funfly Sitting in the cockpit hours is a lot different from 'flying' hours. I often wonder how many of the thousands of hours credited to individual pilots are ones actually flying an aircraft?
Too true.
As well as flying hours, I keep a record of how many landings* I've done, which as you imply, does at least give an idea of how much actual manual handling I've had.
Having said that, don't discount the planning work one does while sitting in the cockpit: to avoid CB's and considering escape routes from high ground or oceans etc. in the event of emergencies.
*Obviously the number of landings should be the same as the number of take-offs, but owing to the occasional bounced landing, I probably have slightly more landings than take-offs !!
