To Log or Not to Log

Youre in the muck on your hometown localizer approach at 3000 feet. You intercept final, center the needle and catch a glimpse of the highway below. A mile from the FAF and seven miles from the runway, still at 3000 feet, you begin to make out the runway. With visibility only three miles, you wait until crossing the FAF before descending to land. Can you log that?

Elaine Kauh

Monday, April 06, 2015 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

Logging instrument approaches lacks clear FAA guidance, sparking debate on whether to log an approach if a pilot breaks out of instrument conditions above minimums.
Extreme interpretations range from logging if the procedure started in IMC to only logging if actual conditions persist down to minimums (DA/MDA).
A common middle-ground approach for logging is reaching the Final Approach Fix (FAF) in IMC for non-precision approaches, or the "500 to minimums" call for precision approaches.
Regardless of the chosen method, pilots are advised to apply common sense and consistency to their instrument approach logging.

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You’re in the muck on your hometown localizer approach at 3000 feet. You intercept final, center the needle and catch a glimpse of the highway below. A mile from the FAF and seven miles from the runway, still at 3000 feet, you begin to make out the runway. With visibility only three miles, you wait until crossing the FAF before descending to land. Can you log that?

There is no clear guidance and plenty of debate on the logging conundrum. To start, 14 CFR 61.51 (g) (1) states: “A person may log instrument time only for that flight time when the person operates the aircraft solely by reference to instruments under actual or simulated instrument flight conditions.”