Is there a conversion for Military time?

[dash8driver]

I have a friend from the military that needs an answer to this question.

Military only counts flight time from take-off to landing, but civilians count flight time anytime the aircraft is under its own power for the purposes of flight, til it stops in the blocks. I have seen and heard of conversion rates to adjust for the lost time. I think it was on an application for a major carrier tho. Is there an accepted conversion rule for the FAA for the purposes of obtaining civilian certificates?

 

[Toro]

Don't know about the conversion, but military adds five minutes from total time (takeoff to landing) for taxi.

 

[Illini Pilot]

i know southwest i believe uses 1.3 as the conversion factor, dont know if there is a official FAA way.

 

[SkiHerkDrvr]

There really isn't a universal conversion factor, but several companies recognize the discrepancy in the way military flight time is logged versus logging of civilian flight time. Some examples:
Jet Blue allows military pilots to multiply their flight time on parts of the application by 30% ("multiply flight time by 1.3...")

Southwest tells you to add .3 hours per sortie.

FedEx says to add .2 hours per sortie.

Those are the ones I know about. I'm sure that many other companies have some sort of conversion as well. There really isn't a universally accepted method, so I think a conservative approach would be to just use the raw data from your military records if a conversion factor is not listed.

The correction factors listed above are from:
Jet Blue - Listed on the minimums section and also on the application.
Southwest- The employment page from the website.
FedEx- Under the "Questions" section of the pilot employment area of their web site.

 

[Tim47SIP]

The true story

Most of the conversions are .2 or .3 multiplied by your total time and then that number added to get a new total. Dont add this in prior to an interview. The company will do it it if you are close to their mins. In my case, they didn't need the conversion, but I know others that did.

 

[CAP10B]

http://mhesteve.home.mindspring.com/Flight Time.htm

 

[skiddriver]

To answer your question on using a conversion to obtain your FAA certs, the answer is "no", with a big "but".

There is no standard conversion and (from my and my friends limited experience getting our ATP's) the FAA views military flight time as it is logged. No conversion factor allowed.

That said, some time has to be reconstructed. The USN/USMC doesn't log cross-country time for example. My FAA examiner (FSDO employee, not a DE), accepted my XC time reconstruction, and for that matter, all my time on my application, without checking my logbook. For my part, I put down my logged times exactly from my logbooks without conversion or fudging, and I brought documentation for the XC time reconstruction - flight grade forms which noted routes of flight, copies of NAVFLIRS (flight manifests/data forms) which show landing locations, etc. The FAA guy didn't look at any of it, but it was one less thing to worry about during the checkride.

All certs up through Commercial/Inst only require an equivalency exam (based on the commercial test) with no flight time requirements other than a limited currency requirement, IF you are on active flying status within the previous 12 months. The rules are in the CFR 14 (FARs) 61.73.

Inst ratings added to a certificate or obtained at the same time as the Comm is obtained only require proof of a current military check. Add on commercial certs don't require you to retake the equivalency exam.

So when I went in to add a Comm SEL to my HELO/MEL ticket, all I had to show was that I was on flight status, had 10 PIC hours in the previous 12 months in an SEL airplane, and that I had a current PIC check.

ATP, type ratings, and certs based on military experience when you haven't been on military flight status in the previous 12 months require FAA proficiency checks, etc. as shown in 61.73.

Tell your buddy good luck, but if he/she is getting a cert to fly in GA aircraft (like I originally did), to be sure that he/she gets some instruction from a CFI if he/she doesn't have any GA experience. A little competent instruction will go a long way to ensure safe flying.

 

[Draginass]

There is no additive for FAA purposes. Time additives for job application purposes is airline specific. Don't give the impression in any airline interview that you're padding your flight time. A few hours of increased military flight time isn't going to make any difference anyway.

 

[dash8driver]

Thanks to everyone for their responses.

He is just short of his ATP and is having a very difficult time picking up flight time to get there. We had heard about these conversions and didnt think there was an FAA approved rate, but wasnt sure so we had to ask.

He is very strict about how he logs his time. He'd never pad or do anything that could be vaguely construed as padding. He would have only used a conversion if there was some sort of written FAA policy on it.

I'm sure this news will bum him out... but he'd rather be right the first time, then have to explain himself later....especially on something like this.

Thanks again...