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5 Answers

Logging PIC prior to obtaining a rating

Asked by: 1649 views , , ,
Commercial Pilot, FAA Regulations, Flight Instructor, Private Pilot, Student Pilot

Can you log PIC while operating as the sole manipulator of the flight controls during a flight lesson after you have received an endorsement to solo and be PIC prior to obtaining your certificate/rating?

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5 Answers



  1. KDS on Jun 16, 2021

    You may log PIC and SOLO when flying solo. You may not lot PIC while flying dual.

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  2. KDS on Jun 16, 2021

    You can also log PIC time, but not SOLO time, during your practical test (check ride) regardless of the outcome of the event.

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  3. Mark Kolber on Jun 17, 2021

    “You can also log PIC time, but not SOLO time, during your practical test (check ride) regardless of the outcome of the event.”

    Well, let’s just say, “you DO log PIC time” during your practical test. It’s an accepted convention, but not based on any rule (although I seem to recall reading some interesting gymnastics to try to fit it into 61.51)

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  4. EAD on Jun 19, 2021

    Mark, have you seen the Murphy interpretation? Or is that the reading you were referring to?

    https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/agc/practice_areas/regulations/interpretations/data/interps/2009/murphy%20-%20(2009)%20legal%20interpretation.pdf

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  5. Mark Kolber on Jun 19, 2021

    EAD, yeah it’s one of the “gymnastics.” My personal reading predates the Murphy letter by maybe 10 years.

    I love the (paraphrasing) “it’s inconsistent that the pilot can act as pic but not log it: therefore he can log it” analysis despite the fact there are other examples of where a fully certificated and rated pilot can and even *must* act as PIC but can’t log a single second of any flight time.

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