FRQ Charlie Bravo
27th Dec 2008, 04:04
Howdy all,
Despite full awareness of the Instrument section in the back of my logbook titled Flight Simulator, Synthetic Trainer and In-Flight Instrument Experience I have been keeping track of my IALs in the normal section with a simple entry in the Specialist/Instructor columns. I find that even on a flight involving more than one type of IAL I can still record all the info.
Allow me to justify this on a column by column basis:
From the Instrument section:
Year, Month and Day - accounted for in the normal section
Aircraft, Simulator or Trainer - accounted for in the normal section
Instructor or Test Officer - accounted for in the normal section under PIC or Other Pilot or Crew
Duty or Practice - This seems to me a silly column. At the very least it is accounted for in the Details column of the normal section
Time: Visual Sim/Trn, Inst Sim/Trn and Inst In-flight - This is accounted for in the normal section based on the aircraft type (even sim and synth trainer flights have to be logged in the normal section in order to keep track of Insturment Time in the last column).
Instrument Departures and Arrival Routes - There's no recency for departures so why worry about it. If you must record it simply make a note in the Details column in the normal section where you will already be recording most of the info i.e. YPJT (SID JT One) -YPPH (STAR GRENE One)
Instrument Approaches- This is the big one... so why not have it right there where you can see it and compare it with the whole of your flying experience? I simply title a Specialist/Instructor column IAL and record the number of approaches and the type i.e. 1 NDB. Admitedly it may be a bit squashed logging an ILS, DME and NDB but that's a rare scenario and it can still be done quite neatly. Even for a training flight or a renewal there's little likelihood of doing more than three types of approach. If you have the flight from hell and must log 7 types of approach (ILS, LLZ, Twin LOC, RNAV, VOR, NDB and DGA) then just use an extra row and accept the fact that you'll have one odd entry in your book (and then you can draw attention to it and brag to your mates about the flight of the century).So there you have it. No need to use another section and to duplicate your entries for every IFR or IMC flight. Just add one column for IALs and if you feel so pressed then include SIDs and STARs in the narrative in the Details column.
I don't claim to be an experienced IFR pilot, far from it. I have thought this through carefully but if anybody can prove me wrong then please do. Thanks in advance for your comments, suggestions and constructive criticism.
FRQ CB
Despite full awareness of the Instrument section in the back of my logbook titled Flight Simulator, Synthetic Trainer and In-Flight Instrument Experience I have been keeping track of my IALs in the normal section with a simple entry in the Specialist/Instructor columns. I find that even on a flight involving more than one type of IAL I can still record all the info.
Allow me to justify this on a column by column basis:
From the Instrument section:
Year, Month and Day - accounted for in the normal section
Aircraft, Simulator or Trainer - accounted for in the normal section
Instructor or Test Officer - accounted for in the normal section under PIC or Other Pilot or Crew
Duty or Practice - This seems to me a silly column. At the very least it is accounted for in the Details column of the normal section
Time: Visual Sim/Trn, Inst Sim/Trn and Inst In-flight - This is accounted for in the normal section based on the aircraft type (even sim and synth trainer flights have to be logged in the normal section in order to keep track of Insturment Time in the last column).
Instrument Departures and Arrival Routes - There's no recency for departures so why worry about it. If you must record it simply make a note in the Details column in the normal section where you will already be recording most of the info i.e. YPJT (SID JT One) -YPPH (STAR GRENE One)
Instrument Approaches- This is the big one... so why not have it right there where you can see it and compare it with the whole of your flying experience? I simply title a Specialist/Instructor column IAL and record the number of approaches and the type i.e. 1 NDB. Admitedly it may be a bit squashed logging an ILS, DME and NDB but that's a rare scenario and it can still be done quite neatly. Even for a training flight or a renewal there's little likelihood of doing more than three types of approach. If you have the flight from hell and must log 7 types of approach (ILS, LLZ, Twin LOC, RNAV, VOR, NDB and DGA) then just use an extra row and accept the fact that you'll have one odd entry in your book (and then you can draw attention to it and brag to your mates about the flight of the century).So there you have it. No need to use another section and to duplicate your entries for every IFR or IMC flight. Just add one column for IALs and if you feel so pressed then include SIDs and STARs in the narrative in the Details column.
I don't claim to be an experienced IFR pilot, far from it. I have thought this through carefully but if anybody can prove me wrong then please do. Thanks in advance for your comments, suggestions and constructive criticism.
FRQ CB