Legal Briefing

Who Logs What In A Training Situation?

After receiving your private pilot certificate, chances are that you'll continue training for higher certificates and additional ratings. While working toward those certificates and ratings, there is also a good chance that you'll obtain endorsements to pilot particular types of aircraft, such as tailwheel, high-performance, and complex. These endorsements are entered in your logbook by a certificated flight instructor, and they authorize you to act as pilot in command of those aircraft much like your certificates and ratings authorize you to exercise other PIC privileges.

So, for example, while working toward the instrument rating or commercial pilot certificate, you may have the opportunity to learn to fly a complex or high-performance aircraft. (A complex aircraft is defined by the federal aviation regulations as an aircraft with retractable landing gear, flaps, and a controllable-pitch propeller. The FARs define a high-performance aircraft as an aircraft with an engine of more than 200 horsepower.) FAR 61.31(e) and (f) require the student to have received and logged ground and flight training from an authorized instructor in a complex or high-performance aircraft, or suitable and similar simulator or flight training device, and to have been found proficient. The CFI will then place a one-time endorsement in the student's logbook. With a few hours of training and an CFI's endorsement, you've moved into flying in an aircraft in which you now have to remember to put down the gear!

The question that often comes up in the context of this training is whether the student, as well as the CFI, may log PIC time in an aircraft for which the student has not yet received an appropriate endorsement. This is an important question because many pilots are seeking that coveted PIC time to gain better insurance rates, qualify for higher certificates, or be eligible to apply for a commercial piloting job. There is also the pride and proficiency benefit that is gained from building up pilot time.

Here is the scenario. A person holds a private pilot certificate with a single-engine land rating only. That person is receiving training from a CFI in a single-engine land aircraft that is also a complex or high-performance aircraft.

Here is the question. What flight time can the student log in his or her logbook?

FAR 61.51(e) governs the logging of PIC time. As it pertains to this discussion, this regulation provides that a recreational, private, or commercial pilot may log pilot-in-command time only for that flight time during which that person is the sole manipulator of the controls of an aircraft for which the pilot is rated.

Therefore, we must first look at the qualifications of the pilot. In addition to identifying that the individual holds the appropriate pilot and medical certificates to carry passengers (in this case, the passenger is the flight instructor) and that the individual is current (logged the requisite takeoffs and landings within the preceding 90 days), we must also assess whether the individual is appropriately rated. That is, the pilot must be authorized to operate the category, class, and type - if a type rating is required - of the aircraft, as those are listed in FAR 61.5. In the context of this regulation, rated does not include determining whether the individual has the kind of endorsement that we are talking about here.

So, looking at our scenario, the answer is that the pilot may log PIC time. That is, a private pilot may log PIC time in a complex or high-performance aircraft for those portions of the flight when he or she is the sole manipulator of the controls, even though that pilot does not yet have the endorsement to act as pilot in command, because the aircraft being operated is single-engine land and the private pilot holds a single-engine land rating. However, an important distinction is raised by the answer to this scenario - while this private pilot may log PIC time, that private pilot is not authorized to act as pilot in command. FAR 61.31 requires that a pilot have an endorsement from an authorized instructor before he or she may act as PIC of aircraft requiring such an endorsement, such as a high-performance or complex aircraft.

What about the CFI? Under FAR 61.51(e)(3), a CFI may log PIC time for the entire flight when he is giving instruction, even though the pilot receiving the instruction is manipulating the controls. The CFI has the obligation to endorse the logbook of the person who received instruction.

It seems odd that two people can log PIC time for the same flight, but only one person can act as PIC of any given portion of that flight. Still, that's what the regulations allow. If building time is important to you, then understanding the application and distinction of these regulations is also important.

Kathy Yodice is an attorney with Yodice Associates in Washington, D.C., which provides legal counsel to AOPA and administers AOPA's Legal Services Plan. She is an instrument-rated private pilot.