Originally Posted by
rickair7777
There's no FAR reference, the FAA doesn't care what you log or don't log as long as you meet all of their requirements when you apply for a certificate or rating.
Actually they do. There's that little reg - 61.59 - that deals with false entries in logbooks and other FAA documents. And it has been used to revoke pilot certificates even when the entries were above and beyond those needed to meet requirements.
Agentessa, on that sim issue, if you look at FAR 1.1, you'll see that "flight time" is something that takes place in an "aircraft" and and "aircraft" is "a device that is used or intended to be used for flight in the air." Even the best sims are firmly anchored to the ground.
The regs dealing with the requirements for various pilot certificates and ratings allow certain types of sim time to be used
in place of flight time. But it still isn't "flight time." So any logbook column that is recording some kind of "flight" time should only have "flight" time in it, and not sim time.
"Total time" is a funny concept. It's not really defined anywhere in the FAR. There's total "flight time" - which only takes place in an aircraft; then there's total "pilot time" (definition in 61.1) which includes instruction in certain devices - that may be where your flight school is including it. What you put in the totals column of your logbook is pretty much up to you, although many logbook columns are already labeled for total "flight" time and most pilots probably use their total column for flight time only.
Bottom line with all your questions is that, as others have pointed out, "acting as PIC" refers to who has authority and responsibility for a flight. It is the subject of a bunch of different regulations about having medical certificates, endorsements for certain types of aircraft, currency for carrying passengers, etc.
OTOH, "logging PIC time" although it sounds the same, is not the same thing at all. If you look at 61.51, the reg that deals with logging time, you'll see that it sets up a bunch of "boxes." For example, one box is
• Logging PIC - sole manipulator of the controls of an aircraft the pilot is rated for
another is
• Logging PIC - acting as PIC in an aircraft or operation that requires more than one pilot
Each of those boxes stands on its own. If what you are and what you are doing fits in any "logging PIC" box, you log PIC. If you don't you don't.
Two last things to watch out for:
1. The FAA's separation of "acting as pilot in command" and "logging pilot in command time" takes a bit getting used to and, if you raise the question in some places, you can expect to get some very negative reaction from time to time from very mile, "I know it but I don't like it" through those who simply don't understand or haven't been exposed to it, all the way up to a rejection of its existence as vehement as any religious or political argument, despite more than 25 years of consistent FAA official interpretations on the subject.
2. If you're looking at a career, be aware that a company that wants to hire you may have different standards of what it wants to count as qualified experience and may define "PIC" for it's hiring practices differently than the FAA does. Makes sense and not a big deal, so long as you understand it.