Loggin solo time as PIC

awf

awf

Well-Known Member
Under 61.51(e)(4) it states that a student pilot may log pilot-in-command time while soloing with the proper endorsement and undergoing training for a certificate or rating.
My instructor says I should not log solo time as PIC because in the future employers will look at that and think it's shady. Is this true?
 
awf said:
Under 61.51(e)(4) it states that a student pilot may log pilot-in-command time while soloing with the proper endorsement and undergoing training for a certificate or rating.
My instructor says I should not log solo time as PIC because in the future employers will look at that and think it's shady. Is this true?
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No.
 
The only way it might look shady is if you have a couple hundred hours of PIC before you get your private pilot certificate. Log it legal, you'll have 10 hours (and maybe some change), and it'll be just like everyone else's logbook. Nothing suspicious about that.
 
Ask your instructor to explain to you who is PIC of the aircraft when you are flying solo. Somebody has to be, and it sure isn't him sitting on the ground.

And if this is indeed what your instructor told you, you might want to take a hard look at finding another one...
 
msmspilot said:
Log it legal, you'll have 10 hours (and maybe some change), and it'll be just like everyone else's logbook. Nothing suspicious about that.
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14 CFR 61 allows him to log solo time as PIC. How is that NOT logging it legal?
 
awf said:
Under 61.51(e)(4) it states that a student pilot may log pilot-in-command time while soloing with the proper endorsement and undergoing training for a certificate or rating.
My instructor says I should not log solo time as PIC because in the future employers will look at that and think it's shady. Is this true?
Click to expand...

Your instructor needs some more instructing...

msmspilot said:
The only way it might look shady is if you have a couple hundred hours of PIC before you get your private pilot certificate. Log it legal, you'll have 10 hours (and maybe some change), and it'll be just like everyone else's logbook. Nothing suspicious about that.
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Roger said:
14 CFR 61 allows him to log solo time as PIC. How is that NOT logging it legal?
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I think he is talking about the 10 hours or so of PIC that he will legally have in his logbook like everybody else.
 
wjmiller3 said:
Your instructor needs some more instructing...





I think he is talking about the 10 hours or so of PIC that he will legally have in his logbook like everybody else.
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Oh right, gotcha...he was talking about pencil whipping. Brain fail.
 
If you're on a career path there is a lesson you should learn right now. Unless you're flying part 121 in the right seat of an Airbus, never log a single minute of PIC time ever. Just don't do it. Because if you do someone is going to tell you a story about how they knew a guy once who knew a guy once who had a cousin who had a friend who got turned down for an airline job because he logged 0.1 of PIC doing (insert type of activity).

I've never been able to get these folks to tell me exactly how one gets qualified to get that part 121 airbus job if they don't log PIC time, but that apparently, is beside the point.



So the lesson is you're going have to choose one the options below.
  • Ignore all of those who tell you not to log legal time and log every hour that the FARs allow you to legally log and let your resume speak for itself when you're hunting for a job
  • Listen to everyone who tells you not to log some sort of legal time because someone somewhere in 1971 got turned down for a job
  • Listen to only some of those who tell you not to log some sort of legal time because someone somewhere in 1971 got turned down for a job
Personally I think the third option makes the least sense because if you're going to listen to some and not others, how do you choose? That leaves only the first and second option. If you choose the second option, you'll leave a lot of hours out of your logbook. That's not to say that you won't get hired but it stands to reason that it will likely take you longer than the next guy to get that next big job. Therefore the first option is the only which makes any sense to me. But that's my choice and it applies to me only. You'll have make up your own mind. Good luck.
 
After thinking about it further, I don't think it would come up, but if they notice that you didn't log time you legally could have, they might wonder why you didn't do something the regulations clearly allowed you to do. And if you're not doing something like that, how are you going to get the job done?

For example, you have an item on the airplane that's broken, but it's not required for the flight. You can legally inop it, but since you're going to go the super duper safe route, are you just going to cancel instead.

It's far-fetched, and I don't think this scenario would ever play out, but I think you can make a better argument for logging it for the purposes of getting a job than not logging it to get a job.
 
I sure hope the instructor is good at teaching the flying part
sigh.gif
 
Goldmember said:
Ask your instructor to explain to you who is PIC of the aircraft when you are flying solo. Somebody has to be, and it sure isn't him sitting on the ground.
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:yeahthat:

Most of the time, if a person is clearly wrong, asking them to explain themselves further will show them the error of their ways.
 
jrh said:
:yeahthat:

Most of the time, if a person is clearly wrong, asking them to explain themselves further will show them the error of their ways.
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Back in the day, what the instructor was saying was true, but was changed due to the above reasoning. When I did my PPL in the mid-'80s, I never logged PIC when I was solo, as it wasn't legal at that time. So I still have 20 or so solo hours that I could add to my PIC time, not that I really care to.
 
Thanks guys, I appreciate that I can get feedback from other pilots when weird things like this come up.
 
MikeD said:
Back in the day, what the instructor was saying was true, but was changed due to the above reasoning. When I did my PPL in the mid-'80s, I never logged PIC when I was solo, as it wasn't legal at that time. So I still have 20 or so solo hours that I could add to my PIC time, not that I really care to.
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Yeah I also noticed that even in the newest edition of the Jepp Practical Test Prep booklet that it says "after earning your Private Pilot Certificate, you may log Pilot In Command Time"
 
awf said:
Yeah I also noticed that even in the newest edition of the Jepp Practical Test Prep booklet that it says "after earning your Private Pilot Certificate, you may log Pilot In Command Time"
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Yes, it's since been changed obviously, but you'll still find reference here and there to the old regs.
 
MidlifeFlyer said:
I sure hope the instructor is good at teaching the flying part
sigh.gif
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Agreed. :eek:

Ask what his feelings are on logging PIC on your check ride with the DPE. I wonder if this is a no no in the regulations he is using.


Edit: I forgot something, I commend you on taking the time to look up the regulation before posting here. Maybe flying has hope for discipline yet!
 
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