Legal Briefing

Logging your flight time

As a student pilot, logging your flight training is an important step toward obtaining your pilot certificate. The entries made in your logbook will be used to demonstrate that you have satisfied the training requirements contained in the federal aviation regulations (FARs), so that you can take the practical test to demonstrate the skills and knowledge acquired from your training.

It is important that those entries fully and fairly reflect the training that you have received; they must reflect at least the minimum type and amount of training required. During the initial stages of your flight training, your flight instructor usually makes these logbook entries, and the entry describes the flight instruction that you received. As you gain proficiency and receive the appropriate ground and flight training, your instructor will put an endorsement in your logbook (and sign your student pilot certificate), allowing you to fly that airplane alone--on solo flights. After a solo flight, it will be up to you to record the flight in your logbook.

FAR 61.51, Pilot logbooks, governs the logging of solo and pilot-in-command (PIC) time. There are two relevant provisions for student pilots. FAR 61.51(d) states "a pilot may log as solo flight time only that flight time when the pilot is the sole occupant of the aircraft." FAR 61.51(e)(4) states that a student pilot may log as pilot-in-command time only the flight time when the student "is the sole occupant of the aircraft...has a current solo flight endorsement...and is undergoing training for a pilot certificate or rating."

The student pilot must fulfill certain solo flight requirements. FAR 61.87(a) defines solo time similarly to FAR 61.51; that is, "flight time during which a student pilot is the sole occupant of the aircraft." FAR 61.109 requires that a student pilot seeking a private pilot certificate with an airplane category and single-engine class rating must have at least 10 hours of solo flight time in a single-engine airplane, consisting of at least five hours of solo cross-country time; one solo cross-country flight of at least 150 nautical miles total distance, with full-stop landings at a minimum of three points, and one segment of the flight consisting of a straight-line distance of at least 50 nautical miles between the takeoff and landing locations; and three takeoffs and three landings to a full stop (with each landing involving a flight in the traffic pattern) at an airport with an operating control tower.

Similarly, FAR 61.99(b) requires that students seeking a recreational pilot certificate receive and log at least "three hours of solo flying in the aircraft for the rating sought, on the areas of operation listed in section 61.98 of this part that apply to the aircraft category and class rating sought."

And according to FAR 61.313, applicants for a sport pilot certificate with airplane category and single-engine land or sea class privileges must log at least "five hours of solo flight training in the areas of operation listed in section 61.311."

When logging your solo flight time, you should be sure to log the time as both solo flight time and PIC flight time. The "solo" characterization will be important for demonstrating that you have fulfilled the solo flight time requirements for your pilot certificate checkride, and the "PIC" characterization will be important when applying for higher certificates and ratings. For example, to be eligible for a commercial pilot certificate, you must have logged at least 250 hours of total flight time, of which at least 100 hours must have been as PIC. And, to be eligible to take an instrument rating checkride, you must have logged at least 50 hours of cross-country time as PIC.

For more information, see the aviation subject report "Logbooks and Logging Time" on AOPA Online.

You will also want to make sure that your logbook entry of your solo and PIC flight time is accurate and complete in accordance with the regulations. Your entry must contain the date, the aircraft type and identification, the total flight time, the departure and arrival points, the designation as solo and PIC time, and whether the flight occurred during the day or night.

Logging your flight time and experience is important for many reasons. Your flight instructor will review your logbook before recommending you for a pilot certificate, and the examiner will review your logbook before giving you the checkride. You will want to make sure that you have completed--and documented--that you have met the minimum solo flight time requirements.

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.