SWA Mil Conversion Factor?

[SkiFishFly]

Does SWA allow a military conversion factor? Is it 0.3
Thanks.

 

['LUVIN LIFE]

Yep, .3 per sortie. I recommend you start plugging away your logbook into Excel or Access if you haven't done something like that yet. It becomes a pain tallying all the hours with the conversion so it's easier if it's all electronic. The pain will be when you have to count sorties that are PIC sorties (not the same as total sorties).

Good luck and enjoy the ride!

 

[SkiFishFly]

'Luvin Life
Thanks for the assist. I did the excel thing a couple of months ago. It was painful to get all the data in there but made doing the conversions and breakdowns of different categories of flight time easier.
Congrats on SW. I'm off to HPA soon to get my type.

 

[Benhuntn]

Not only do they allow it, it is in the instructions to do it. I would think not following the instructions they issue could have a negative impact on the interview process... IE. can he/she read and follow instructions.

 

[SkiFishFly]

Took me a while to find it in writing. I finally found it buried in this note about PIC:

3Southwest Airlines defines "Pilot in Command" as the Pilot responsible for the operation and safety of the aircraft during flight. This definition is taken from PART I of the FAR. Southwest Airlines further allows logging of PIC as follows: For an aircraft requiring a type rating: If both pilots are type rated, the pilot in the left seat and sole manipulator of the controls may log PIC. If only one pilot is type rated only that pilot may log PIC, regardless of seat position. For aircraft not requiring a type rating: Only the pilot in the left seat and sole manipulator of the controls may log PIC. For military personnel, Southwest Airlines will allow flight time logged as "Pilot In Command" (PIC) only if you are the Captain/Aircraft Commander or Instructor Pilot. Primary time will only be considered PIC on a specific aircraft after an individual upgrades to Aircraft Commander in the appropriate aircraft. Time logged, as "Other Time" will not be considered. 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.

 

[nanook]

The note on the Southwest site doesn't address SIC. Here is my question: Can secondary time be counted as PIC if I am the A/C (the one signing for the jet) and the other pilot is a basic Copilot? Our unit ususally, splits the duration of the flight 50/50 between primary and secondary. thanks

 

[Phaedrus]

nanook:
If you sign for the aircraft you log PIC. Period. Doesn't matter how you split Primary and Secondary, you are responsible for the ship. I would venture to say that 99% of the companies adhere to that interpretation.

 

['LUVIN LIFE]

Ski,

I can imagine you're getting buried in the FAR trying to figure out which part to use to log PIC. It seems like after reading the different parts that all of them apply so which one do you use? Here's my opinion:

I (as well as other guys from my squadron who got hired) only used A/C CMDR time for pic. You can get in the weeds and count flight school vs. pre-wings vs. post-natops check vs. whatever else. But I recommend that if you have enough A/C CMDR time to just use that. As long as you have the minimums you're fine. An extra hundred hours won't do squat for you. Plus it's easier to explain since it's the more conservative route.

Bottom line is have you're time entered electronically, printed out and bound. My logbook review took about one minute since it was all "pretty" and military. Pay your penance now in typing away so you don't have to sweat that part later.

Good luck!

 

[SkiFishFly]

Luvin Life,

Thanks.
I decided all of my time prior to getting winged was SIC/student pilot time and that is how I counted those hours. When I was in an FRS, I only counted solo hours as PIC - everything else was SIC (even though quite a bit is in my logbook as first pilot). I viewed that as conservative and in accordance with the FARs.
I have everything from my log books in an excel spreadsheet broken down by individual acft type and separated by TP, SE Jet, ME Jet.
Hope to join you in the pool someday soon.

 

['LUVIN LIFE]

Ski,

Just a quick note before I head out for the week and bag my last day traps!

I put ZERO for SIC. Why? From what I understand one can only log SIC when a plane requires two pilots to pilot it. So sitting in the back seat as an instructor of a dual controlled jet does not qualify. Second, who cares how much SIC you have? SWA seemed like they didn't.

Do what you will but I wanted to mention it. Of the guys we had some put it and some didn't.

Good luck!

 

[dudemize]

"Primary Time will only be considered PIC on a specific aircraft after an individual upgrades to Aircraft Commander"

I am confused by this sentence of the SWA policy. Why no mention of secondary time? The previous sentence states you can only log PIC if you are the Aircraft Commander or Instructor. This sentence seems to state that if you are a qualified AC you can log your primary time as PIC even if you are not the A-code.

 

[Snoopy58]

AF records (ie the AFORMS printout) don't distinguish between having the A-code or not. Therefore to be fair to everyone, SWA accepts ALL time coded as MP or IP or EP as PIC. Primary vs Secondary is of no concern. "Other" time is of no value, generally. (You could point to a flight and claim that you were PIC & A-code for the whole thing, even the part of it you were out of the seat... you might get them to buy into that, but it'd be an uphill fight in light of their statement about "NO 'other' time will be accepted." I figured that the A-code "Other" time balanced out the non-A-code MP time and left it at that.)

The point of the "primary time will only..." sentence is that primary time as a copilot, even though it is "hands on" and meets the FAA def of PIC, does NOT count for SWA purposes.

Once you've upgraded, Secondary is just as good as Primary since hands on or not, you're still the PIC and making the decisions.