EASA vs FAA Logbook Requirements: What Actually Differs

You fly a multi-crew leg from London to New York. You hand-fly the approach, make the landing, and open your logbook. Under EASA, on an ordinary line flight, the designated commander logs PIC time and the other pilot logs co-pilot time unless a specific PICUS, SPIC, check, or PIC-under-supervision rule applies. Under the FAA, a rated pilot may log PIC for the time they are the sole manipulator of the controls, regardless of who was acting as PIC.

Same flight. Same pilot. Different PIC hours depending on which authority’s rules you follow.

If you hold licences from both EASA and the FAA, or you’re considering an international career, understanding these differences isn’t optional. Your logbook is your career record, and getting the entries wrong under either system creates problems that are painful to fix later.

This guide puts the two systems side by side. Not the licensing differences or the training requirements, but specifically how each authority expects you to record your flights.

The Fundamental Difference in Philosophy

Before diving into specifics, it helps to understand how each authority thinks about logbooks.

EASA requires you to log every flight. FCL.050 states that “the pilot shall keep a reliable record of the details of all flights flown.” No exceptions. Every flight gets an entry.

The FAA only requires logging when you need to prove something. 14 CFR 61.51 mandates documenting “training and aeronautical experience used to meet the requirements for a certificate, rating, or flight review” and “the aeronautical experience required for meeting the recent flight experience requirements.” A VFR pleasure flight with no currency implications? Technically not required to be logged.

Should you log everything under the FAA anyway? Absolutely. But the regulatory obligation is narrower than most pilots assume.

This philosophical difference carries through to every aspect of how the two systems handle logbook entries.

Required Logbook Fields: Side by Side

EASA’s current AMC1 FCL.050 sets out a 12-column standard logbook format. The FAA’s required fields under 14 CFR 61.51(b) are considerably more minimal. Here’s how they compare:

The biggest structural differences: EASA requires the SP/MP classification, the PIC’s name, and a specific split of landings by day and night. The FAA doesn’t require any of those fields but does require the safety pilot’s name when one is required under its rules.

For a deep dive on each system individually, see our guides on EASA logbook requirements and FAA logbook requirements.

PIC Time: The Biggest Difference

This is where the two systems diverge the most, and where pilots flying under both authorities get into trouble.

Under EASA, PIC time is tied to the logging cases in AMC1 FCL.050, not to who touched the controls. You log PIC when you are the designated pilot-in-command of the flight, when you are flying solo, when you are acting as an instructor or examiner, when you successfully complete certain tests/checks/assessments with the required countersignature, when you are flying as PICUS or SPIC with the appropriate countersignature, or when a specific PIC-under-supervision rule requires both pilots to log PIC.

Under the FAA, PIC time is often tied to the sole manipulator rule. A sport, recreational, private, commercial, or airline transport pilot may log PIC when they are the sole manipulator of the controls of an aircraft for which they are rated, even if someone else is acting as PIC. The FAA also has separate PIC logging paths for acting PIC in operations requiring more than one pilot, flight instructors, and approved PIC-under-supervision programs. This means multiple pilots can log PIC simultaneously on the same flight when each meets a separate logging rule.

Here’s what that looks like in practice:

Scenario: A captain and first officer fly a 4-hour leg in an A320. Assume both pilots hold the FAA certificates and ratings needed for the aircraft, and the first officer is qualified to log SIC. The first officer hand-flies the departure and approach (1.5 hours total). The captain is the designated PIC for the entire flight.

Under EASA, absent PICUS or another specific PIC logging basis, the first officer logs 4 hours of co-pilot time and zero PIC. Under the FAA, the same first officer logs 1.5 hours of PIC (for the portions they hand-flew as sole manipulator) and 2.5 hours of SIC. The total hours are the same, but the split between PIC and SIC/co-pilot is completely different.

This distinction matters enormously for pilots building PIC hours toward an ATPL or airline minimums. A first officer with 3,000 FAA hours might have 1,500 hours of PIC under FAA rules but only 200 hours of PIC under EASA rules (from PICUS time and any flights where they were designated commander). When applying to a European airline, it’s the EASA number that counts.

Night Time: Logging vs Currency

Both authorities require night-related records, but not in the same way.

EASA defines night based on civil twilight: the period between the end of evening civil twilight and the beginning of morning civil twilight, unless the appropriate authority prescribes another sunset-to-sunrise period. The duration of twilight varies significantly by latitude and season. A flight departing Helsinki in December enters night conditions much faster than the same flight in June.

The FAA Part 61 logbook rule requires you to record whether the condition of flight was day or night. For passenger currency, Part 61 is more specific: 1 hour after sunset to 1 hour before sunrise.

The practical point for a dual-authority logbook is that EASA night time and FAA night passenger currency cannot be treated as the same field. EASA requires night time in the logbook format. FAA Part 61 requires day/night condition entries and separately defines the night passenger-currency window.

For a full breakdown of how night calculations work (and why the +30/-30 shortcut is wrong), see our guide on how night time is actually calculated.

Cross-Country Time: One Term, Two Meanings

EASA defines cross-country simply as “a flight between a point of departure and a point of arrival following a pre-planned route, using standard navigation procedures.” There is no minimum distance. A 20-nautical-mile flight from one airport to another qualifies.

The FAA has multiple distance thresholds depending on the certificate:

Under 14 CFR 61.1, the FAA also recognizes a broader definition of cross-country for general logging: a flight by a certificate holder in an aircraft that includes a landing at a point other than the departure point and uses navigation to get there. But for meeting specific certificate requirements, the distance thresholds above apply.

EASA doesn’t even use cross-country as a standalone time category in the logbook. It matters for certain training requirements (like the cross-country qualifying flight for the PPL), but it’s not a column you track.

Pilot Function Categories

EASA and the FAA categorize pilot roles differently, and the categories don’t map one-to-one.

EASA pilot function time includes:

• PIC (including solo, SPIC, PICUS, and specific PIC-under-supervision cases)
• Co-pilot, including cruise-relief co-pilot
• Dual instruction received
• Instructor or examiner time

You cannot turn pilot-flying time into PIC time just because you handled the controls. A student receiving instruction logs dual time, not PIC time, unless flying as SPIC with a countersignature. Instructor time is the important exception to the simple “one role only” shorthand: AMC1 FCL.050 says instructor time should be recorded as appropriate and also entered as PIC.

FAA pilot experience types under 61.51(b)(2):

• Solo
• PIC
• SIC (Second in Command)
• Flight training received

These categories can overlap. A rated pilot receiving instruction can also log PIC time if they meet the sole-manipulator rule. A safety pilot may log SIC, or PIC if designated as acting PIC, when the applicable §61.51 conditions are met.

EASA also requires pilots to record single-pilot (SP) and multi-pilot (MP) time in the standard format, further splitting SP into single-engine and multi-engine where applicable. The FAA has no equivalent logbook field.

Electronic Logbooks: EASA Explicit, FAA Format-Neutral

Both authorities can support non-paper records, but the regulatory text handles them differently.

EASA has accepted electronic logbooks in AMC1 FCL.050 since ED Decision 2020/005/R, dated 18 March 2020, and the current AMC1 FCL.050 keeps that acceptance. Your electronic record must contain the relevant AMC1 FCL.050 items, be readily available for inspection, be certified by the pilot, and be in a format acceptable to the competent authority. Some national authorities within EASA may have additional preferences, so check with your local CAA.

The FAA Part 61 logbook rule does not prescribe a paper logbook. It requires the relevant time to be documented and recorded in a manner acceptable to the Administrator, and it requires records to be presented on reasonable request.

Both systems agree on one thing: whatever format you use, you need to be able to produce your records when asked.

Flying Under Both Authorities

If you hold both EASA and FAA licences, you have two options for your logbook.

Option 1: Maintain two separate logbooks. One follows EASA formatting, the other follows FAA formatting. This is the cleanest approach from a compliance standpoint but doubles your workload.

Option 2: Maintain one logbook that satisfies both systems. This is where most dual-authority pilots land. It works, but only if your logbook captures every field that either system requires. You need the EASA 12-column structure plus the FAA-specific fields (safety pilot name, approach details for currency). And you need to track PIC time under both definitions, because a single number can’t represent both systems accurately.

Practical tips for dual-authority pilots:

• Track PIC time separately for each authority. Your FAA PIC total will often be higher than your EASA PIC total. Both numbers need to be accurate and defensible.
• Use the stricter format as the baseline. EASA’s 12-column structure is more detailed than the FAA’s required entry fields, but you still need to add FAA-specific details such as approach types and safety pilot names.
• Be consistent with times. EASA expects UTC for departure and arrival. If your combined logbook uses UTC as the baseline, do not mix local times into the same fields.
• Document PICUS/SPIC properly. If you’re building EASA PIC time through PICUS or SPIC, the required countersignature needs to be in the remarks. Missing signatures make that EASA PIC claim hard to defend.

How Skyden Handles Multi-Authority Logbooks

The entire challenge of dual-authority flying is that the same flights need to produce different outputs depending on which authority is reviewing your logbook. You shouldn’t have to enter your flights twice or maintain parallel records, and you shouldn’t worry about losing entries somewhere along the way.

Skyden is built around protecting your hours first. Every flight is automatically backed up so nothing gets lost across devices, smart autofill makes daily logging fast, and a single tier unlocks every feature from day one (no Basic vs Pro split). Night time is computed from actual solar positions along your route (here’s how that calculation works), supporting EASA civil-twilight logging and FAA passenger-currency windows.

When you need to export, Skyden generates compliant PDFs in 7 authority formats (EASA, FAA, TCCA, UK CAA, JCAB, GCAA, CASA) from the same underlying data. Each export applies the correct column structure, time categories, and formatting for that authority. Your PIC time follows each system’s rules.

One logbook, protected automatically, accurate everywhere. Try Skyden free for your first 20 hours with all features unlocked.

Key Takeaways

• EASA requires logging all flights. The FAA only mandates logging when proving compliance with certificate, rating, or currency requirements.
• PIC time is the biggest difference. EASA has specific PIC logging cases and no general sole-manipulator rule. The FAA lets a rated sole manipulator log PIC in many cases. The same flight can produce vastly different PIC hours.
• Night records and night currency are not the same thing. EASA defines night for logging in Part-FCL. FAA Part 61 requires day/night condition entries and separately uses 1 hour after sunset to 1 hour before sunrise for passenger currency.
• Cross-country means different things. EASA has no distance requirement in its definition. The FAA has several Part 61 distance thresholds depending on the certificate/rating purpose and aircraft category.
• EASA and FAA pilot function categories do not map one-to-one. FAA categories can overlap, while EASA requires the entry to fit an FCL.050 logging basis.
• Both accept non-paper records. EASA has explicit electronic-logbook format requirements. FAA Part 61 requires records in a manner acceptable to the Administrator.
• Dual-authority pilots should track PIC separately for each system and use the stricter format as their baseline.

Related reading

• EASA Pilot Logbook Requirements: The Complete Guide
• FAA Pilot Logbook Requirements: What You Actually Need to Log
• FAA Professional Pilot Track: What the Proposal Means for You