"Crash Lander" wrote in message
...
When pilots quote how many hours they have logged, is this a personal log
that is kept, or is every hour you fly entered into a national registry
and formally kept?

It's a personal log. But if the FAA has reason to be suspicious, they may
often be able to cross-check. Almost everyone does their primary training in
either rented or military planes; in either case, there's an independent
record of the planes' usage. At more advanced levels, pilots who fly for
airliners or some other commerical operators will likewise generate an
independent record of their flight hours. In between, though, there are
pilots who use their own planes for personal flying; those flight hours
would be harder to verify.

--Gary