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Padding the book

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Secret Agent

Member
Joined
Mar 18, 2006
Posts
23
If you had a "friend" who completely padded his/her logbook (to the tune of about 1,000 PIC time, night, and actual IFR) and was offered a job, would you do anything about it?

This clown really has about 500 TT verifiable by me and his/her previous instructor. Yes, I may be a little bit bitter since I am currently furloughed from my flying job AND that it took me over 15 years to get to where I am...

Thoughts?

BTW, we're not talking about a piston job or an instructing job.
 
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talking about padding a pilot personal log book?
 
Unfortunately I know two bozo's that do this, one of whom openly admitted to me about doing it. Actually it was more like bragged about it, and he said I was "stupid" for not doing it. He then said he would show me how to add parker pen time to my logbook, as it was "really easy". He just didn't understand why I didn't want any of that crap in my logbook. As you might've guessed, he really sucks as a pilot, and his padded time was pretty obvious.

Idiots like this will eventually get caught due to their own stupidity... When it came to the guy I referenced above, I just did my best to stay away from him. The last thing I wanted was to get involved in their illegal activities. At least he's currently laid off from his flying job for now...
 
You could always take the Tail #'s and cross references them to www.flightaware.com

I'd say something likes this: "Hey, I see you flew N1234AB from XYC to ABC on 11/01/09. Can you tell me why on Flight Aware it shows N1234AB flying from DEF to HIJ on that date?"

I think the Flight Aware data goes back several years if you pay for it.
 
You could always take the Tail #'s and cross references them to www.flightaware.com

I'd say something likes this: "Hey, I see you flew N1234AB from XYC to ABC on 11/01/09. Can you tell me why on Flight Aware it shows N1234AB flying from DEF to HIJ on that date?"

I think the Flight Aware data goes back several years if you pay for it.

The classic example of this being the idiot who sat at the local airport, writing tail numbers into his logbook.

This was all well and good until he had a checkride with an examiner who wanted to know, in essence, what the hell he (the applicant) was doing flying the examiner's aircraft without permission!

That said, this industry is too full of a$$ holes and pretenders who haven't earned the right to occupy the seat they are sitting in. Blow the whistle and raise the bar if you can indeed support your allegations.
 
1-866-TELL-FAA (1-866-835-5322)


61.59 Falsification, reproduction, or alteration of applications, certificates, logbooks, reports, or records.
(a) No person may make or cause to be made:

(2) Any fraudulent or intentionally false entry in any logbook, record, or report that is required to be kept, made, or used to show compliance with any requirement for the issuance or exercise of the privileges of any certificate, rating, or authorization under this part;

(4) Any alteration of any certificate, rating, or authorization under this part.
(b) The commission of an act prohibited under paragraph (a) of this section is a basis for suspending or revoking any airman certificate, rating, or authorization held by that person.
 
You could always take the Tail #'s and cross references them to www.flightaware.com

Not everything shows up on flightaware, by a long shot. I've looked up aircraft I just flew across the country, and flightaware says the airplane has been sitting somewhere for two months. Further, it won't show VFR flights.

It also won't show blocked flights.

As far as falsifying one's log, there's little doubt that a lot of pilots out there have done exactly that. I worked with an assistant chief pilot years ago who is now flying for an airline somewhere, having jumped rapidly from single Cessnas to corporate aircraft and then to an airline...who falsified most of his time. In fact, one day I happened into an FBO and found a picture of him on a wall as a solo student...taken only a year before he got his job as the assistant chief pilot for a particular operation. He was a con artist. I have no idea where he is today, but I also have no illusions about the fact that many pilots do the same thing.

When I completed my ATP checkride, the examiner told me that the next step would be to falsify a lot of multi time and go get that first multi job. This was an examiner, mind you. He then went on to say that if I had a conscience crisis about it, I could always simply not log time later on. I elected to ignore his counsel.

Not long ago I was asked to fly with a young man as an evaluation, prior to his Part 135 checkride with the FAA. Before we ever made it to the airplane, numerous red flags were raised. The flight confirmed what I thought. He was lying about his experience. I examined his resume and found inconsistencies, then interviewed him and found more. He began changing his story. Contact was made with former "employers" who had never heard of him, and soon he changed the names on the resume to "downgrade" his experience to something we might not check. We did. He was lying.

I've always maintained that I will know most of what I need to know about an aviator before we ever make it to the airplane. The flight only confirms it.

You'll find more than a few who foolishly falisfy their log, and you'll find more than a few operators too slow or too dense to catch it. A descent one will, because it shows. You can log hours, but can't invent or falsify experience. Hours are superficial, experience is not.

Nobody can tell you what to do. If your signature is in his logbook, however, you are in a position of being dragged into his mess if he screws up. I've been there...my signature was the last one before a pilot stacked up an airplane, and the owners, attorneys and the rest of the free world came to camp on my door step. In my case I had very good records which showed I had no culpability in the matter and had not failed to train or inform the student (a certificated pilot), and the dogs at the door moved on. In your case, who knows? Wouldn't you be better off washing your hands of the lying, cheating, falsifying student by either going to him directly and requesting he destroy the book, or taking it to the next level and reporting him?

Bear in mind that while the noble thing may be going directly to the student, this is not a requirement in your position. If the student has knowingly, intentionally, and willfully falsified his logbook, there's nothing inadvertent here. It's not like you're tactfully whispering to the student that he's made a mistake. He's committed a crime, and one of the building blocks to getting there is your signature; he's invoking your good name in his crime. If he later fails and hurts someone or damages property, or takes a life, now your good name is part of his disaster. Do you really want that?
 
I pretty much agree with avbug, but to answer your question, "should I do anything about it?"

I can't say what you should or shouldn't do. I most probably would tend to my own garden and focus on my own career and not someone elses.
 
That's what I would have said for many years, but I've come to the opinion that these tools DO have an impact on honest peoples careers. Now I'm more of the thinking of the famous quote:

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.
 

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