Originally Posted by FWAAA
I'm surprised the pilots didn't go illegal at the 8 hour point after pushback. By my quick calculations, it must have been their first flight of the day. Otherwise, they would have exceeded 8 hours before takeoff.
This was about 10 years ago and it was United but I sat on a plane for 4 hours before takeoff in ORD to a west coast city. I remember hearing that if we went back to the gate that the crew would become illegal but if we stayed parked on the tarmac that the same crew could remain with the flight. Maybe it was just a guess or rules have changed since?