Logging Simulator Time

[Sonic04GT]

Do you guys log sim time under the Rotorcraft column as well?

 

I understand typically it would only be under ground trainer and dual received and of course won't count toward total flight time.

[Counterrotate]

If it's a rotorcraft simulator, put it under the rotorcraft category. Or if you want use one of the blank spaces they give you and write in simulator. Really doesn't matter as long as its logged as training time and endorsed by an authorized instructor as per 61.51(h).

[Sonic04GT]

If it's a rotorcraft simulator, put it under the rotorcraft category. Or if you want use one of the blank spaces they give you and write in simulator. Really doesn't matter as long as its logged as training time and endorsed by an authorized instructor as per 61.51(h).

Thanks. It's a rotorcraft Fly-It simulator. I have some fixed-wing simulator time as well and I've been logging that collectively with the rotorcraft simulator under the "Simulator" collumn, as well as dual received since it was all with an authorized instructor.

 

Edit: I've decided to just leave it out of the Rotorcraft column so that when I get my Commercial Airplane add-on I can easily differentiate between total time in both without sim stuff getting in the way.

[avbug]

Simulator time shouldn't be logged as anything other than simulator time. It's not aircraft time, and it's not flight time. While the simulator simulates a specific category and class (in most cases), it isn't an aircraft in that class.

 

Most employers aren't interested in your simulator time, and don't care to see it.

 

I log simulator time in a simulator column and cover the details in remarks, to ensure that the training is memorialized, but iit's not total time (because it's not flight time), and it's not suitable under any other column in the logbook, either.

[Fred0311]

Should it not be logged as both simulator and simulated instrument if that's the training you're doing in it?

[avbug]

Should it not be logged as both simulator and simulated instrument if that's the training you're doing in it?

 

 

It's not simulated instrument flight time. It's not actual instrument flight time. It's not flight time.

 

It's simulator only.

 

I have several hundred hours of time in simulators, not a single hour of which shows up anywhere in my flight times, except for the simulator column.

[Fred0311]

I had assumed you could log it as simulated instrument ,but not flight time, because if done with a cfii you can use a simulator to stay current. But we all know what happens when you assume. I'll have to look into that more.

Edited April 27, 2013 by Fred0311

[Counterrotate]

The question was what column do you put it in. It really doesn't matter, as long as the "aircraft type" is appropriately labeled as the type of simulator, and that no "flight" time is logged. Avbug is right, it's definitely not flight time and does not count as such, but it does count as hours for the purposes of obtaining an instrument rating or recurrency as long as all requirements are met. If your logbook does not have a "simulator" column, make one. If your logbook does not even have a blank space to put "simulator" specify in the remarks that it was a simulator. The important thing is that it is recorded properly as simulator time and not flight time.

[avbug]

Fred,

 

Simulators, and logging simulator time is a very misunderstood topic, even among flight instructors.

 

While a simulator can be used for currency and for certain experience requirements toward a certificate or rating, it's still not flight time, and can't be logged as such. Even on a Form 8710 when applying for a certificate or rating, simulator time plus flight time adds up to the total listed; it's not flight time, and shouldn't be counted as such. A student who has 240 hours of flight time, plus 10 hours of simulator time shouldn't cite 250 hours on his or her application. 240 hours, and show 10 hours of sim time.

 

Some operators don't care much about what's in your logbook, but others really do. Some will look your logbook over carefully, while others won't bother to look at your logbook at all. Those who do look at your logbook, however, will likely view the logging of simulator time(as anything other than simulator time) as "padding" the logbook. It can reflect negatively on you. An employer's perspective is that if he or she can trust you with an expensive aircraft and the company's reputation, then he ought to know that you can keep your log legal and properly executed. If you can't, it casts question on everything else.

 

That may sound too anal, but i just listened to an employer rail on a pilot who filled out an insurance application using the wrong times. It lasted nearly an hour, and came down to the applicant's definition of mountain time. The pilot cited too little mountain time, and should have known that all flight time in a geographical designated mountainous area qualified, for the purposes of the form. As it was, the pilot listed too little time than required by the agency; in fact he had the time, but apparently didn't understand the definition. His recording and recounting of the time was not intentional, but it threw his utility into question anyway.

 

Not all jobs are like that, and not all employers are like that, but the more clean you can keep your records, and the more correct, the better. They do, after all, represent you.

[Fred0311]

Not attempting to argue here but I have columns for helicopter, fixed wing sel, simulated instrument, ground training device etc. I did not consider logging simulated instrument to be logging it as flight time because its also going in the ground trainer column right next to it and not total time or helicopter time. I can see how it could be seen as misleading though because someone might assume all of that simulated instrument was hood time flying. I'm not going to immediately go rewrite my log book but I will look into it more and I appreciate the insight.