I posed this question to the appropriate authorities on the subject matter... thought i would get ideas here too

here goes
====================

I am a CFI working with a student who had completed most of his
training in the late 1990's.

His log book was stolen some years ago and he had taken a long
hiatus from flight training.

he purchased a new log book about 6 months ago to resume training,
and he had written his previous flight school requesting a copy of all of
his receipts so he could fill out his new log book with the old flight
times.

the old flight school provided him with detailed receipts, and he
recorded the hours in the new log book.

unfortunately, a fair number - in fact almost all of his previous
flight time was "dual received". He has asked me if the flight
instructor's signature had to appear on each dual received entry in
the log book.

i explained to him that an instructor is required to sign entries
which denote dual flight instruction in a student's log book, and that
as far as myself and the FAA would be concerned he would
need to have those prior entries signed by the instructor who
originally conducted the training at the time for those hours to be
considered legal and valid.

his concern is - if he is unable to locate the instructors who signed
his log book several years ago, that those hours would be considered
voided... i have advised him that this "voided hours" scenario is a
possibility, and that when he goes for a check ride the examiner would
probably be displeased with the fact that 90% of his dual flight time
lacks any instructor signatures, and that his prior solo flights have
no endorsements or instructor signatures authorizing such flights.

my question is: Are there any waivers or "loop holes" or log book
entries that can be made so that he can retain credit for the original
training if he is unable to locate the previous instructors to get
their signatures?

I have never heard of such a thing, but i would be doing him a
disservice by not trying to find out.

so what do you guys think?

I'm a non-current CFI... Funny thing that neither of us "know" the answers here.

I knew a guy who was in a similar situation.. and he got what I think is the best answer to the question(s)...

Anything in your logbook that required signatures, is really moot, if you aint flown in a decade. You need to re-do all that stuff anyway, and satisfy your current instructor, before he just takes your word on things like; night-time-X-country-navigation..   (like if he chose to do his instrument X-country at night, like I did (in level 2 storms no less )

You're gonna want to see so much of his skill, first-hand, that anything left-over, isn't worth worrying about.

Tell him to stop sweating it, and get down to business  

I wouldn't cut him loose (though I'm not privy to the other things that are adding up)..

To him:

"Listen.. you were no doubt told long ago, that training in spurts would mean having to repeat many things.. so some of those hours are already thrown away, logged or otherwise" ... "THe stuff that I'd  REQUIRE you to learn as I wintenss, before I'd sign you off on ANYthing, account for the rest of it" ... "Consult an aviation attorney about the hours you have reciepts for.. if he says OK.. you can log them toward total hours, but nothing that was signature worthy is valid.. end of story  .. discussion closed".

If he intends to DO anything with the license (like travel with civilians on board).. or  DO anything with the instrument ticket (like fly IMC).. we're talking about a flying adventure that will run into the hundreds (if not thousands) of hours..  If he's sweating a few hours now, he's likely a menace in the making  

excellent points rotty

its like i told him

ME: "lets pretend im the FAA and you brought me that log book lacking CFI signatures"

HIM: "Ok"

ME (as FAA): "Do you have a pilot logbook?"

HIM: "Yes"

ME (as FAA): "Do you have logged PIC/Solo Flight time as a student pilot in it?"

HIM: "Yes"

ME (as FAA): "Was the solo flight time logged legally within the letter of the federal aviation regulations?"

HIM: "Yes"

ME (as FAA): "Prove it."

HIM: *epiphany followed by several seconds of silence*