100 air-mile logbook exemption

One thing to keep in mind about the 100 air-mile exemption from requirement to keep a logbook, it has NOTHING to do with miles on your odometer or how many miles you drive. It's called air-miles because it is using the straight-line distance, on a map, from where you report for work and your farthest destination or pick-up. Theoretically, you could drive 300 miles from point A to point B and still meet the other requirements of the logbook exemption.

Here's an example: Imagine you start work in West Memphis Arkansas and have a run that has you picking up freight in Memphis, TN and returning to West Memphis, AR every day. Those of you who cross between West Memphis, AR and Memphis, TN know this is a very short trip because of the bridge across the Mississippi river between West Memphis and Memphis on Interstate 40. Now suppose that there were no bridge between West Memphis, AR and Memphis, TN. Suppose the nearest bridge or ferry boat to get from one city to the other was 65 miles due south of Memphis/West Memphis. That would mean your dispatch from West Memphis to Memphis would require you to 65 miles south from West Memphis, AR to the bridge, 65 miles north from the bridge to Memphis , TN (total of 130 driving miles) and then re-trace your trip by driving 65 miles from Memphis to the bridge and 65 miles from the bridge to West Memphis. That's a minimum of 260 miles of driving and that mileage total is irrelevant to compliance with the 100 air-mile logbook exemption.

If you could make that trip and still comply with the 12 hour work limit and other requirements you could use the 100 air-mile exemption. I still run into drivers that think crossing state borders comes into play when considering the 100 air-mile logbook exemption. State borders do not factor into the use/non-use of the logbook exemption.

As a practical matter it is your boss/company, and not you, that will determine if you can use the logbook exemption. Your company will need to track your work hours and keep these records in order to satisfy the requirements of the 100 air-mile exemption.

You can use GPS or Google Earth to get an accurate distance measure of the straight-line distance from any 2 points if you are in doubt about the matter. It's true that if your driving distance between A and B is less than 100 miles you can't be beyond the 100 air-mile radius. But, it is not true that if your driving distance is more than 100 miles you are beyond the 100 air-mile radius. And further, remember that the definition of "air-mile" that is applied by the DOT uses "nautical miles" which are longer than the "statute miles" measured by our odometers in the USA. A "nautical mile" is actually 1.15 statute miles so the 100 air-mile rule is actually a 115 statute air-mile rule in one sense. If you are an OTR driver this will likely never apply to you while you are OTR.

You can look up the other requirement for the 100 air-mile rule under regulation 395.1e1. There is a 150 mile rule for commercial operations that don't require a CDL. I am not discussing those rules.