Logging flights that span midnight

[jason]

My CFI and I went flying the other night. We took off at around 10:30pm on 4/8 and finished flying around 2:00am on 4/9.

When he signed my logbook, I noticed that he dated the flight 4/9. His reasoning was that the majority of the flight happened after midnight. I would have always logged such a flight as 4/8, as that was the date that the flight originated.

What say you? Is there informational or regulatory guidance on how to handle logging such flights? How do you do it?

 

[Matthew]

Never thought about it. I had a number of training flights that ended after midnight; one of the nice things about doing training in the middle of summer.

I think my CFI entered them as the date we landed.

 

[Everskyward]

What say you? Is there informational or regulatory guidance on how to handle logging such flights? How do you do it?

I don't know about informational or regulatory guidance but I have always logged it as the day the flight started.

 

[Ted]

I always log it on the night the flight started.

However, I don't see a problem with logging it either way. Ultimately, the hours are the most important part, and they were all night hours (I'm guessing).

 

[ScottM]

I use the date that the flight started.

There is no regulatory requirement that I am aware of to even log a flight unless you want to use it for a rating, currency, etc. Even then I have yet to read that there is a specific date entry method.

 

[tonycondon]

i never worried too much about flights that went past midnight. but if i do a flight that occurs over multiple days but log it on the same line i'll often just write 4/8-4/10 in the date column

 

[Ted]

i never worried too much about flights that went past midnight. but if i do a flight that occurs over multiple days but log it on the same line i'll often just write 4/8-4/10 in the date column

I've logged each day as a separate flight typically. What I normally use is if I've slept, it's a new flight.

Again, I don't think it matters. But it helps me fill my pages a bit faster.

 

[ScottM]

But it helps me fill my pages a bit faster.

That is the most important thing!

 

[poadeleted20]

I'd put in 4/8-9.

 

[Greg Bockelman]

I'd put in 4/8-9.

Why? What difference does it make?

 

[poadeleted20]

Why? What difference does it make?

Well, I suppose it could make a difference if you needed the night landing for currency 91 days from the date of the takeoff, but the main reason "why" I do it that way is that it seems like the right thing to do. YMMV.

 

[Greg Bockelman]

Well, you COULD take that to extremes. At least one flight a trip for me spans midnight. PLUS the time zone thing. PLUS the international date line thing. Hell, I leave China and get to Chicago BEFORE I leave China on the SAME TRIP.

To each his own, but the reality is, except for some vary RARE occurrences, it just doesn't matter.

 

[EdFred]

Well, I suppose it could make a difference if you needed the night landing for currency 91 days from the date of the takeoff, but the main reason "why" I do it that way is that it seems like the right thing to do. YMMV.

Then use Zulu time if necessary.

 

[poadeleted20]

To each his own, but the reality is, except for some vary RARE occurrences, it just doesn't matter.

Concur.

 

[Everskyward]

Well, you COULD take that to extremes. At least one flight a trip for me spans midnight. PLUS the time zone thing. PLUS the international date line thing. Hell, I leave China and get to Chicago BEFORE I leave China on the SAME TRIP.

Do you log negative time then?

I only did the date line thing once and it seemed really weird. As far as dates go, our company operates on Mountain Time (not Zulu like you would expect) so that's how I log everything.

 

[jesse]

I was the CFI that logged it as the next day since 80% of the flight was the next day. Really I could careless either way. I don't think it matters.

 

[jason]

I was the CFI that logged it as the next day since 80% of the flight was the next day. Really I could careless either way. I don't think it matters.

Of course not...but when has that ever stopped us from creating three pages of thread dedicated to discussing *why* it doesn't matter?

 

[tonycondon]

I was the CFI that logged it as the next day since 80% of the flight was the next day. Really I could careless either way. I don't think it matters.

whatever it was totally inappropriate. its amazing you passed a private checkride let alone CFI with such sloppiness.

 

[mantakos]

Well, I suppose it could make a difference if you needed the night landing for currency 91 days from the date of the takeoff...

Of course, it's possible that you need the before-midnight landings to be logged on the earlier date to prove that you were still current when you did them (imagine a passenger on board), while also needing the after-midnight landings to be logged on the latter date to correctly show your currency for some future flight 90 days hence.

In such a case, there's no single date that properly captures what was happened, and the distinction would be the difference between indicating legal currency vs not.

A nit-picker might argue that a 2-day date (like '30-31') doesn't accurately depict what happened, as it might imply too much future currency or too little past currency, and that the only accurate log would be to split the log entry into before-midnight and after-midnight segments.
-harry

 

[flyersfan31]

I would log the same amount of time on both days.





:wink2:

 

[jesse]

whatever it was totally inappropriate. its amazing you passed a private checkride let alone CFI with such sloppiness.

Well we know I didn't pass on my good looks.

 

[Everskyward]

Well we know I didn't pass on my good looks.

It was probably the "World's Greatest Pilot" shirt.

 

[flyingcheesehead]

I don't know about informational or regulatory guidance but I have always logged it as the day the flight started.

I do the same thing. I have a lot of flights spanning midnight, but to me it's not the next day until I go to sleep and wake up again.

 

[jesse]

The way I look at it - if you depart at 11:30 and fly until 2:30 (which is what we did) almost all of that flight was under whatever charts or rules applied for that 2nd day. Therefore it makes the most sense to just log it as that 2nd day.

 

[Ted]

The way I look at it - if you depart at 11:30 and fly until 2:30 (which is what we did) almost all of that flight was under whatever charts or rules applied for that 2nd day. Therefore it makes the most sense to just log it as that 2nd day.

Jesse, you're missing the point. Some people on this forum have a calling...

 

[Everskyward]

I do the same thing. I have a lot of flights spanning midnight, but to me it's not the next day until I go to sleep and wake up again.

I've never thought about using sleeping as a basis since there might be times when a leg would run from 11 pm to 1 am, logged as the previous day, followed by 2 am to 4 am logged as the next day. Thankfully this rarely happens to me any more.

 

[Sac Arrow]

So if you're doing a trans Pacific flight going East and you cross the international date line, do you have to subtract time from your logbook?

 

[murphey]

I would guess that it only matters for commercial flights where duty time in a 24 hour period is an issue.

 

[Everskyward]

I would guess that it only matters for commercial flights where duty time in a 24 hour period is an issue.

But in that case you just look back 24 hours no matter how you log it in your own logbook. The company would normally run on one time zone, UTC or local to its base.

 

[flyingcheesehead]

I've never thought about using sleeping as a basis since there might be times when a leg would run from 11 pm to 1 am, logged as the previous day, followed by 2 am to 4 am logged as the next day. Thankfully this rarely happens to me any more.

Yeah, I'd probably do it that way too. Luckily, generally if I'm landing after midnight it means I'm going home to sleep, and not taking off again.

 

[jmcsherry]

I've never thought about using sleeping as a basis since there might be times when a leg would run from 11 pm to 1 am, logged as the previous day, followed by 2 am to 4 am logged as the next day. Thankfully this rarely happens to me any more.

I often use that sort of basis to determine whether I greet someone, "Good morning" or "Good afternoon"; the determinant is whether I have eaten lunch. There may be other ways, but that's mine and I'm sticking to it.

 

[Let'sgoflying!]

Any flight past midnight, I am too tired to know or care what day it is!

 

[Ted]

Any flight past midnight, I am too tired to know or care what day it is!

Them's some true words!

 

[mikea]

whatever it was totally inappropriate. its amazing you passed a private checkride let alone CFI with such sloppiness.

The advice I got because my first CFI didn't sign: Burn your logbook.

 

[taters]

But in that case you just look back 24 hours no matter how you log it in your own logbook. The company would normally run on one time zone, UTC or local to its base.

My current and last company used originating date plus UTC relative to base for the "trip sheet"