USAF Flight Time
 

All, I am looking at my records from the USAF, got out in 2010. I have 2 folders, one which is my FEF and the other has my individual data summary. What are most airlines going to want to see at an interview? Are they wanting to see all of the pages with individual flights, or just the pages that summarize all of your time in each aircraft you have flown? Maybe I am looking at something wrong but don't see a Form 5 anywhere unless it is called something else. TKS!

They'll want to see a logbook. You need to get one or at least know how to explain your paperwork.

You don't need a logbook for your mil time. Obviously you'll need one for any civilian time you're putting on apps (ATP training/checkride).

3 airline interviews - hired at each one. I showed up with my flight records (the print-outs with each flight since you started in the military) along with the summary sheet (that you sign each time you do your audit). I put a cover page in that explained whatever mil conversion factor I used, adjustments for that airline's PIC rules and how I came up with my PIC total and whatever other flight time category they ask for.

There's nothing wrong with putting your mil time in a logbook but it's not a very good use of time. Airlines define PIC differently and allow different conversions for mil time. So, unless you create a logbook specific to each airline you apply to, you're going to have to tweak the times and justify them to each airline anyway.

Adlerdriver is right, there is no need to create a logbook if you never kept one before.

The Form 5 is the in your flight records as the sheet of data that summarizes each airframe you flew by crew position. At the top, it's titled "Flying History Report (PA)" then the next line says "Inquiry"

I did not take my printout of every sortie to my interviews (also 3 & hired at all 3), only the Form 5 & my spreadsheet of how I calculated PIC time IAW their mil conversion guidelines. There's several older but still valid threads on how to do that for any given airline.

For those still in or still early in their career, I highly recommend keeping a personal Excel or other electronic logbook of your mil time. Both as a backup to catch errors by the HARMS guys and to make the calculations and conversions easier down the road.

Thanks all, I keep a logbook as I did a lot of civilian flying before the AF. Since I use an electronic logbook I will create one log with just my military time, with the front page containing my Form 5 info, and another book that is just my civilian time. Should make it easy to understand for any airline that way.

Each airline you apply to does just about everything online these days, and once you enter the data requested (i.e. number of sorties) will apply the conversion for flight time.

Quick question, should my time as an IP be logged as primary and IP time, or only IP time? The way I read the 11-401 IP time should be logged as IP time. CT I always logged as Primary and IP time as IP time.

Primary/Secondary/Other/IP/EP hours are all separate (your total time in flight records will equal the sum), but depending on the aircraft/situation, IP/EP hours are probably PIC time in the eyes of the FAA...if that's where your question was leading.

For military pilots converting to corporate or airline flying there are differences in how each airline wants the military time converted which can be a pain. You also don't want the logbook to become a major topic of discussion in an interview especially if your times aren't adding up. While it may be an added step it would be worthwhile in the end for military pilots to keep a regular logbook in tenths of hours and logging the essentials like PIC, SIC, Cross Country, Instrument, Landings, Night etc. There are several logbook options. You can go with the larger logbooks or a smaller crew logbook. I use the pocket flight crew logbook from Pocket Log Books | Flight Crew Logbook for Pilots Its worked out well and I've get everything set up for me to log my flights. Rather than having to convert time before an interview you've already got it done and allows you to focus on the interview. Ya its just a little extra paper work but it literally only takes about 30 seconds to fill in after each flight and then its done. So this option is great for military pilots. Hope this helps!

I put all mine in an excel spreadsheet that I actually found on this website. It was an eye opener to me in that I found several errors in my military logbook (the Navy still uses the pencil and calculator method) and just how long it took me to put 1100 sorties into excel and have it match up with my paper logs.
It is easy now, though. I nerded out the logbook and have it do mil time, FAA time, total time by aircraft, all my instructor time, PIC, single, multi, you name it. It is a huge help in filling out applications. I also had it do separate sortie multipliers (.2 and .3) to see how the airline mil conversion would affect my total time.