Military flight time vs. block time: when taxi time belongs
Military records log takeoff to landing. Civilian flight time runs from first movement to full stop. What that gap means, and why ProvenFlight never adds taxi time unless you ask.
Military flight time runs from takeoff to landing. The FAA's definition of flight time in 14 CFR 1.1 starts when the aircraft first moves under its own power for the purpose of flight and ends when it comes to rest after landing. Taxi counts.
So a 1.5 in your military record might have been closer to 1.8 from first movement to full stop. Across a thousand sorties, that gap adds up to a few hundred hours your records don't show.
It's tempting to add that time back. Don't, unless the application you're filling out tells you to.
How the adjustment works
The per-sortie time adjustment lives in your conversion settings, and it's off by default. Pick an amount from 0.1 to 0.5 hours and it's added to each military pilot sortie, going to PIC or SIC along with the rest of that flight. It's never added to:
- simulator sessions, RPA sorties or non-pilot crew time
- civilian flights, which already follow the civilian definition
- your FAA 8710-1 numbers, which always use recorded time
Always stated
When an adjustment is on, every output says so, with the math: how much per sortie, how many sorties, and how many hours that added. When it's off, the outputs say that too. The chips at the top of Career and your exports show it at a glance. A reviewer should never have to wonder whether taxi time is in your total.
Follow the live instructions
Airline applications don't all handle this the same way. Use what the live application says, keep the same setting for everything you send that airline, and be ready to explain it. Taxi time isn't the only difference between a military total and an airline one, either. The Other time guide covers the other big one.