If you’re a pilot who is interested in working in commercial aviation, it’s important to understand flight hours. How are flight hours calculated? What types of flight hours count? How do you earn them? In this blog post, we’ll just be going over the basic answers to these questions; because there’s a ton of rabbit holes to go down here!

The importance of accurately recording flight times for pilots cannot be overstated. A carefully maintained logbook is essential for future certification, assessment, and proof of validity. Recorded proof of flight time is required by the FAA and may also be requested by employers or insurance companies at their discretion, so a pilot must be extremely diligent to properly record all flight times.

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What Are Flight Hours?

A “Flight Hour” is an aeronautical term that refers to the time spent flying an aircraft and is the primary measure of a pilot’s experience. Flight hours (or flight time) are generally considered to be the elapsed time when an aircraft moves under its own power for the purpose of flight and when the aircraft stops after landing. Time spent taxiing and performing pre-flight checks is usually included in flight hours, provided the engine is running.

Typically speaking, flight hours are tracked in the plane by the Hobbs meter. Usually, the Hobbs meter starts ticking as soon as the engine turns on (by measuring oil pressure) and stops when the engine turns off. In some aircraft, the Hobbs counter is activated when the master battery switch is turned on; in others, it is activated by a pressure switch attached to the landing gear – this means that it will only measure the time the aircraft is literally “in the air”.

Pilots will check the Hobbs before engine on and after engine off in order to know how many hours they can log in their logbooks. This time is usually notated in an hourly format and to the tenth decimal position (i.e., 2.6, 0.4). Pilots know, though, that there’s more to it than just that; there’s a variety of different kinds of hours to be logged depending on the aircraft, airspace, and mission profile.

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Putting Flight Hours In Your Logbook

The FAA does not specify a particular format for a logbook, and it only requires that the log be “presented in a form and manner acceptable to the administrator.” The CFR 61.51 regulations outline the minimum types of data that must be entered in the flight log by the pilot. Each logbook entry must record basic information for the flight, including:

• Flight date.
• Total flight or lesson time.
• Departure and arrival places.
• Type and registration of aircraft.
• Name of the safety pilot, if applicable.

The logbook should also contain a record of the pilot’s experience and training, including the types of hours previously performed:

• Solo flight time.
• The number of hours the pilot was pilot-in-command (PIC).
• The number of hours the pilot worked as Second in Command (SIC).
• Flight and ground training provided by certified instructors.

Attention should also be paid to flight conditions.

• Number of hours of day or night flight.
• Number of actual instrument flight hours.
• Number of simulated instrument hours, either in flight or using training equipment.

First off, flight hours are logged per make and model of aircraft; so you can tally up all of your different types of hours in any specific aircraft. Then, after you’ve written out the total duration of your flight (using the Hobbs time in and out), you then sub-categorize that time into a variety of categories; some of which can be situationally logged simultaneously such as logging Pilot In Command and Cross Country together.

The most commonly used categories are: Pilot In Command (PIC), Second In Command (SIC), Flight Training Received, Ground Training Received, Simulator FTD/ATD/FFS, Cross Country, Day/Night, Actual Instrument, and Simulated Instrument.

Pilot In Command (PIC)

An aircraft’s pilot-in-command (PIC) is the person who is legally responsible for the aircraft, its safety and its operation in flight, and will generally be the person primarily responsible for any flight rule violation.

Only one pilot may act as the PIC at any given time, however it is possible to have more than one pilot log PIC time simultaneously. We’ll get into this more in Simulated Instrument below.

If you’re flying solo, have been designated as the PIC prior to the flight, or meet the requirements of “Safety Pilot” (as we’ll discuss in Simulated Instrument) you can put those hours here.

Second In Command (SIC)

If a pilot is not acting as PIC, and flying in an aircraft under which by regulations requires more than one pilot, then the time in Second In Command can be recorded. This allows you to build time in an aircraft that requires more than one pilot (even if you’re not type rated in it).

As you can imagine, limitations do apply to this type of flight time. This type of classification is less common and mostly used in high level commercial operations.

If you have been designated as the SIC prior to the flight, and you’re piloting an aircraft that requires more than one pilot to be operated legally, you can put those hours here.

Dual Received

Dual Received means flight time, or instrument ground time, during which a person receives flight instruction from a duly authorized instructor. This can be from any type of Certified Flight Instructor or Certified Ground Instructor.

This is also sometimes split further into “Flight Training Received” or “Ground Training Received”. For most types of flight certification and commercial aviation jobs, it will be important to designate which of these types of time are logged.

If you’re being instructed in an aircraft by a certified instructor, or simulating flying on the ground by a certified instructor, you can put those hours here.

Simulator Time

According to the FAA, there are three types of simulators. These are Aviation Training Devices (ATD), Flight Training Devices (FTD) and Full Flight Simulators (FFS).

Simulator time is not counted in your total time. Despite the fact that the FAA has no formal definition of what can and does not count as total time, the common practice is to not include simulator time in your total flight hours and simply track them separately.

The FAR has provisions that allow a limited number of simulator hours to count towards your certifications and ratings, but this time is not typically counted as flight hours by employers reviewing your logbook.

If you flew in a Flight Simulator, you can put those hours here.

Cross Country

Cross-country flying (AKA XC Flying) is a type of flying performed in a powered aircraft over a fixed distance, specifically in operation between two points, using navigation techniques such as Pilotage, Dead Reckoning, or Radio Navigation.

There are many variations of Cross Country time in the US for specific certifications; but to put it simply: if you took off from one airstrip, and landed at another, you can put those hours here.

Day/Night

This one’s deceptively simple, Day flying occurs at any time between when Morning Civil Twilight starts and as soon as Evening Civil Twilight ends. Night flying is the opposite, occurring as soon as Evening Civil Twilight ends and as soon as Morning Civil Twilight begins.

Logging this is important because it is much more difficult to fly at night for a variety of reasons, and thus is a more valuable type of time to log. It’s essential that you’re aware of the times that Civil Twilight starts and ends in your area so that you can be as accurate as possible when logging this time.

Additionally, there are even more specific requirements to meet night currency and other specific certificate based minimums.

If you flew during the day, mark how long in Day; if you flew during the Night, mark how long in Night.

Actual Instrument

Actual Instrument Time is the recorded time for the portion of the flight that was performed in Instrument Meteorological Conditions (IMC). IMC is a category of flight that describes weather conditions that require pilots to fly primarily with use of their instruments, as opposed to primarily using their exterior view under Visual Flight Rules (VFR). Usually, this means flying on cloudy days or in bad weather.

You would log the Actual Instrument time if you – and the aircraft – are Instrument Flight Rule (IFR) qualified and IMC certified. IFR is generally considered the rules and regulations established by the FAA to govern flight in situations in which flight by external visual reference is not safe. It is also a term used by pilots and controllers to indicate the type of aircraft flight plan, such as an IFR or VFR flight plan.

If you and your plane are IMC certified, and you flew in IMC, you can put those hours here.

Simulated Instrument

Simulated instrument time is recorded on a real aircraft, typically while you are being trained to fly on the equipment. The simulated instrument is also known as “hood time” and is usually recorded in conjunction with Dual Received. Pilots mainly practice using products known as “foggles”, which are special goggles that restrict outward vision, allowing students to rely entirely on their instruments. Pilots wearing the foggles are generally considered to be “under the hood”.

This kind of time can also be built when flying with what is known as a “Safety Pilot”. A Safety Pilot is a trained pilot who helps maintain visual separation from other aircraft, clouds and terrain while another pilot wears vision-limiting equipment (foggles) in the air in order to simulate IMC. Additionally, the Safety Pilot also gets to build PIC time while the other pilot is under the hood because they are, in this situation, considered a necessary crew member.

If the weather was clear, but you wore “foggles” during a portion of your flight, and you’re either Instrument Certified or were being instructed by a CFI, you can put those hours here.

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Calculating Flight Time

You may have noticed that these different types of flight times will not always be equivalent to the actual duration of the flight, and so you’ll need to convert the amount of minutes into the Hobbs format. Luckily, it’s quite easy!

Simply divide the number of minutes by 60 (minutes in an hour) and round to the tenths place. If you flew under the hood for 1 hour and 33 minutes, just divide the 33 minutes by 60 (0.55) and add it to the 1 hour: 1.55! Here’s a simple chart that you can reference if you don’t have the time, or feel like, doing the math:

Time Conversion Chart

Minutes	Decimal Hours	Minutes	Decimal Hours	Minutes	Decimal Hours
1	0.02	21	0.35	41	0.68
2	0.03	22	0.37	42	0.70
3	0.05	23	0.38	43	0.72
4	0.07	24	0.40	44	0.73
5	0.08	25	0.42	45	0.75
6	0.10	26	0.43	46	0.77
7	0.12	27	0.45	47	0.78
8	0.13	28	0.47	48	0.80
9	0.15	29	0.48	49	0.82
10	0.17	30	0.50	50	0.83
11	0.18	31	0.52	51	0.85
12	0.20	32	0.53	52	0.87
13	0.22	33	0.55	53	0.88
14	0.23	34	0.57	54	0.90
15	0.25	35	0.58	55	0.92
16	0.27	36	0.60	56	0.93
17	0.28	37	0.62	57	0.95
18	0.30	38	0.63	58	0.97
19	0.32	39	0.65	59	0.98
20	0.33	40	0.67	60	1.00

We hope this article helped explain flight time a bit better! If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below. Happy flying!

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