Logging flight time in a UAV

poser765

poser765

Well-Known Member
Ok so I found an interesting question on yahoo answers.

Can you log flight time in a uav and how will the airlines look at it? Someone responded with yes, and you can log PIC as well as actual instrument.

thoughts?
 
NO you can;t log the time. A guy in my new hire class at Eagle was on the UAV for a few years and didn't log any of that time.
 
I tend to agree with you. But looking in the regs I can't find anything in 61.51 that says you have to actually be sitting IN the airplane to log it as PIC. Now I do have a sneaky suspicion that it is HIGHLY implied that you do but the legalese that says that is missing or I can't find it.

I have a pretty good feeling that a FSDO, DPE, or Interview panel looking at a logbook full of PIC and Inst Actual time would not even bother to tell you your level of dopery. They would just dismiss you with a slow head shake and silence.
 
UAV time isn't worth jack squat.....except for maybe piloting other UAVs.

Let me ask you this. If I build an R/C model of a UAV, and then go fly it, can I log that time?

It's worth about the same.....
 
There was a job posted awhile ago, and the requirements were a commercial/instrument or ATP. I think a 2nd class medical, too. The FAA requires this for UAVs operating in the NAS.

So...:dunno:
 
I think the question of "can I log it" sometimes comes down to "What happens if I ball it up?" Who investigates? What's the consequence? If the NTSB and FAA come out and wish to take certificate action action against your UAV piloting abilities, you may have a point about logability. If the company comes out and gives you an "aw shucks, this will impact your Christmas bonus" then likley not.

Also, logging for what purpose? I think there's a strong argument that UAV time could be used instead of a PCATD.

LC
 
Have to agree with just about everybody...fortunatly you all confirmed my argument at yahoo answers. I even used the RC example. My bottom line answer was that you can log whatever the heck you want. I mean you CAN log turbine PIC in a honda accord...just be willing to face the consequences.
 
if a uav has to fallow the same FAR's as a normal aircraft you should be able to log it, if not then it is just a really sophisticated toy.
 
The Air Farce gives Distinguished Flying Crosses to UAV operators and diagnoses them with PTSD for the horrible stress they endure. Following that standard, any crazy thing is possible.
 
I would say that if I were flying an UAV, I would create a seperate column in my logbook as UAV time. I would not log PIC or Total Time, just UAV time. That way if I were trying to get another UAV job, it would be documented time and then if someone else, such as an airline, was interested in the time it would be there as well.

I don't think you can actually compare UAV time to RC time. I would think it would be more comparable to a simulator and way more advanced than a PCATD.
 
OregonTrail said:
if a uav has to fallow the same FAR's as a normal aircraft you should be able to log it, if not then it is just a really sophisticated toy.
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Jeez...what set of regulations do they fall under. I found a site last night that talked them being accountable to part 91 but i don't recall it that was a proposed adoption of the rules or if that was in fact the case...I know...it was late around 0330.

I can still see a compelling argument either way (thought common sense has me leaning one way heavily). Still nothing concrete though.

What are the regulatory differences between a uav and a RC airplane? Are there any for beyond line of site vehicles? Would having time in a UAV prepare you for flying IN the aircraft more than Microsoft Flight Sim? that I don't know and am again inclined to doubt.
 
poser765 said:
Would having time in a UAV prepare you for flying IN the aircraft more than Microsoft Flight Sim? that I don't know and am again inclined to doubt.
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I hate flight sim, my roomate played it everyday for hours, he must have had thousands of hours on that thing. it could potentially be slightly useful but when you go to the bar and he is talkign about the new graphix he just downloaded so that some airport looks so realastic and you can see that every terminal is correct. seriously get a life, not to mention he plans out a x-c so that about 30 minutes after the bars close he is prepared for an approach.
 
I'm going to have to go against the grain and say that it could be loggable as PIC. I'd have a hard time telling a veteran all the time he spent doing search and recon in Afghanistan is no different than my time last week flying an R/C plane. If a UAV pilot screws up he could kill a lot of people, I'd hardly relate that to R/C piloting.
 
Codyjp said:
I'm going to have to go against the grain and say that it could be loggable as PIC. I'd have a hard time telling a veteran all the time he spent doing search and recon in Afghanistan is no different than my time last week flying an R/C plane. If a UAV pilot screws up he could kill a lot of people, I'd hardly relate that to R/C piloting.
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Emotional patriotism aside...if him being able to screw up and kill people does not mean he has the skills safely fly an airplan in the soup getting bounced around...or that he can land with a stiff crosswind.
 
Codyjp said:
I'm going to have to go against the grain and say that it could be loggable as PIC. I'd have a hard time telling a veteran all the time he spent doing search and recon in Afghanistan is no different than my time last week flying an R/C plane. If a UAV pilot screws up he could kill a lot of people, I'd hardly relate that to R/C piloting.
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It'd be PIC for a UAV aircraft only, if you want to go that route. A UAV isn't like a sim.....it's controls aren't the same, it's cockpit layout is nothing similar to, and it's mostly flown on autopilot. There's no instrument approaches it flies or capable of flying (talking a Pred here), and the pilot is pretty much a systems monitor who occasionally looses off a missile. That's about how close to any sort of real flying it is.

It's a large R/C plane flown by either direct line of sight, or Ku sat link. Apart from that, if you flew the same kind of large plane stateside and crashed it, you'd kill alot of people too. Same difference.
 
MikeD said:
It'd be PIC for a UAV aircraft only, if you want to go that route. A UAV isn't like a sim.....it's controls aren't the same, it's cockpit layout is nothing similar to, and it's mostly flown on autopilot. There's no instrument approaches it flies or capable of flying (talking a Pred here), and the pilot is pretty much a systems monitor who occasionally looses off a missile. That's about how close to any sort of real flying it is.

It's a large R/C plane flown by either direct line of sight, or Ku sat link. Apart from that, if you flew the same kind of large plane stateside and crashed it, you'd kill alot of people too. Same difference.
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it has to have some sort of vertical and horizontal approach system. im not saying the pilot does it but its got to have something
 
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