Instructor time?
 

For the single-pilot MIL bubbas making the airline transition soon, how are you logging Instructor time? As an IP with stud in the same jet? Flight lead with upgrade in another jet?

I went conservative and only used dual-controlled trainer flying with a student. Just curious since it doesn't seem to be well defined.

Both.
In addition to the obvious "dual with a student on-board", I log IP time when I have a student on my wing.
If the AFI allows it, then I log it.
I've never heard of anyone having a problem with it, and cannot think of a reason they should.

I went simplistic on this because I could not reconstruct (nor did I want to try so hard) through 7 years of instructing, so I put an explanation that ALL years spent between xxx-xxx and xxx-xxx are considered IP time. There are of course some flights there (PMCFs or Admin legs) when I might not have had a student on my wing or been in the back of a student for instance. These are FAR overshadowed by the hours of IP time that I DID NOT log when I was in a fleet squadron acting as an instructor.

Take this approach with a grain of salt from my perspective though since I did not apply or interview with any P121 airlines. The places that I did interview with never gave it a second look in my opinion (nor paid much attention to my logbook period in my opinion).

USMCFLYR

For FAA purposes I don't think there is a provision for logging instructor time if the student was in another aircraft. If you ever need to use your IP time to meet FAA instructor requirements (such as 141 leadership positions) that time would be invalid.

If you ever end up apply for a civilian instructor job where they are actually looking for instructor time, they might look at you funny when they find out that a lot of your logged time was not in the same aircraft as the student.

Many airlines actually consider instructor time as second-rate time compared to actual pilot time...for that reason alone I would probably log section-lead instructor time as just flight time. If you were on the stick, take credit for it. Maybe keep a separate column for that sort of IP time.

Not necessarily true. While I haven't visited the FAA to update my certificate yet, they have accepted A-10 instructor time as sufficient for issuing a CFI. My understanding is that the FAA will grant a certificate with a supporting Form 8 (instructor check).

Wow - I've never heard another airline pilot that I worked with ever say that. Matter of fact, they always said that the airlines LOVE military instructor pilots.

As far as looking strangely at instructor time from another aircraft, then I guess they would not be too familiar with how single seat tactical pilots are trained then. I don't remember the exact numbers of sorties, but somewhere around 50% at least were single seat (solo) for the student, and I sure hope someone was instructing them :)

USMCFLYR

Any military time is good, including IP. But they want a breakdown and they may give preference to someone who has more stick time.

They are hiring you to fly, not instruct.

Not exactly. The equivalency is based on the TRAINING you received to qualify as an IP, not on your actual instructor time.

When I got my civilian CFI, it was also based on training and a checkride, not experience. I had logged zero dual-given at that point.

I'm not saying it is necessarily correct, but there is no provision in the FAR's to allow the logging of that kind of instructor time towards certain FAA experience requirements.

When you're flying AND instructing, whether it be from the same aircraft or a different one, then they also know that you can effectively multi-task, plus as we all know - instructing teaches you a lot about flying and working with others too.

USMCFLYR

All good stuff, thanks. I'm currently teaching at an FRS and did a tour 12+ years ago as well. My plan, conservative, is to count IP time as: 1) Student pilot in my front seat 2) Student pilot on my wing. Not planning on counting any of the fleet tactical upgrade flights, NVG quals, etc. Too hard to reconstruct.