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5 Answers

Commercial “Supervised” night solo

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Commercial Pilot

Of the 5 hours night solo required, I need 3. I have done all the landings. I am planning a flight with a CFI to meet the last 3 hours night. I will be flying more than 50 nm, not that it really matters, as I have also done all the cross country day and night. It just happens to be a long flight.

My question is: Should the CFI sign my logbook for the flight? I think if he does, it will be a dual given flight and not constitute a solo flight under the solo requirement. I will be performing all PIC duties and he is basically just supervising, for lack of a better term. I know that there it is no such thing as a "supervised solo". Just using the common phraseology. 

 

Thx

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5 Answers



  1. KDS on Jul 26, 2017

    Solo is solo. If there is anyone else in the airplane with you, regardless of their status, you aren’t solo.

    That answer is based on the assumption that you are talking about an ASEL aircraft. There is a regulatory exception related to AME.

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  2. Kris Kortokrax on Jul 26, 2017

    KDS, your first statement is correct. Solo means by oneself. There is no regulatory exception. There is an allowance to substitute time spent “performing the duties of a PIC with an authorized instructor on board”. This allowance is as available for ASE as well as for AME and every other category/class except glider.

    Andre, the Kuhn interpretation addresses the dual time issue. Your instructor may sign that he was on board while you performed the duties of PIC. The time may not be logged as dual.

    On an interesting side note, the Grannis interpretation of April 21, 2016, states that all 10 hours must be solo or all 10 hours must be “performing the duties of a PIC with an authorized instructor on board”. The 10 hours may not be a combination of the two.

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  3. Mark Kolber on Jul 27, 2017

    Just tagging on to Kris’s post with an FYI, the “all 10 hours” Interpretation means, if the solo cross country was done without a CFI on board, you can’t have a CFI on board for the night solo either.

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  4. KDS on Aug 05, 2017

    Kris, help me out please. I read this part of what you wrote:

    “There is an allowance to substitute time spent “performing the duties of a PIC with an authorized instructor on board”. This allowance is as available for ASE as well as for AME and every other category/class except glider.\”

    Other than 61.129(b)(4), which is what I alluded to in my answer, I don\’t see such an authorized allowance.

    I\’ve read enough of your work to know that you know what you\’re talking about, so I must be missing something, but I can\’t find it.

    Sorry I was so late in asking this following what you wrote. I don\’t come here very often and only stumbled across your comment by chance.

    Thanks, ……… KDS

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  5. Kris Kortokrax on Sep 17, 2017

    KDS,

    Look at the footnote at the bottom of the first page of the Kuhn interpretation. It explicitly makes the statement concerning other category/class allowances.

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