Logging 0.1 hours

[Ed_Wischmeyer]

Last night’s forecast for this morning was winds 6 knots, and at 10 AM, 12 knots, and getting gusty at 2 PM. With that in mind, the “plan” was to take off at 8 AM, fly 30 nm away to fly the LPV approach on autopilot, including the published missed approach – I’ve hardly ever flown a published miss on autopilot.

Forecast was still good this morning, so takeoff was pushed back to 9 AM. Driving to the airport, FSS reported winds at 3,000 were 31 knots. Oh… And I saw one plane flying sidewise on what would have been upwind. Uh, oh.

Plan B was that we’d do pattern work and I’d fly from the right seat, as I’d not done that in a while. Called the tower, traffic was light, they could accommodate us, so we saddled up. However, Clearance Delivery said that there was a fresh PIREP for moderate turbulence between 300 and 800. I’d never encountered that before, but it was an easy decision to taxi back to the hangar and log 0.1 for operating an aircraft for purpose of flight.

Twenty minutes later, the ATIS reported winds 18G20 vs forecast of 12. As my copilot said, “we live to get tossed around another day.”

[RV7A Flyer]

Beg to differ.

14 CFR 1.1 Definitions says

Flight Time means:

(1) Pilot time that commences when an aircraft moves under its own power for the purpose of flight and ends when the aircraft comes to rest after landing...

(Emphasis added)

You didn't have a landing, thus no flight no time. Or an infinite amount of flight time.

[Ed_Wischmeyer]

There's been all kinds of interpretations and this has been a discussion point over the decades. I don't know which way the FAA pendulum is swinging at the moment.

Actually, you can log absolutely anything! The sticking point is that logging time for currency, or for a license or rating... those things have lots of conditions, and those, too, have evolved over the decades.

So, yes, I can log it as flight time, but it might not count for anything other than as a reminder of interesting conditions.

Want more detail? https://www.boldmethod.com/learn-to-...on-the-ground/ has a great discussion, and references an FAA legal interpretation from 2004:
https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org...rpretation.pdf
That legal interpretation was, I think, written in response to a Part 121 question, but there's a case to be made that it applies to Part 91 operations, too. And in that sense, my 0.1 hours is loggable as flight time.

Years ago, a retired FAA attorney referred to the FARs as, "a monument to vagueness."

Some years ago, Jeppesen, I think, published a copy of the FARs annotated with all of the FAA interpretations. It's hiding on my bookshelf and I can't find it...

[Chipper G]

As a 20 year CFI I would log it. You had the intention of flight….

[rocketman1988]

So if you taxi around intending to fly, for around 40 hours, you are ready for your PPL?

[Mel]

Originally Posted by rocketman1988

So if you taxi around intending to fly, for around 40 hours, you are ready for your PPL?

I think there are few more requirements for PPL!

[moespeeds]

I'd log it, just because the FAA says I can't.

[BobTurner]

Another badly written rule. The plain English interpretation is that you’re up to 10+ hours and still going up, as ‘the time began…’ but ‘it has never ended (still waiting for that landing!)

[Desert Rat]

"Flight Time means:

(1) Pilot time that commences when an aircraft moves under its own power for the purpose of flight and ends when the aircraft comes to rest after landing."

I can twist this up so badly that it could mean anything.

-taxi out time doesn't count because it's only positioning before getting to the "for purpose of flight" portion. This means time starts on the takeoff roll because that' the first movement that is intentionally for the purpose of flight.

- taxi out time does count, because it' s the first movement for the "purpose of flight."

-taxi out to a rolling takeoff i.e. a soft field takeoff results in the whole thing is part of one movement under it's own power "for the purpose of flight," but a position and hold clearance results in the taxi not counting, because the taxi was just to get into position where the second movement under it's own power was "for the purpose of flight."

-high speed taxi texts for a new airplane count because they are done so you can certify an new design, therefore "for the purpose of flight"

-time starts when you taxi from the hangar to the fuel pumps because getting fuel is an essential part of the flight and the part of the "purpose"

- Time stops when you hit the runway because the aircraft came to rest after being in the air and the landing rollout isn't for the purpose of flight

- time doesn't stop until you're in the tiedowns because the landing roll and taxi is still part of the flight and when is the airplane actually at rest anyway?

-taxi doesn't count, but on the takeoff roll you hit a kangaroo on the runway and abort the takeoff thereby logging .001 hours of flight time.

Feel free to pick whichever one you like

Bottom line; unless you are using the logged time for the purposes of currency or in pursuit of a certificate or rating the FAA couldn't care less what you log.

[JonJay]

I think you’re just trying to pad that log book Ed. Ha!