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Does a solo student pilot need to carry their logbook on other than XC

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Student Pilot

I see in 61.51(i)(2) That a solo student pilot must carry their logbook on solo XC flights. I also assume a solo student pilot must carry on them their appropriate endorsements (not sure which FAR this is). But is there a specific FAR that says a solo student pilot must carry on them their logbook (for other than XC)? Lets say for some reason they had a photo copy of their logbook endorsements, is there a FAR that says must carry logbook?

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3 Answers



  1. John D. Collins on Oct 04, 2011

    I am not aware of any requirements for the student pilot to carry their logbook other than the one you cited.  FAR 61.3(a) requires that the pilot have their pilot certificate either on their person or with them in order to act as PIC and 61.3(c) requires that they have their current medical on their person or with them as well. Without an opinion from the FAA Chief Counsel, I would not use a copy of a logbook to meet the requirements to carry the logbook on a cross country flight.  I know that a copy of an airworthiness certificate is not acceptable to the FAA, one must have an original issued by the FAA.  In operating a flight school, there were several instances where a student would leave an AW certificate at the designated examiner’s office and we would have to ground the airplane until the original or a replacement had been restored to the aircraft. Although we kept copies of the documents, they were not permitted to be used.  I suspect that the FAA would take a similar stance for copied logbooks.

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  2. Bob Watson on Oct 04, 2011

    I thought that the only reason students carried their log books on a cross country was so that someone at the distant airport could sign it saying they actually arrived. I haven’t heard of this being done lately and I didn’t do it when I did my solo flights 30 yrs ago but the practice seems to be referenced in many solo cross-country anecdotes.

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  3. Matthew Beyer on Oct 05, 2011

    Thanks. So then other than the student pilot cert/medical, and photo id, a student pilot doesnt even need to carry the logbook endorsements with them for a local flight. The endorsement on the cert is all that is needed in possession.

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