So obviously, primary and secondary time is the "hands-on" experience that can be logged as flight time. But, when I'm sitting in the RACM/LACM seat, and I accumulate the "other" time, what can that be used for? Are we allowed to log that towards total time? Also, are we allowed to log Simulator time as total time?

Thanks

 

don't mess with other time or sim time. not worth even trying to explain it (in the interview).

 

Check out an article at:
http://www.jet-jobs.com/articles/loggingpic.html

Basically, if you signed for the jet, it's PIC. If you flew but didn't sign for it, it's SIC. If you fetched the box lunches from the RACM, it doesn't count. Add up your Primary & Secondary (not Other) under the MC column on the Form-5 to get SIC.

Count all the Primary, Secondary, Other, and Instructor time under the MP/IP column since that's all the hours since your Cert that you signed for the jet. Some guys will subtract 10% of that (and add that amount back in to SIC) to account for locals flown under the supervision of an IP, buddy rides, trips with a senior AC, etc.

Whatever you do, be able to explain how you got the numbers, and be ready to input the numbers the way the app specifies.

 

Try to get coded as an IP as much as possible when you're the 'A' Code. (if you're not an IP, get upgraded as soon as you can). I logged plenty of IP time when not in the P/CP seats. If you are not an IP or AC, fly with IPs and ensure they log IP time so that you can log Pri/Sec for the entire trip.

The website has a pretty good flight time conversion calculator. When in doubt, estimate low. Just realize that the more flight time you are logging, then that means you are gone from home that much more.

Good luck.

 

Make it easy on yourself! If you don't need the time to make the mins, then don't count time you were not at the flight controls. If you signed for the plane, that is PIC, period. We saw a guy come apart at the interview because he was trying to explain his hours to the panel and they didn't agree, guess who won? The sortie conversion is another animal that if you don't need it for the mins, don't use it. Once you have the mins, a guy with 8,000 hours or 1,500 hours is the same, especially when coming from the military. The airlines understand, they don't understand guys coming up with all sorts of crazy logic to give themselves 100-200 more flight hours. Keep it simple.

 

In the military logbook there are columns for Total Pilot Time, First Pilot Time and Second Pilot Time. Civlian logbooks have PIC and SIC. When inserting my military time into a civilian logbook do I log "Total Pilot Time" into the SIC column, and when I've signed for the plane I log the A/C time into PIC?

There were flights in the P-3C when I was the a/c but not sitting in either seat. Does this come into play when logging PIC or SIC time? Sorry for the confusion.

 

I logged other time as total time and I also logged it as PIC (minus 10%) after upgrading to AC. The only time I didn't count other time was at SWA, where they specifically stated not to count other time. I had a spreadsheet attached to my AF flight time explaining my conversion. I never got asked about it at both my interviews, and I was hired at both companies, so I must have done something right.

As for the sim time, don't count that in anything.

The key to time conversion is, be able to explain it and if you're in doubt, be conservative.

 

I don't know if you figured it out, but here goes

If you were the A/C and flew a 10.0 with three pilots in your Navy logbook you would split that into thirds:

FPT SPT SCT A/C
3.3 3.3 3.3 9.9

For the airlines you would log the whole 9.9 hours as:

PIC SIC
9.9 0

I did this for my SWA interview and they said this was the proper way to do it. SWA also gives you a .3 conversion factor for each logbook entry you have.

 

If you signed for the aircraft, other time is PIC time. Whether you are in the seat or not, you are the person responsible for the aircraft. If you need this time just to meet the mins for an airline, remember this....meeting the mins and being competitive are two different beasts. Dont try to BS the interviewers. They do this for a living.

I had about 30 hours of PIC other time in my logbook. In my situation, for training purposes three or maybe four pilots were scheduled on the flight. Eventhough I only logged about 1.0 of primary seat time, the entire flight was PIC time. At no time was I relieved of command, therefore I logged 1.0 primary and the remainder was other.

Be able to quickly explain your entries. I suggest using an electronic logbook. Electronic logbooks are always neat. No white-out. No sloppy entries. The math in the columns always add up.

My interviewers liked the simplicity and neatness of the computer printouts of my mil and civilian logbooks.