Forum: aviation.stackexchange.com
Tags: <logging>
Title: Should I log flight time as a passenger?
Question: If I only have a private pilot license, and am not the pilot in command, should I log my flight time?  If so, what are the limits of this? i.e. is that as true in the backseat as it is in the front seat? Must I have that type rating?

Answers:
sents: text: No, you should not*.
text: In my opinion, you should limit your logbook to records of your own flight experience.
text: This would include any time spent training, as PIC, or as required crew.
text: The time you can log as PIC is that which you spend as the sole manipulator of the controls , the sole occupant , or as the pilot in command when the required crew is >1 .
text: Here's an article from an FAA FSDO describing the logging of PIC time in more detail .
text: Rod Machado has some good coverage of this as well.
text: If you're just hanging out in the airplane, it doesn't matter if you're in the front seat or the back seat.
text: If you're receiving instruction, you should get an entry and a logbook endorsement from the instructor you're flying with.
text: Most General Aviation aircraft don't require a type rating, so I'm unsure what the context of your final question is.
text: *
text: It's worth noting that you can technically put whatever you want in your logbook, though it's not a great idea; when it comes time to fill out an FAA 8710 form for later ratings, it can get confusing.
text: In my opinion, you still shouldn't log any time , but if you're just wanting to record flights that you took with friends, that's fine.
text: As an instructor who's had to slog through some weird logbooks, I'd really, really encourage you to track that elsewhere, though.
text: Your logbook is exactly that - it's your logbook, for the logging of your flight time, and a record of your flight experience and training.
answer_details: author: aviation.stackexchange.com/users/39/egid
score: 33
sents: text: Yes, log it.
text: Your logbook is your record of your flight experience.
text: Use a line in your logbook to remember a flight with a friend or a warbird flight you took at an air show.
text: If I'm a passenger in the right seat of a small aircraft and I'm paying attention I am probably learning something.
text: If I'm currently working towards my instrument rating and I'm sitting in the backseat of a friend's instrument rating lesson
text: then I'm almost certainly learning things that I wouldn't get while actually flying the plane.
text: Record those experiences for yourself.
text: However, the numbers columns for that entry are going to be empty.
text: No landings, no flight time, none of that.
text: You wouldn't want to accidentally use those flights for currency or ratings.
text: AOPA has a good article interpreting the FARs rules on logging time .
text: But you can use an empty column for passenger numbers or just use your comments section.
answer_details: author: aviation.stackexchange.com/users/120/guidoism
score: 10
sents: text: Adding to what egid said, you can only log flight time as a crew member if you're filling a role as a required crew member.
text: There was an enforcement action many years ago against a pilot who was flying right seat in a small cargo plane because his employer's rules required two people in the cockpit.
text: He figured that since his employer required him to be there, it made him a required crew member
text: and so he logged the time.
text: However, the FAA regs did not require him to be there, so in their view, he was not a required crew member
text: and they took action against him for falsifying his logs.
answer_details: author: aviation.stackexchange.com/users/87/Edward Falk
score: 4
sents: text: To answer the original question no, you cannot log flight time as a passenger in an aircraft.
text: AOPA's website has a pretty good answer.
text: https://www.aopa.org/training-and-safety/learn-to-fly/logging-cross-country-time/logbooks-and-logging-time
text: The PIC is, by Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs), responsible for the safe operation of the flight (FAR 1.1, 91.3).
text: At any given time, there can only be one acting PIC on a flight, no matter how many pilots are on board the aircraft.
text: To legally act as PIC, a private, commercial, and airline transport pilot must have a current medical certificate and have all required endorsements, ratings, and recency of experience for the type of aircraft being flown and the flight conditions under which the flight is conducted (FAR 61.3, 61.31, 61.56, 61.57).
text: Sport pilots can act as PIC with a valid and current driver's license in lieu of the FAA medical (FAR 61.23).
text: Before a flight is initiated, an agreement should be made to determine who is to be acting as PIC.
text: So you'll have to hold a current medical certificate for the type of flight operation being undertaken, the appropriate pilot certificate for type of flight operation being undertaken, and have sole manipulation of the flight controls of an aircraft you are properly endoresd or type-rated for.
answer_details: author: aviation.stackexchange.com/users/15637/Carlo Felicione
score: 3
sents: text: Yes, join a frequent flyer program and log " passenger miles ".
text: This will make you a better passenger with additional benefits.
text: Of course, these logs document the passenger loyalty, not some needed experience.
answer_details: author: aviation.stackexchange.com/users/917/h22
score: 2
sents: text: Should you log flight time as a passenger?
text: Pro:
text: Logbooks represent many things, including a record of time and training to be used toward future certificates and ratings, as well as currency to comply with various regulations.
text: What you write in your log book is up to you as long as you record the flight information for those flights needed to substantiate your time Contra:
text: It is important that airmen are aware of regulations related to logbook records to avoid undue fines , or even suspension of their certificate/s!
text: you cannot log flight time as a passenger in an aircraft.
answer_details: author: aviation.stackexchange.com/users/19583/Squareoot
score: 1
sents: text: I know this is an old question
text: but anyway:
text: In previous answers it has clearly been stated,
text: that one can not log flight time as a passeger.
text: What puzzles me is why would one do that anyway?
text: Passenger does not fly the plane, but merely observes what is going on.
text: Two very different things.
text: Yes some things can be learned just by looking at how other people do them, but flying is fundamentaly a multitasking excercise (although multitasking does actually not exist at all), and by simply looking at someone operating a plane, you get a dangerously simplified picture of what it's all about.
text: Even if you already had a license.
text: So there is actual danger in logging passenger time (or even just flights):
text: You will build yourself a false sense of competence.
text: The only hours and minutes that matter are the ones that you fly the plane.
answer_details: author: aviation.stackexchange.com/users/42636/Jpe61
score: 0

Summary of the answers:
You cannot log flight time as a passenger. You can only log it as a crew member.
Opinion is pretty split on this topic, some say you should not, however others support it saying that you can log it if you are filling a role as a required crew member.