How to Log your Pilot Time for Student Pilots

This is a guide for student pilots in the United States on how to log their pilot time.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. The regulation that covers logging time is 14 CFR Part 61.51.

2. Most time logging is pretty straight forward, if you're in a single engine plane then log single engine time, multi-engine plane, likewise. If you're in a simulator it's not flight time.

3. Your logbook contains a place for you to attest to the accuracy of the entries, so obviously you want your logbook entries to be true. Beyond that, exactly what you log is to some extent up to you. Certain types of logbook time are required to show that you meet recency of experience requirements or meet the aeronautical experience requirements for a new certificate or rating. You can log other time, as long as it's accurate, even if it is not eligible to be used to meet an experience requirement. When people get into heated discussions about "logging", they're almost always talking about time to be used to meet a requirement. Don't let anybody tell you "you can't log this time" when what they really mean is "you can't use this time to meet some requirement". Some people use their logbook as a journal of their personal flying experiences, that's fine, just make sure you know what entries are being used to show you meet the requirements set out in the regulations. So your first decision needs to be, what kind of time am I going to log and how will I keep track of the time needed to meet experience requirements?

4. Some instructors like to fill out all the entries in your logbook when they provide dual instruction, some don't. Many times a student gets in the habit of letting their instructor write all the time in their logbook, but my advice is, don't. If your instructor needs to endorse, sign-off or otherwise make entries in your logbook that's fine, but YOU should enter your time etc. This is especially true once you're a Private pilot because there is still, how can I put this, confusion, on how some time should be logged. It's your logbook, you decide how it should be logged.

5. While you're a student pilot you will only log EITHER dual received OR PIC time. You can't log both on the same flight. You'll log PIC time when you are the SOLE occupant of the aircraft, and since you can't carry passengers if you're not the sole occupant at least one of the other occupants will be your instructor. When you log dual received time then your instructor will, at a minimum, need to sign your logbook. Most instructors will add information on the lesson(s) taught during the flight.

6. Your instructor should conduct pre and post flight briefings and technically that's ground instruction and could be logged as such but most people don't bother. However, if your instructor provides ground instruction that's not part of a pre or post flight my advice is to log it and have the instructor sign it.

[Surfthetide]

on 6/20/2009 Good explaination of the difference between logging time and and logging time to meet requirements. Subject of many rainy day airport arguments. 5* and an R