Hours of aeronautical experience don't expire but they need to be properly logged. [Shutterstock]
Key Takeaways:
Pilot hours or aeronautical experience for commercial pilot certificates do not expire according to FAA regulations.
A Designated Pilot Examiner (DPE) incorrectly told an applicant that a 300 nm flight from 2000 was too old to count towards required experience.
It is crucial for pilots to meticulously maintain their logbooks to properly document all aeronautical experience and avoid repeating flights or hours.
A commercial applicant at my flight school was told by the Designated Pilot Examiner (DPE) that a 300 nm flight he did in 2000 was “too long ago to count toward the experience required,” citing FAR 61.129: Aeronautical Experience for Commercial Pilots.
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Meg Godlewski has been an aviation journalist for more than 24 years and a CFI for more than 20 years. If she is not flying or teaching aviation, she is writing about it. Meg is a founding member of the Pilot Proficiency Center at EAA AirVenture and excels at the application of simulation technology to flatten the learning curve. Follow Meg on Twitter @2Lewski.