Am I legal to operate? The cabin crew pre-duty checklist

Check 1: Has my rest window closed?

Your rest window is the period between your release from the previous duty and your report time for today's duty. Before you do anything else, confirm the gap between those two times and compare it to the minimum.

At home base: minimum 12 hours. Away from base: minimum 10 hours. Your rest window must also contain an 8-hour sleep opportunity - not just 8 hours on a clock, but 8 hours during which you could genuinely be sleeping (after travel, wind-down, and morning preparation time). If the gap between release and report is less than the minimum, or if a realistic sleep opportunity was not available within it, that is a rest infringement and you should not be on this duty. Contact crew scheduling to query the rest calculation before reporting.

Check 2: What was the length of my preceding FDP?

A long preceding FDP affects your recovery, even if you technically had the minimum rest. If your previous duty ran close to or over the FDP limit - particularly if it involved a WOCL extension or significant delays - your fatigue level at the start of today's duty may be higher than a roster check alone would suggest.

EASA cumulative limits also apply: you cannot exceed a certain number of FDP hours across 28 and 365 day windows. If your preceding weeks have been heavy, check where you stand against your cumulative limits as well as the single-duty limit. See our guide on EASA FDP limits for the single-duty table and how cumulative limits work.

Check 3: Am I within FDP for today's sectors?

Look at today's duty: your report time (local) and the number of sectors you are operating. From those two data points, apply the EASA FDP table to confirm the maximum FDP for this specific duty. Then check whether your scheduled release time falls within that maximum.

Remember: FDP starts at report time, not at gate departure. Any ground time between report and first flight is counted. If your duty involves a positioning flight, that sector counts too. If your scheduled FDP is already close to the limit and you have a pattern of delays on this route, you are operating with very little margin - which is worth noting before you start.

Layvr does this calculation automatically from your imported roster. The FDP tracker shows your maximum FDP alongside your scheduled FDP for every duty, so you can see at a glance where you have margin and where you do not.

Check 4: Are my recency checks current?

Recency requirements - recent take-offs and landings, emergency procedure drills, door trainer currency, medical validity - are separate from FDP and rest rules, but they are equally important for legality to operate. If any recency check has expired, you are not legal to operate in the role that requires it, regardless of your rest and FDP status.

Before reporting, confirm: your medical certificate is current; your most recent emergency procedures training or proficiency check is within the required window (typically 12 months but varies by airline and role); your aircraft type rating and associated recency requirements are current. If you are unsure of any date, check your training records before reporting rather than at the aircraft.

Check 5: Do I feel fit to operate?

This is the check that no regulation can fully capture but that carries the most weight. EASA requires crew to be fit for duty - physically and mentally. If you are unwell, significantly fatigued, or affected by any medication, personal circumstances, or emotional state that you believe impairs your ability to carry out your duties safely, you must not operate.

Declaring yourself unfit is not a sign of weakness or unreliability. It is you doing exactly what the regulation requires. If you declare fatigue, your operator must accept that declaration and relieve you of the duty. They cannot penalise you for making a genuine fatigue declaration - doing so would itself be a regulatory violation.

Be honest with yourself on this check. The five-minute assessment you do before leaving for the airport matters more than any of the preceding four checks, because they are objective and you are the only one who can assess this one.

What to do if you fail a check

If any check fails, contact crew scheduling before reporting. Explain clearly which check has failed and why. For rest infringements: state the release time from your previous duty and your report time, and ask crew scheduling to confirm whether the rest calculation is correct. For FDP issues: state the duty you have been assigned and ask for confirmation of the approved FDP limit. For fitness: declare yourself unfit for duty on fatigue or medical grounds as appropriate.

Document everything. Keep a note of the time you called, who you spoke to, and what was said. If you are asked to operate despite a valid concern, you have the right under EASA rules to refuse and to escalate to your airline's safety reporting system. Use it. See our guides on minimum rest and FDP limits for the specific regulatory backing for rest and FDP checks.