Which log is used to record VOR accuracy checks?

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john cronin

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Can somebody help with the correct answer..... What type of aircraft log ( airframe, avionics engine) is the required for IFR VOR checks recorded. The FAR 91.171 is not clear which log to use.
What do most pilots use to record the accuracy check?

Thank you
john
 
Here is the reg:
91.171(d) Each person making the VOR operational check, as specified in paragraph (b) or (c) of this section, shall enter the date, place, bearing error, and sign the aircraft log or other record. In addition, if a test signal radiated by a repair station, as specified in paragraph (b)(1) of this section, is used, an entry must be made in the aircraft log or other record by the repair station certificate holder or the certificate holder’s representative certifying to the bearing transmitted by the repair station for the check and the date of transmission.

As this test is required not only for Part 91 ops but also other ops such as Part 121 and 135, the answer would be that if depends. If you are flying for a 121or 135, you use whatever “aircraft log or other record” that your manual tells you to use. If you are a Part 91 pilot/operator you use whatever “aircraft log or other record” that you choose to use. It just needs to meet the requirements in the regulation. You decide.
 
My sl-30 allowed you to save the date and location internally and would display it on boot up.
 
john cronin said:
Can somebody help with the correct answer..... What type of aircraft log ( airframe, avionics engine) is the required for IFR VOR checks recorded. The FAR 91.171 is not clear which log to use.
What do most pilots use to record the accuracy check?

Thank you
john
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All of the ones I've seen are just a piece of lined paper. Some with columns. It's what I had in mine. It's what I've seen in all the rentals I've flown. You could do it on a cocktail napkin or a brown paper bag. Just get the numbers and your signature on it.
 
Personally I use the spiral notebook approach.

But this begs the question: is anyone aware, in the full history of manned flight, if this has ever been asked for or the source of a disciplinary action, especially for a Part 91 operation? Especially with GPS approaches so widely available it would seem the only time an action could conceivably be taken is if someone shot a VOR approach and then got ramp checked - or if the approach went so bad that there was a mishap.

I try to keep mine up to date but will occasionally need to do so en route, using a fix on an airway or something.

This requirement feels more like a quiz question for check rides than a real “risk” for enforcement.

I’m open to being “corrected”
 
My understanding- a history of prior checks is not necessary, but instead a log of current compliance is. I keep a log in a notebook that has all my past checks, but a yellow sticky note would be adequate, and that note could be tossed out after expiration or the next check.
 
Two answers.

The ongoing updates were kept in a small spiral notebook,3X5 inches, and whichever pilot flew the plane when it was convenient made the entry. When we replaced a plane with another, we just continued to use the old spiral booklet. When it filled up, we threw it away, and started a new one.

When an avionics shop made a test, that went into the aircraft log.

The question of whether that log information is ever checked, YES.

We are in the Washington DC area, and ramp checks here often include the VOR test record. My first ramp check was on a filed but simulated IFR flight plan, they knew it, and checked the VOR log. This was years ago, when VOR was the normal navigation equipment. I think that the frequent ramp checks that have occurred have been training ne employees, and they hit all the required items.
 
Llewtrah381 said:
Personally I use the spiral notebook approach.

But this begs the question: is anyone aware, in the full history of manned flight, if this has ever been asked for or the source of a disciplinary action, especially for a Part 91 operation? Especially with GPS approaches so widely available it would seem the only time an action could conceivably be taken is if someone shot a VOR approach and then got ramp checked - or if the approach went so bad that there was a mishap.

I try to keep mine up to date but will occasionally need to do so en route, using a fix on an airway or something.

This requirement feels more like a quiz question for check rides than a real “risk” for enforcement.

I’m open to being “corrected”
Click to expand...

I know of no enforcement actions based on the VOR log not being current for a 91 operator. Not only would an inspector have to see that your VOR check was overdue when they did a ramp check but they would need knowledge that you flew IFR using the VOR since it became overdue. That would require a little extra investigative work that one would likely only see if there was some sort of incident or if they are looking at you for other wrongdoings. But it isn’t outside the realm of possibility, just probability.
 
Hey, I’ll give Faa props on this one, it’s done right. They want you to make sure your equipment is working before you use it by checking it regularly. Keep track any way you want. Doesn’t require a service center or Faa approved mechanic, or a checkride, or anything onerous.

Unless you have a mishap involving flying a vor / ils, nobody cares.
 
Back when I was in a flying club we had a "receipt book" we filled out every time we flew. The VOR checks were done on the back cover of the book.

My SL30 has a place to log the checks. Don't know how legal that is. As with others, I keep a small spiral notebook in the plane. The VOR checks go int he front pages. The rest are where I copy clearances.
 
Jim Carpenter said:
One of those little spiral pocket-sized notebooks, kept in the seatback pouch. There's really no legal specification, just so it's recorded.
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Legally, you can record it using a grease pencil on the wall. If you have three separate books, I'd put it in the prop book because the VOR is attached to the prop :) What? Your VOR isn't attached to your prop... How odd...
 
You could use your hand as long as you were the only person who flew your plane IFR

upload_2022-1-23_9-2-18.jpeg
 
luvflyin said:
You could use your hand as long as you were the only person who flew your plane IFR

View attachment 103979
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Good idea since I am the only one who flys my plane IFR. lol

I keep it on a reg old "legal pad" that I use to track my flying dates, engine hrs and hobbs hrs. Plus any maintenance performed. I fly by LUK and tune 108.4 check both of my VOR receivers every month. Record the date location and any error and sign it after I get back to the hangar on a page of the legal pad. My VORs receivers are always dead on.
 
As least we don't have to check them every 10 hours of flight. A few years ago I read a book about IFR flying written in the 70's and I'm pretty sure that was the required interval. (I thought I had posted about it on here, but a search didn't show anything.)

However, I will admit that on most planes I fly, I haven't done a VOR check in quite some time.
 
My understanding-- and I may have this wrong because I'm a 'yank'-- is that the CAA requires that maintenance records be kept on public display in a cellar for which there are no lights nor stairs in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘Beware of the Leopard.'
 
Salty said:
Unless you have a mishap involving flying a vor / ils, nobody cares.
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John King had a joke for this, in the King IFR videos. He said that since nobody will check unless there’s an incident, the thing to do, when you’re sitting in the smoldering wreckage of your wrecked plane, is finally fill out your VOR check log.
 
Toilet paper? They’ll like that.
 
When I took my Instrument checkride in 2002 the examiner showed me his C-180. He had recorded a VOR check with a marker on the inside of the windshield and asked me if this was legal. I said "probably not" and he said "you're wrong!".

So, unless things have changed in the last 20 years (doesn't sound like they have) there is no specification on how to record the VOR check, it just has to be recorded....somehow.

Luckily I still passed the checkride, which included an NDB approach, DME arc, and Localizer backcourse. Woohoo! OK Boomer!

I worked for an airline where we had to do it every day as SOP, and it went in the aircraft logbook, on the same page where we logged the day's flights and any discrepancies for maintenance to rectify. Funny how my two subsequent airlines never cared about doing one (and yeah, the first airline that required it was a GPS/FMC/AHRS equipped twin-jet operator).
 
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I keep forgetting to do this :confused:
But I’m not flying IFR either, but still I should make it a habit.
 
Last VOR check is on a whiteboard in the hangar. Along with last oil, annual, and every other “last” thing
 
Is there a way to record this in FF?
 
SkyDog58 said:
I know of no enforcement actions based on the VOR log not being current for a 91 operator. Not only would an inspector have to see that your VOR check was overdue when they did a ramp check but they would need knowledge that you flew IFR using the VOR since it became overdue. That would require a little extra investigative work that one would likely only see if there was some sort of incident or if they are looking at you for other wrongdoings. But it isn’t outside the realm of possibility, just probability.
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For me, the FAA doing a ramp check would have to go only by the historical info they possessed, since if filing IFR, I usually do the dual vor cross check on the ground just prior to departure on any scrap of paper I had stuffed into the interior pocket.
 
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