you want one, such as "CRM refresher", and the airport where it happens.
4. Set the start and end. For a day off, pick the first day and step Consecutive days up to 31; each day is saved on its own, so each shows on your calendar.
5. Tap the save button at the foot of the form.

Office, training and simulator entries count in full as duty but never as FDP, and a simulator session adds no flight time. A day off counts nothing and owes no rest.

For a day spent positioning, tap Position instead. It opens a new duty with its sector already marked as positioning.

How to log reserve and standby

Two related ideas are recorded in two places.

To log a reserve or standby period (on call, available for assignment):

1. Open the Reserve segment (or tap Reserve on the Roster segment).
2. Tap Log reserve period.
3. Enter its window and kind: short-call or long-call reserve under FAA Part 117; airport standby, home / other standby or reserve under EASA. Each is counted toward duty the way its rule says.
4. Save. The segment then assesses each period.

To record a duty that was called out from standby:

1. Open the duty in the entry form.
2. Open Notes, discretion & standby and turn on Called out from standby. Pick the kind (Home standby or Airport standby under EASA, Short-call reserve or Airport/standby reserve under Part 117) and, if you know it, when the standby began.
3. Save. The calculator applies your regime's standby treatment to that duty.

How to review your calendar and history

1. Open the Calendar segment. Each week's duty hours are graded against the cumulative windows, and a week near a limit shows amber before it becomes a problem. The monthly grid marks duty days for the month-at-a-glance view.
2. Open the History segment for the full log, newest first. Search by airport, or filter by month, augmented crew, or reserve.
3. Tap any duty to edit it. Notes on a duty (delays, disruption, context) live here too.

How to undo an edit or restore an earlier version

1. Save an edited duty. The confirmation reads "Duty updated" with the FDP figure and carries Undo for five seconds.
2. To go back further, open the duty again and scroll to Version history at the foot of the form. Each row shows when the change was made, whether it was Edited or Restored, and which fields changed.
3. Tap Restore on a row and confirm. The version you replace is kept in the history too, so a restore can be undone the same way.

The history stays on this device and keeps the newest 50 versions of each duty.

How to export your duties

1. Open Duty actions (the ... button).
2. Tap Export duties (CSV).
3. Share or save the file from the iOS share sheet.

How to test a hypothetical duty

1. Open the What-if segment.
2. Sketch the duty: report time, sectors, crew.
3. Read the verdict. It updates live against your real history, and nothing is logged.

How to follow your operator's scheme

If your operator's scheme is tighter than the regulation in places, the calculator can follow it.

1. Open Duty actions > Operator config.
2. Pick a built-in configuration, or import your own as a JSON file of OM-A values.
3. Check the dashboard: the active configuration is shown there.
4. To go back to the plain regime, remove the configuration.

How to learn the rules

1. Open Duty actions > FTL rules guide.
2. Read the plain-language guide to how EASA ORO.FTL and FAA Part 117 duty limits work.
3. Try the interactive FDP explorer.

The guide is free and asks for no subscription.

On iPad

The Dashboard spreads into a two-column board: the hero and sector strip sit beside the warnings, next legal report and cumulative limit cards, so a whole duty day reads without scrolling. The other segments keep the iPhone layout at full width.

Free vs Pro in Duty & FTL

Troubleshooting

The Dashboard shows a locked view. You have passed the 20-duty free allowance, or you are signed out. The allowance counts only while you are signed in; past it, the engine segments and new duties need Pro. History and Roster stay open.

A limit looks wrong. Open the explanation from the Dashboard. It shows which table row applied, what was counted as used and your cumulative position, with the rule references, so you can compare it against your OM-A.

My imported duty is flagged. Tap More on the card, then Why was this flagged?, to see the reading rule. Then use a one-tap quick fix (for example a release printed without its next-day marker), or Fix or Edit to change it by hand.

I saved the wrong change to a duty. Tap Undo on the "Duty updated" confirmation, or open the duty and restore an earlier version from Version history.

I imported the wrong file. Open Import history on the Roster segment and remove the batch as one unit. It can be restored the same way.

The numbers changed after I switched regime. That is expected. Your duties are unchanged; the dashboard recomputed them against the other rule set.

Where next

• Logbook - log your flights; Build from duties turns your duty sectors into draft logbook entries.
• Free vs Pro - the exact caps and what the subscription unlocks.