Nav Hours count for FAA Certifications?

[Guest bctrem]

Hey does anyone know if the hours you get as a Nav can be used towards a PPL and other FAA certifications?

[slacker]

What kind of plane? If there are no flight controls at the nav station, the short answer is no.

[ellsworb]

Hey does anyone know if the hours you get as a Nav can be used towards a PPL and other FAA certifications?

Indeed. . and even if you DID have controls, you could only log the time you were the sole manipulator of those controls and you were certificated in category, class, and type (if applicable) for that aircraft.

[Guest AirForceZip]

Read as a continuation of the first two posts.

Even still those hours won't matter much. PPL instructors won't sign you off to take your practical until you have proved that you are competent in every area that you will be tested on in your check ride, which usually ends up being around the minimum 40 hours anyway.

However, in my experience, hours--or in my case jumps--accumulated outside of the civilian arena are accepted when going for an FAA rating. I got my Military Basic Parachute Rating (5 freefall jumps). When I inquired about getting my FAA rating I was told that the jumps would count towards my 25 needed, but I would still need to complete their curriculum, which included ground school again.

Edited April 15, 2009 by AirForceZip

[Jughead]

I know its not the exact same, but I can't see why your situation would be any different.

You can't see why there's a difference between military jumping counting toward civilian jumping qual, vs military navigating counting toward civilian piloting qual? Really?

[HERK_Nav]

And we wonder why it is so hard to gain credibility in our field... No means NO! You only asked the question in two threads and were told "NO" in both

The only thing your Nav time is good for is if you can find a company who fly's with Nav's... By the way there aren't any! In fact if you call your local F.S.D.O office they will tell you that they don't even issue the certificate anymore.

If I'm a passenger on a 737 can I log the time..

[08Dawg]

Your nav experience will help you if you're flying civi on side. Radio comms, regs, stuff like that, and I think higher SA. But you can't count the hours. When you go up for your instrument rating, some things will be directly applicable and will probably give you a little bit of a leg up, but again, there's no logging nav time as simulated instrument time, for example.

[Guest Unconfirmed Source]

As others have already said - short answer is NO.

#1 - You would have to have a set of independant controls for your sole manipulation only.

#2 - On any said flight you would have to be designated as PIC in order to count the hours as logged, which would defeat the point of a Nav.

#3 - If you already had your PPL the best you could count it as was SIC which would still be hard to prove as your primary function is neither PLT or SIC.

FAR 61.51

PIC flight time, provides that a private or commercial pilot may log as PIC time only that flight time during which

he is the sole manipulator of the controls of an aircraft for which he is rated, or when he is the sole occupant of the

aircraft, or when he acts as PIC of an aircraft on which more than one pilot is required under the type certification of

the aircraft, or the regulations under which the flight is conducted. It is important to note that

FAR 61.51 only

regulates the recording of PIC time used to meet the requirements toward a higher certificate, higher rating, or for

recent flight experience.

My .02 as a CFI many moons ago.

[Jughead]

military jumps are to civilian jumps as military flight hours are to civilian flight hours.

Overgeneralizing to include all "flight hours" in the same group (vice considering "pilot hours") is why your analogy doesn't work. How about "... as military vehicle qualification is to civilian vehicle qualification"--cool, so a Navy sub driver can get a 747 type rating! Fail #1.

Yes, I made the assumption that he was actually flying the plane.

Why? The Air Force has a term for the person who does that: "pilot." Fail #2.

Lets use our critical thinking skills here. Remember those pesky little things on your fourth grade proficiency test called analogies:

Getting snotty for no particular reason...? Fail #3.

[Guest AirForceZip]

I have revised my original post due to its obvious offensive nature. It is now general advice that may or may not apply to the original question.

Edited April 15, 2009 by AirForceZip

[Riddller]

Going for my PPL I only needed about a quarter of the ground school time because of my prior Nav time, so it saved me some bucks, but that was the only tangible item. Non-tangible: definitely made UPT easier not having to worry about how to talk on the radios or the procedures for an approach. I just had to concentrate on the stick-n-rudder skills.

[Guest BoneBubba]

If you went through Pensacola you may be able to get some time from the "FAM" phase (first 8 sorties). The way they were coded in my little Navy logbook allowed approximately 15 hours to be transferred when I went for my PPL. It's up to the CFI if he/she will sign those hours off. Some may not due to wording in the FAR about time received in a "previous pilot training program". All depends on how they interpret that. All that being said, no respectable CFI will allow you to proceed to your checkout until you have completed all requirements (# landings, manevuers, cross country time, night, etc) and he/she feels you are completely ready, which usually ends up being around 40 hours anyways.