[SkyGuy]

A Caution to Pilots Seeking Flight Hours in a Time Building Program.

Many companies sell right seat time and may promote it as legal time building. However, not all cases allow an SIC to log the flight time. Donald Byrne, FAA Assistant Chief Counsel, drafted a FAA legal opinion on the issue dated Mar. 09, 2000, which interprets the logging of SIC time by SIC pilots.

As an example, an airline based out of Denver, Colorado (Key Lime Air), feeding UPS cargo sells pilots right seat time in their cargo operation for as much as $34,500 (http://keylimeair.com/Rates.asp). In Oct. 2010, FAA FSS Deputy Director Raymond Towels issued results of an official investigation conducted in 2009 into this airlines First Officer Program and concluded in an official finding that the First Officers in the airlines training program, that had paid for flight time, could not log the flight time.

The Denver FDSO, (310)342-1100, can connect any pilot wanting more information, with the correct authority.

Before you spend your money on a Time Building Program, make sure it is not a scam. Verify that the flight time is loggable. Contact the FDSO or POI (Principal Operations Inspector) for the airline offering the program.

You must be a required crewmember to log flight time as an SIC (FAR § 61.51(f)), a common cargo operation does not require a second pilot unless the aircraft itself does. The thing to note is, if the same flight can be conducted single pilot, a second pilot, even if qualified, cannot log the flight time.

With the increasing flight hour requirements for pilot jobs, more and more companies are trying to exploit the challenges new low-time pilots face. Protect yourself and let others know.

[Pilot jobs]

See this animation on multi engine time building:
http://www.xtranorma...-real-interview