How to prove your PIC time to the CAA?

[PJATE1]

Hi all,

I want to avoid building 80 hours all over again I hope you guys can help me with this "pro-active" question:)

It being hours builded at a flightschool or a it being in a plane of a private owner: How do I ensure that the UK CAA accept my hours? As you can hear I'm not quite familiar with the whole process of getting the hours validated at accredited towards the CPL. The only issue for me is the 100PIC (P1) hours since I have the TT dealt with...

Btw. I've heard building under the hood is the way to go since you might as well build IR hours. Can anyone confirm this? Maybe other advise that can save us builders from some "arghs!!"?? Everything much appreciated, thank you very much,

PJATE

[Shunter]

There only process the CAA use is reading your logbook. My hour building (although I never regarded it as hour building as I had no intention of getting a CPL at that point) involved long weekends farm-stripping with the Mrs in the westcountry, flying whilst on holiday in South Africa, NZ, USA etc...

I see no benefit to flying around under the hood, especially if you don't already have an instrument qualification. You can build IFR hours perfectly legally whilst looking outside, but flying by sole reference to instruments before you've been trained to do so is not a particularly clever idea; you'd also need a safety pilot to keep an eye out for other traffic.

[IrishJetdriver]

If you flew it legally then you can log it. If you were not PIC then don't log it as such.

Prior to CPL issue I flew privately owned aircraft from grass strips, UK based club aircraft, I rented aircraft in the US and I did a bit of touring in Europe.

No questions from the CAA other than the usual mandatory cross country requirements etc. If they want to find out anything about what you have logged it's very easy for them to do so. Don't ever make anything up. (not that you suggested that)

Do something with the hours if you can. Be accurate at all times in your flying.

[ab33t]

Just keep the totals running in your log book and have the log book stamped at flight schools etc if you can , no big issue just gives you a bit of comfort . IFR - if you are close to starting the CPL then that time will be valuable , as mentioned you will need a qualified pilot to act as a safety pilot

[DB6]

I think it's only an issue if you have e.g. 100.1 hours when you need 100, just ensure you have a good bit more than the required totals and any uncertainties will be less important, and less likely to get your application returned for want of 0.5 hours more flying.

[BigGrecian]

Btw. I've heard building under the hood is the way to go since you might as well build IR hours. Can anyone confirm this? Maybe other advise that can save us builders from some "arghs!!"?? Everything much appreciated, thank you very much,


If you want to have overages on your CPL yes - this is a good idea ;)
Remember the CPL is VFR flying and most people really struggle because they "waste" their hour building just flying from point to point, which costs them extra in the CPL!
Make sure you can competently complete every maneouvre such as all 4 landings (normal, glide, short field, flapless) -0/+5 kts, complete a PFL perfectly, emergencies, stalling, steep turns, practise tracking and intercepting.

Also you can't log under the hood time unless you hold an IR/IMC or you with an instructor - which you then can't log as PIC anyhow.

I know of two people who had their hours "researched"
1) Someone who did hour building in twin in the USA - they wanted to make sure none of it was safety pilot time - which it was - so they didn't accept some of it.
2) For some reason they asked the school where they did the hour building to verify their hours - not sure why.

If your flying at a school - get them to verify your logbook with their school stamp.