Originally Posted by
shaffee
I have been doing some time building myself over the past couple of weeks. I have been confused about the whole thing. If I was the safety pilot for a 2.1 flight and the other pilot was under the hood for 1.9, I would record Dual time as 2.1, PIC as 1.9, and Total Time as 2.1 ... I guess this is wrong. But according to this CFI, that is how you do it. I have also been recording the safety pilot time as X-Country time, which I also assume is wrong.
What is the best way to make all these changes to my logbook, if these entries are wrong? Should I start a new log book?
Thanks
Technically and legally you can log ANYTHING you want, as long as you don't try to apply it to FAA requirements for ratings or currency. But the reality is that you want to stick to the conventions to avoid confusing potential employers at an interview....
Total time canot be logged when you are a passenger. You must be a required crewmember.
The safety pilot is a required crewmember when the hood is on, but he is not required when the hood is off, and is therefore a passenger. Don't log total time when the hood is off.
Many of these kinds of grey-area rumors get stated by unscrupulous flight academies which want to sell as much "flight time" as possible to their victims/students. As far as they are concerned, if an engine is running and you're close enough to hear it, you should be logging it.
EDIT: I noticed you said you were logging dual...if you have a CFII, you can log dual, total, and PIC for the entire flight, assuming that legit instruction is occuring. If you are acting as a CFII, you are not a safety pilot.
The FAA only allows dual for legit instruction...which does not include time building. I wouldn't log vast amounts of time-building as dual. Legit instruction seems to includes:
- For a rating, cert., or endorsement.
- IPC/BFR/Currency.
- Aircaft/Club checkout.
- Route/Area Fam.
- Insurance requirement.
If you are giving large amounts of dual to a guy who doesn't seem to need it, you are pushing things. ESPECIALLY if the other guy is giving YOU dual on every other leg. If he's qualified to give you dual, then he probably doesn't need dual from you, right? Exception: Two guys who go up to get IFR current on a VMC day could take turns acting as CFII...but that doesn't take 100 hours.