what kind of flying counts toward total time

[Berkut]

Does it have to be a registered aircraft?

Yes.

can flying a experimental aircraft with out a tail number count?

They should have tail numbers, and yes they count.

what about ultralites?

No. Ultralights aren't considered aircraft by the FAA. They are "Ultralight vehicles." They have no airworthiness certificate.

or balloons?

Depends on the balloon.

Check out FAA Order 8900 Section 5-315(b): "Logging Time. Unless the vehicle is type-certificated (TC) as an aircraft in a category listed in § 61.5(b)(1) or as an experimental aircraft, or otherwise holds an airworthiness certificate, flight time acquired in such a vehicle may not be used to meet requirements of part 61 for a certificate or rating or to meet recency of experience requirements."

 

[Wolfy]

Check out FAA Order 8900 Section 5-315(b): "Logging Time. Unless the vehicle is type-certificated (TC) as an aircraft in a category listed in § 61.5(b)(1) or as an experimental aircraft, or otherwise holds an airworthiness certificate, flight time acquired in such a vehicle may not be used to meet requirements of part 61 for a certificate or rating or to meet recency of experience requirements."

Good find. So the short answer is "If it has an airworthiness certificate."

Here's a logging question: You're in a 150 at a towered field. You get ATIS, taxi to the end of the runway and do your run up. One of the mags isn't working. You try clearing it, but it still doesn't work. You taxi back. The whole thing takes 0.3. Can you (do you) log it?

 

[JulietBravo]

Here's a logging question: You're in a 150 at a towered field. You get ATIS, taxi to the end of the runway and do your run up. One of the mags isn't working. You try clearing it, but it still doesn't work. You taxi back. The whole thing takes 0.3. Can you (do you) log it?

We [My flight school] always have. We interpret it coming from FAR 1.1,

(1) Pilot time that commences when an aircraft moves under its own power for the purpose of flight and ends when the aircraft comes to rest after landing;

You moved the aircraft under it's own power and you had intention to fly. You may not have the airplane rest after a landing, but you still have intention to fly. That's just my thoughts though.

 

[tlewis95]

So if I spend .1 getting it to the runway, run-up, find something wrong, and .1 taking it back to the hangar, can I log that time (that I didn't pay for) because I had the intent to fly?

 

[splash]

The whole thing takes 0.3. Can you (do you) log it?

Hell, yeah! You are the pilot in command as soon as that engine cranks.

 

[splash]

So if I spend .1 getting it to the runway, run-up, find something wrong, and .1 taking it back to the hangar, can I log that time (that I didn't pay for) because I had the intent to fly?

Hell, yeeeyah! Write it in the remarks section what you found to be wrong.

 

[Ian_J]

We [My flight school] always have. We interpret it coming from FAR 1.1,

(1) Pilot time that commences when an aircraft moves under its own power for the purpose of flight and ends when the aircraft comes to rest after landing;

You moved the aircraft under it's own power and you had intention to fly. You may not have the airplane rest after a landing, but you still have intention to fly. That's just my thoughts though.

But you're intentionally ignoring 50% of the definition. And what for? 0.2 in the logbook?

I'm really not trying to make it seem like this is some huge moral outrage, but definitions aside, why personally log something as a flight when you know you never flew?

And once you're past the time-building stage and have a few thousand hours, do you think you'll bother logging those little 0.2s when they occur?

 

[granlistillo]

For an airplane single-engine rating. Except as provided in paragraph (i) of this section, a person who applies for a commercial pilot certificate with an airplane category and single-engine class rating must log at least 250 hours of flight time as a pilot that consists of at least:
(1) 100 hours in powered aircraft, of which 50 hours must be in airplanes.
(2) 100 hours of pilot-in-command flight time, which includes at least -


Does it have to be a registered aircraft? can flying a experimental aircraft with out a tail number count? what about ultralites? or balloons? what is the definition of flight?

For the OP, you can count a lot towards flight time besides airplanes- gyrocopters, lsa aircraft that used to be classified as ultralights, two seat powered parachute (the ones that have an n number), LTA, gliders etc. If it flies, has an n number and you are rated, my understanding is that you can use that for aeronautical experience.
I have a friend that is a regional pilot with over a 1000 hrs as a commercial balloon pilot.
Question would be why would you? If you show up with a wet commercial ticket with 75 hrs airplane time, do you think that an employer or insurance company would like that?

On the other hand, if you have a hankering to learn to fly powered parachute or balloons, and want that time to count, then that would be a reasonable thing to do.Not too sure it would make a good time building strategy. I have looked into learning to fly other contraptions and have found that usually on a per hour basis, they are much more expensive than airplanes.

 

[thehobbit]

I was just curious as to what qualifies as flight time and I thought it would be kind of neat to register a lawn chair with weather balloons as an experimental. I have about 200 hours right now and I'm almost done with the instrument rating. yeah other kinds of flying is really a little to high but that is because there just is not as much demand. there is a place here in central florida that you can rent hang gliders they tow you up to 3000 or 4000 feet and let you go but it costs more than renting a r44 for an hour.

 

[granlistillo]

Like Larry the lawnchair guy or the Brazilian priest? I hope you are just kidding. These dont count. Even the backpack poweredchutes and single seat ppc are actually aircratft under FAR 103 but cant be used to log aeronautical experience. My understanding is it must be a registered aircraft IE "N" registered or foreign equivalent.

As far as hang gliding goes, i am a little to old and married with kids to empathize with that desire. Kinda reminds me of a line out of "weddings crashers": "Look honey I am hang-gliding oh no I AM DEAD"


Sounds to me as if you have the commercial hours nearly sewn up. If you are looking for cheaper routes, you could do 50 hrs of your commercial in an FTD.
If money is not an issue and you have an adventurous streak, and further want things that could count for your commercial and ATP Aero experince you could try: a seaplane rating, a tailwheel endorsement, maybe a upset course in an aerobatic plane, balloon add on, LSA endorsements in PPC or gyrocopter.
Personally I would love to learn to fly a PPC.

 

[SteveC]

Like Larry the lawnchair guy...

Ni!

Peng!

Neee-wom!







(Sorry. I just can't help it, what with that avatar and all.)