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How to Split Flights with Other Members

There are some situations where more than just than just one Pilot will be logging and/or paying for the time on a single flight.     When these happens, there are some procedures you can use in Pilot Partner to correctly log the time to control who pays for the flight and who gets to log the time.

Note:  Be sure to reference the FARs for what time is legal to log and pay for by the FARs and make the entries Legally.

Separate Who Pays and Who Logs Time

Normally the Pilot who is Logging the Time is the Pilot who is Paying for the flight.    This is the normal case that Pilot Partner handles out of the box with no special procedures.

In some cases like Safety Pilot Situations and Time Building Situations where Flights Get Split, you have to think about it slightly Differently.    When a Pilot logs a flight in Pilot Partner, there are two main fields that are important:

  • Total Time:  This is the Total Hours that will be Logged in the Pilot’s Logbook and DOES NOT have any impact on Fleet Invoicing
  • Meter Readings:  This is the Total Time being logged from the Fleets Point of View and is what generates the invoice.

When logging a Flight, Pilot Partner automatically adjusts the Total Time to match the Hobbs (or Tach) meter’s total time as a courtesy so you don’t have to enter it twice.   But if you notice, after you enter your Hobbs/Tach you can easily Modify the Total Time to be different than the meter reading.

Time Building - Splitting Flights

In this situation, two pilots decide to go flying together to build time in their logbook for a future FAA Rating.   Before they depart, they agree on how they will split the time and their duties while flying (typically the Pilot not Flying acts as a safety Pilot).

The total flight is 2 hours from Tach 4000.5 to 4002.5.  After the Flight is complete the pilots would:

Pilot A – Log their Flight in Pilot Partner with the following Fields:

  • Tach Start: 4000.5
  • Tach End: 4001.5 (Invoiced for 1.0 hours)
  • Total Time: 1.8 hours (1 Hour Flight, 0.8 Safety Pilot)

Pilot B – Log their Flight in Pilot Partner with the following Fields:

  • Tach Start: 4001.5
  • Tach End: 4002.5 (Invoiced for 1.0 hours)
  • Total Time: 1.8 hours (1 Hour Flight, 0.8 Safety Pilot)

With this setup, both Pilots get to log their Time Building time, while only paying for half of the Flight.

Safety Pilot Time

In this Situation the Pilot Flying is Paying for the Entire Flight, but a second Pilot acting as a Safety Pilot needs to log time without an invoice being generated.

In this situation the Pilot Flying would log their flight like normal including:  Total Time, Hobbs/Tach Start/End Times, etc.   They will get an invoice for the full total time of the flight.

The Safety Pilot would then log their flights, but will toggle on the “Skip Meter Readings” portion of the logbook entry screen.

When turned on Skip Meter Readings will disable and hide the Hobbs/Tach entries and allow the Pilot to log a Flight that does not appear on the Fleet’s dashboard and will skip the invoicing.     Since the Pilot Flying handled creating the records required for the Fleet, the Safety Pilot is only logging the flight in their logbook for Time Building Reasons.