Mil to civil time conversion factor?

[mudkow60]

Hello-

I have a quick question- what is the conversion factor used by some civil agencies to convert military to civilian flight times? I heard that you multiply your mil time by .3 or something like that.

Thanks.

 

[skiddriver]

Only use the conversion as requested by specific companies on their website or applications. Southwest is .3 per sortie, NJA used to be a 1.2 multiple, etc. It's different for each company and not all companies use them. For resumes and where not listed, submit your time as logged.

Civil governmental agencies don't normally use them, but you'll need to check with their hiring/HR departments.

The basic rationale behind theses correcitons is to account for taxi time which military pilots generally do not count as flight time (except for skid equipped helo guys who are either parked or flying), and civilian pilots who generally do add it into logged time.

Southwest says:

For military personnel, Southwest Airlines will allow flight time ...(non-applicable stuff deleted)... When converting taxi time a conversion factor of .3 or eighteen minutes, per leg/sortie should be used. These guidelines are imposed by Southwest Airlines for the purpose of standardizing the calculation of flight time.

 

[mudkow60]

Thanks-

I am applying to Customs, and they said that there is a conversion factor in the FAR/AIM. Just wondering what that was.

 

[nosehair]

aaahh-ha! ha! ha! haaa-haa-ha-hoo-hoo-hee-he...uhh,he-he,..uh oh!...oh, yeah, maybe he was refering to FAR 1 Definitions: Flight Time means: (1)" Pilot time that commences when an aircraft move under its own power for the purpose of flight and ends when the aircraft comes to a rest after landing."
Gotta watch those Feds, they'l never give ya a straight answer.
ohh,ho-ho,ha-ha,hee-hee.

 

[mudkow60]

The way the military counts flight time (for helos at least) is take- off to 5 min after you are stationary after touch down. Since I am competing with folks in the civil arena that count time from start up to shut down, I am therefore at a disadvantage (log book hours wise). If you look at my situation that way, I think that it is not a laughing matter!

 

[nosehair]

Oh, Sir, I am not laughing at you; Please excuse me, that was not my intent.
The laughing is at the Customs people telling you that some flight time conversion factor is in the "FAR/AIM". I thought someone was yankin' your chain, but then realized it may have been a genuine reference to the FAR regulating time.
The military interpretation of "moving under its own power for the purpose of flight" is the same as the old civilian way, before the introduction of the hour meter installed in civilian rental airplanes.
This meter starts at engine start and runs til engine shut-down. Since civilians are charged flight time rates for all that time, that's how they have justified the interpretation to mean from "beginning the taxi", which still doesn't include the dead time from engine start to taxi, but they log all of the "meter" time, so some companies will factor in a little extra for standardized comparison of flight times, but there is no government publication of this conversion factor. That I know of.

 

[mudkow60]

Thanks for the info!

I guess I was just missinformed. I guess some companies have their own conversion factors. I will just have to ask the guys down at Customs what I can use to multiply my flight time by.

Again, thanks for the info-

 

[Mooseflyer]

And, be sure to add the specified conversion factor per sortie , not per flight hour (although that would certainly bump your time significantly!!