Do you still log time?

[cezzna]

I'm to that point in my career where logging time is starting to seem pointless. I'm really considering just hanging up the logbook. How many here still log time and how many don't? How do you approach an interview without having logged time for years? Do employers care as long as your experience is verifiable?

 

[FN FAL]

Dude, that reminds me, I haven't seen my log book for over five years. My, how time flies.

 

[User546]

I'd just keep logging it for the heck of it. You've done it for many, many, many years obviously at this point - why stop now.

I think it'd be nice to know how many hours I've flown throughout my lifetime after I've hung up the ole headset for the last time.

 

[njcapt]

I'm about to interview at my sixth airline and you'd better believe I keep mine up (almost 12,000 hours). You never know when you'll be looking for another job, and you'd best believe that airlines don't look to kindly on interviewees that show up with incomplete logs.

 

[FN FAL]

I'm about to interview at my sixth airline and you'd better believe I keep mine up (almost 12,000 hours). You never know when you'll be looking for another job, and you'd best believe that airlines don't look to kindly on interviewees that show up with incomplete logs.

6th airline? Hahahahahahaha, I like it.

 

[gkrangers]

I got tired of it after about 150 hours.

 

[BenderGonzales]

After my 7th airline job (sigh) I gave up on logging time. I log total-time monthly now, but dont mess with logging instrument, night, landings, etc.

I have no intention of interviewing with another airline so hopefully I wont need such precise records again. I made my wife promise to shoot me in the knees if I ever suggested that an airline job might be a good idea again...

 

[hyflyt560]

When I got hired at United, I stopped logging night, instrument, landings, etc. And then, oops, I got furloughed. I've always logged every flight though.

Related question. If you do a 3 or 4 leg day, do you use a separate line for each leg, or one line for the entire day? I use one line. Also, if you're flying the same corporate Citation day in and day out, do you put the tail number every time? I don't...just the type.

I say keep up the logbook for at least nostalgic reasons...your kids might like to thumb through it in 50 years.

 

[pilotyip]

I log every flight, over 12K hrs, and make a note in the comments section on the flight to help me remember that flight; my logbook is my pilot's diary. It helps me remember people, places and things. I like to fly and recording what I have done in the air is part of the ongoing adventure.

 

[AA717driver]

I wish I'd done what yip does. But I didn't. Now, my company keeps very detailed records and we get a printout each year summarizing our activity.TC

 

[Gorilla]

If you've been with a major player for 10 to 20 years, and you sadly end up trying again at another carrier, if they demand EXACT amounts of actual instrument, or want to know how many ILS approaches I've flown, I'll probably say something like - "If 15 years of line flying to all CONUS, Europe, Asia, South America, Central America, and the Caribbean, doesn't qualify me for your pilot job, then I don't want to fly for your outfit."

At a certain point, your job experience, not totals to the 1/10th minute, are what should get you hired. I let my company's computer log my time now. Those that still do, that's cool, but it's not for me.

I can see the allure of using a log as a diary. You can jot names, incidents, cool layovers, etc, and also use it to validate your pay.

 

[getonit]

There was a guy in Montgomery AL who has all of his logbooks on display in the FBO. I believe he was involved with a piper dealership, flight training and the FBO somehow. I think the totals were over 60K hours. I think he has passed on, but it looks like a tribute to him. That is a lot of logbooks.

 

[QuasarZ]

my dad has over 20,000 and still logs it just for fun!