Logging Flight Time

[ChicoC17]

I've been flying in the Air Force for a couple of years now, and I'm just wondering what should I log on my personal logbook. Should I just log primary time?? or both primary and secondary?? Any help with this would be much appreciate it. Thanks!!

 

[MercuryPilot]

logging flight time

ChicoC17,
I'll tell you what most of us do in my squadron and you can take it from there. First, get some logbook software. There are many programs available, I just happen to use FlightLevel. Next, I set up the program w/the same columns as in my Navy logbook and punched in all my flights. The reason this will help is that most companies you may send a resume to will want your flight time totaled using different methods.

For instance, some may want you to include your UPT time and some may not. Others may want aircraft commander time in the left or right seat and not while you were in the rack even though you signed for the plane. Some may want to know when you were at the controls while a qualified aircraft commander even though you weren't aircraft commander of that sortie. etc, etc, etc.

By having your flight time in the software you can filter it based on date, a/c type, first pilot, copilot, aircraft commader, IP, ccx, daytime, night landings, etc. and easily come up w/the information they want. It basically gives you flexibility. It'll be painful typing in all the data but worth it in the end.

Hope this helps.

 

[Papyco]

Another question about logging flight time. I start Primary in a couple of weeks, should I bother logging my flight time in a separate Log Book or should let the Navy keep track of all my flights during Primary? I have only recently heard about military pilots keeping their own personal records about all their flight time. So I am a little bit confused about what I should do. Any help appreciated.

FLY NAVY!!

 

[SentryIP]

Sooner Than Later

Chico,

I second MercuryPilot's advice. For years, I've been logging my flight time in a Senior Pilot Logbook (from Sporty's). I've kept all my flight time in one logbook. If you do that, you're 90% ready when it's time to apply for the airlines (I assume that's your goal since you're posting on this forum). From your profile, I assume you're familiar with Part 61.51, Pilot Logbooks. I started flying when I entered the Air Force (Flight Screening Program) and was not aware of this requirement for several years, hence I didn't log all my actual instrument, simulated instrument, night, and simulator times. As an instructor/evaluator, I encourage all my students and junior squadron pilots to maintain a logbook and not rely completely on the Air Force to ACCURATELY maintain their flight time. I also point them to Part 61.51 so they don't pass up opportunity to legally log flight time. Pass that information on to your squadron mates. As you know, the Air Force uses AFM 11-217 Vols 1/2, AFH 11-203 Vols 1/2 and AFI 11-202 in place of the FAR and AIM. I purchased a logbook program. I use Logbook Pro and find it very easy to use. The reason for this is because that when I applied for the airlines (17 apps in all), it seemed that they all wanted the data sliced and diced differently. The biggest requirement was for Part 1 PIC time (signing for the airplane, i.e. AIRCRAFT COMMANDER) versus Part 61 PIC time (hands on flying, i.e. COPILOT flying the airplane). That took a while to dissect based on logging PRIMARY and SECONDARY time. A good logbook program will let you customize it for your particular needs. I added Part 1 PIC and Part 61 PIC columns. FedEx and SWA want your Part 1 PIC only. Definitely log PRIMARY and SECONDARY times and as little of OTHER time as possible. I have over 400 hours of (worthless) OTHER time. I hope this helps. PM me if you have any questions. Take care.

 

[T1bubba]

Even if you don't buy an electronic logbook at the very least write your flight times down somewhere and then double check what made it into your logbook every month or two.

Once I was checking about three months worth of flights and found that they'd shorted me over 20 hours, including two flights that were missing entirely!

SentryIP- I can sympathize about the other time, I've got well over 1000 hours of it. Only in the Navy it's called Special Crew (SCREW) time.

 

[MercuryPilot]

Keep your own records

In the Navy there will typically be a very Junior Enlisted person or civilian transcribing your flight hours from a maintenance form to your logbook. The folks really try to do their best but may have 50+ pilot logbooks to keep track of (not to mention NFOs and Enlisted Aircrew logbooks) AND they may know nothing about aviation. That translates to numerous errors. I often found my aircraft commander time listed under Special Crew and had to correct it myself. Also, they manually punch all your flight hours into a calculator to total each page. I'd recommend checking their math if you want everything to be accurate.

Bottomline, keep your own records in either hard or electronic copy to be absolutely sure. It's also a good backup if your logbook is ever lost or destroyed. Your Operations department will usually provide you w/an extra Navy logbook to keep your own records if you ask.

The Air Force kept electronic records of our flight time when I was in T-1s which cut down on many of the human errors.

 

[slacker]

I keep a copy of every AFTO 781 of every flight I'm on. (I don't know if the Navy has an equivalent form) I also write in the margins the events I logged on the flight. I used to keep a log book with everything, but got lazy. At least this way a have a record of my own to check against what the Air Force says I flew. Works good so far, but I dread the day I have to transcribe this 3 inch stack of 781's.

 

[ChicoC17]

Thanks to all of you for taking your time to answer my questions. I have my civilian time and military time in the same logbook. I have a Sr. Pilot Logbook and an Electronic logbook as well. So from now on I'm going to log primary and secondary time as the total duration of flight. Any other recommendations would be great!!

 

[SentryIP]

Duration

ChicoC17,

Don't misunderstand about OTHER time. When I said log as little of it as possible, I meant for you to try to put as much time as legally possible in the INSTRUCTOR, EVALUATOR, PRIMARY, and SECONDARY columns throughout your military career. However, continue to log OTHER time because it does count toward TOTAL FLIGHT TIME. Additionally, the base flight records folks do a great job keeping up with our flight time, for the most part. As MercuryPilot and T1bubba mentioned, as in any man-machine interface, there will be mistakes and I "lost" a month's worth of flight time due to an input error. I took my logbook to flight records and the problem was corrected with no hassles. Again, PM me if you have any questions. Take care.