View Full Version : Log Book Checks?
Vee-What?
22nd Oct 2002, 10:51
My son - armed with brand new frozen ATPL - recently attended interview for UK F/O position. During interview a number of his log-book pages were photocopied so that the entries could be "checked for authenticity and accuracy". Anyone come across this before? (No he did not train in the US!) Cheers.
jumpseater
22nd Oct 2002, 12:43
So whats the problem?, there have been instances in the past when pilots have falsified log book entries, for personal gain. Its a good cross check, would you want your son flying with a captain who had not got the experience his log book said he has? Whats the US got to do with it?, there are crooks the world over!
As the regulatory authority requires professional pilots to keep a permanent log of their flights, why would it be unreasonable for an employer to ask/check the required entries?
boeingbus2002
24th Oct 2002, 22:09
Do any of you guys make your own extra copy of yr log book in case the unthinkable happens and you lose your logbook or it gets damaged?
Flat-Spot
25th Oct 2002, 07:33
boeingbus 2002, You bet, I have a copy of all of my log books. Plus I keep my log books (with other important docs. ie uni degree etc) in a fire proof box.
People will probably say this is a little over the top but its better to be safe than sorry...by the way, the photocopies have to be notarised to be legal. (I've known two guys who have 'lost' their log books and the process of getting the hours 'back' is a nightmare...especially when the flight school you did your PPL at closed down years ago!)
Vee what, Submitting your log books to a prospective employer is common, I've had to do it and I'm fully expecting to have to do it again...there are plenty of people out there who have falsified entries in their log books..some have been caught out and some have yet to be caught! (and some may well get away with it!?!) Hence I fully agree in the whole log book checking arguement.
Genghis the Engineer
26th Oct 2002, 15:33
It's such a straightforward thing to check (bar the obvious risk of parker pen pilots) any prospective employer (or even the chairman of a private aircraft syndicate) would be daft not to check.
If I'm recruiting an Engineer I go through similar exercises of checking somebody's professional experience, but that's more difficult, although the Royal Aeronautical Society or IMechE at-least permits a crude check whether they've really reached the standard of experience and training needed of the level of membership they're claiming (been caught out on this once mind you, but a thorough technical interview flushed sorted the miscreant out, which in itself is harder to do with a pilot since the level of technical knowledge doesn't improve with hours, so much as their ability to use it wisely).
Frankly, anybody objecting to such checks has probably got something to hide.
G
N.B. My logbook is photopied every time I fill a page and the copies kept in another building. Degree certificates hung on the wall, but they're reasonably easy to replace and I haven't been asked for sight of them since becoming a CEng anyway.
big pistons forever
27th Oct 2002, 19:04
Vee what
What did you mean by " he did not train in the US ". Is that an issue in the UK?
Flap 5
29th Oct 2002, 15:06
Many years ago I converted from helicopters to fixed wing. I had to get a few more hours to satisfy the CAA and went to Florida to do it. At $26 an hour that was well worth doing. They stamped and signed my log book. However on my return no one from the CAA or the 'approved' school where I took my GFT's checked my log book.
I was especially disappointed because I completed several genuine night flying hours where I frightened myself fartless. Doing circuits the flaps failed to retract and I only realised after getting airborne after a 'bump'. I staggered around the circuit on full power, landed, taxied in and vented the cockpit!
After a night cross country the airfield was completely dark. I remembered someone telling me about pressing the Tx button. 5 presses, beautiful runway lights appeared and I vowed never to fly at night in the US again - at least not in a C150!
Maybe the concern is that sometimes checks are not made on log books. Therefore some people feel they can get away with padding out their log book. My experience shows that it is possible.
Yes...and IF they are caught, dismissal is often the result.
Also, IF someone pads the log book, and then uses that "additional" time for another rating, and is found out by the FAA, ALL license(s) revocation is the likely result.
BAD news indeed. Any parker51 guys out there, BEWARE.
kwaiyai
29th Oct 2002, 17:51
Hi veewhat,
several companies have asked me for photocopies of x numbers of logbook entries presumably for records and authentication.