View Full Version : Use of FTD for logging pilot time
boofhead
24th Sep 2009, 20:07
Flight Training devices can be used, as can simulators, for certain purposes in the US. My question is, can such time be logged as pilot time (as well as the obvious simulator, simulated instrument, approaches etc.).
I had a student who had 50 hours on a Flight Training Device (old one, non motion, non visual) and counted those hours toward the required flight time for her commercial (as PIC). It was accepted, but should it have been?
DA-10mm
28th Sep 2009, 02:40
that's a big no-no.
it can only be counted towards "instruction/dual recieved" granted an instructor was present at each session.
did the examiner even look at his/her logbook?
boofhead
1st Oct 2009, 05:47
Yes, according to her a DPE did approve it. I have trouble even believing that Dual time can be logged. That means that an hour in the box equals an hour in an airplane? Log it as simulated, OK, but airplane time that allows for a certificate to be granted? Doesn't seem right to me. Does that mean I can add the time I spend in the 737 simulator to my grand total hours? Does everyone do this?
DA-10mm
1st Oct 2009, 05:57
I forget when, but they "modified" the definition of "simulator" and split it into sim/ftd/pcatd (a further thread on 61 vs. 141)...to discourage someone jumping into an AST-300, trimming it for cruise, and then going grocery shopping for a few hours and logging it as "flight time."
In Europe, the time logged in a full flight simulator doing type rating, lpc and opc can be credited against the 1500 hours required for an ATPL issue.
It can not be credited against any of the other requirements - P1, Multi Pilot time, Night etc.
It is logged as and referred to as Simulator Time.
Similarly, FNPT time can be credited against the appropriate part of training requirements of the CPL course and of course the IR training course can be mostly FNPT time.
However, if you tell me that you have xxx hours total, yyy hours P1 and zzz hours IFR and uuu hours night then I expect all those to be in an aircraft.
The fact that an Authority issed a rating, licence or certificate based on the combination of P1 time (in an aircraft) and time in a sim, does not change the actual amount of P1 time that the person actually has.
So if the Authority wish to issue a certificate to a pilot based on a combination of aircraft and simulator time then they can - but the logbook time should still reflect the true experience situation.