IFR / Actual Instrument time printing double hours

Modified on Wed, 18 Nov 2020 at 06:32 AM

The issue is caused by logging IFR time and Actual Instrument time. IFR and Actual Instrument are both condition times, but they are different.

For airline flights, the entire flight is logged as IFR, even if you terminate the flight by a visual approach (you remain under IFR flight plan).

Actual Instrument time is logged for only a small portion of the flight, when you are IMC and actually fly on your instruments. Most pilots log an average of 10-15% of the entire flight time as Act. Instr. condition time. Act. Instr. is commonly logged under FAR - most EASA pilots only log IFR time.

Some logbooks have an IFR column, some have the Act. Instr. column. Both condition times are totally different, but are often mistaken for the other. For that reason PILOTLOG allows you to print both values in the same column by selecting the associated checkbox on the Logbook - Logbook Format page. However, if you have logged both IFR time and Actual Instrument time in the database, both values are then summed in this column.

You can fix this issue as follows :

On the Logbook - Logbook Format page, clear the checkbox "Print IFR and Actual Instrument in same column". This step clears the printing issue, but hours in the database remain unchanged, as you can see on the Totals page.

If you do no longer want to log IFR and/or Actual Instrument time :

One the Tables - Aircraft page, edit each Aircraft and clear the appropriate checkbox in the "Auto load Hours" list. You can use the Multiselect function to mass edit all aircraft.
On the Flights- Config page, clear the checkbox(es) for IFR and/or Act.Instr. time
On the Flight page, use the Multiselect function to clear IFR and/or Act.Instr. time from all flights ; Select "Set ... Time = zero"

Additional information is available from these solutions :