?s on logging flight time

[pilot]

56 minutes ago, BADFNZ said:

What's the flavor of the month for electronic logbooks?  All I have is a paper logbook that at some point I need to copy over to an electronic version.  That will be fun.

I like excel. Customizable, stored on the cloud, and I’m not beholden to any apps or formats or subscriptions. Mine has been tweaked for years to accommodate my army flying, GA flying, airline flying, and now AF flying. Took some nerding out, but it’s worked for me since. 

[brabus]

Same - the only negative was how much time it took to make it, then put all my paper logbook info into it.  Once caught up, all I do is grab my phone after a sortie and put in the info before debrief starts...lives in the cloud. There's unlimited customizability for future flying and I don't pay a cent for it.

[Guardian]

Same. Excel. And you can create master tabs for each airline because they all do hours break down a little different. Once you set up different tabs then input becomes easy because the tabs will automatically format for each airline that you set up. A little of a bear in the beginning but give yourself a few months and it will be easy. If you only have mil records then I recommend sending them off to a cheap ocr service that will input it into excel for really cheap then you can modify as you see fit.

[FDNYOldGuy]

Tacking on to what @Sit On Acorns said about MyFlightBook. If you hit the button on engine start, it’ll provide telemetry (takeoffs, landings, speed, altitude, etc.). It also backs up daily to an online drive, if you pay $25/yr. 

Not sure how well it integrates with Mil or how easy it is to grab your phone each engine start and stop during training, so maybe it’s not ideal. But, I’ve liked using it for GA and, if you don’t care about it automatically backing up daily, it’s free to use. 

[Yoda]

I've used Logten for 10+ years now.  I'll probably continue to use it, but wouldn't start from scratch with it today.  They moved to a (very expensive) subscription model, but since they did that it feels like the software has stagnated.   I still can't do smart groups based on custom times, still can't do any export with pictures, still no good support for importing tracks.

Where log ten still shines is if you are applying to airlines, it directly exports to Airline Apps and Pilot Credentials.  So updating your file with those entities could easily be done after every flight if so desired.

Meanwhile my other subscription app ForeFlight is chugging along nicely -- at least with that subscription I get new content and new features regularly.  At some point I expect their logbook to takeoff nicely even though its been simmering on the back burner compared to some of the other changes.  Some of the stuff is pretty cool: https://foreflight.com/support/video-library/watch/?v=logbook-entry-summaries&list=logbook

What I really want is something that can take not just the hours for currency/goals and provide graphs, but also pull in the track logs, routes, pictures, and even video of a flight in a way that I can use it as an heirloom for the kids while still exporting professional stuff.  I met an octogenarian on the ramp someplace, his logbook was half scrapbook and half logbook but filled with amazing memories.

Forgot to add: LogTen and many of the commercial options are also nice since you can import scheduled flights from your employer.

 

 

Edited September 4, 2018 by Yoda

[MooseAg03]

Would anyone with one of these fancy excel spreadsheets be willing to share it with those of us who may not be excel geniuses?


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[Spinner]

4 hours ago, MooseAg03 said:

Would anyone with one of these fancy excel spreadsheets be willing to share it with those of us who may not be excel geniuses?

2

[Hopefulflyer389]

3

[pilot]

PM an email address and I’ll send mine. Fair warning, you probably need some working excel knowledge to use it. I’ve sent my sanitized shell to people and they’ve figured it out and it’s worked for them. But if you are having issues with formatting or formulas or something isn’t working properly I’ll fix it to your liking if you’re unable. 

[Hacker]

Attached below.

Hacker's Blank Logbook(1).xls

[KODAK]

6 hours ago, Hacker said:

Attached below.

Great spreadsheet, thanks for posting Hacker!

[pilot]

Mine's sent to whomever wanted one.

[MooseAg03]

Thanks a lot guys, I really appreciate it.


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[MooseAg03]

I’m now paying for my laziness when it came to my personal logbook during my years of flying. I’m digging through my FRF, mission histories, and MERS to log as much data as I can from my C-17 flying.

FlyArmy, I appreciate the excel file. I like how it logs airport locations and totals up miles flown. I recently used the Microsoft HUP to update MS Office on my Mac, and it comes with cloud access for documents. So now once my logbook is up to date, I can keep it that way with my iPhone.


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[Homestar]

46 minutes ago, MooseAg03 said:

So now once my logbook is up to date, I can keep it that way with my iPhone.

I converted my excel file to Numbers and use cloud backup too.  I couldn't imagine losing all that data from a hardware failure.

[pilot]

Mines on Dropbox and google drive. I “save as” a new file every month or so and throw old copies into a logbook archive just in case I mess something up, I have old ones to go back to. I use excel on my iPhone/work iPad to enter flights and it saves it via Dropbox. I’m too cheap to buy a 365 subscription. $10 home use version from my employer and dbox/goog is all I can afford. 

[Guest]

I use logbook pro and have it save my main logbook to my Dropbox folder, with occasional backups to my hard drive and google drive. Works great so far. I’ve been also keeping all the 781s and orders from when I’m the A code. It’s always fun seeing how many mistakes/corrections my SARM has made without advising me.


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[HossHarris]

I went the logten route. 

Lives on the cloud, easy to initially populate via an excel file, easy to update via phone as you fly, spits out all the info needed for all the applications, and prints a real nice paper logbook to take to an interview. 

As an added bonus, the company was really responsive to inputs and requests for specific formats for logbook printout, etc.  it’s Mac based, and i don’t have a Mac  ... so they went the extra mile to bridge the gap for me. 

(I do have an iPhone ....)

[badgerPilot]

For those that transcribed into an electronic format...

Did you bring the "originals" ie old paper, and AF flight records to the A-line interview?

They would seem to be needed due to the ink endorsements, but not sure if anyone cares.

 

[Hacker]

4 hours ago, badgerPilot said:

For those that transcribed into an electronic format...

Did you bring the "originals" ie old paper, and AF flight records to the A-line interview?

They would seem to be needed due to the ink endorsements, but not sure if anyone cares.

I did, but it was probably overkill -- based on the questions they asked, they didn't look beyond the summary page of my printed-out digital log.

[FDNYOldGuy]

This is a really great thread with a lot of info on logging time. Reading through it from page 1 and talking with others headed off to UPT before long, I was wondering thoughts on something:

Do you think it would be worth taking the time to get a high performance/complex endorsement before heading to UPT? 

I've heard having this endorsement allows a student to log PIC time along with dual received for T6 flights with an IP. If I understand the discussions on the earlier pages on this thread, it sounds like time logged can be used toward FAA/ratings time, but NOT for airline time since students aren't signing for the plane/true PICs. Most of those discussions are from 10+ years ago, so I'm not sure what, if anything, changed on MIL or AIM sides from when that info was written.

At this point, I honestly don't have any plans for the airlines and want to finish out my career with the FD when I'm in TR status after training. That said, I'm a big believer in having options open and, in the very least, I would like to continue working toward higher ratings in case the job or family situation changes someday. So, it seems like that time might be worth spending the ~$1000 or so now to be able to log those PIC hours in training, but I just want to make sure I'm not off base or missing something. 

Any input is appreciated and thanks for your time. 

[jazzdude]

There are different definitions of PIC time. Essentially, "sole manipulator of controls" and "signed for the jet". Even if you had complex/high performance, you still only sign for the jet on your solos.

 

Airlines want the latter (signed for the jet), so no real advantage to getting the endorsements prior to UPT. You'll only get maybe 8ish hours solo in the T-6, which you can log without the endorsements, though I think that number has shrunk.

 

But for the purpose of FAA ratings, sole manipulator of controls generally suffices. Here, your AF primary time maps over 1 to 1.

 

And we're just talking about ~80 hours: the other tracks (T-1/T-38) would require a type rating to log PIC (signed for the jet), though T-38 solo would still count.

 

Edit to add: your UPT time counts towards your total time for the airlines anyways. Only AF time that doesn't count is other time.

 

 

 

 

[Guest]

There are different definitions of PIC time. Essentially, "sole manipulator of controls" and "signed for the jet". Even if you had complex/high performance, you still only sign for the jet on your solos.

It’s been awhile, but doesn’t an IP still technically sign for the jet when you Solo? Maybe that was just for the first pattern-only?


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[jazzdude]

It’s been awhile, but doesn’t an IP still technically sign for the jet when you Solo? Maybe that was just for the first pattern-only?

 

 

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IP signed off the recommendation on the previous dual grade sheet, and the briefing IP signs on the step chit. Stud signs for the jet on the DFO though. Initial solo was broken into 2 lines-IP signs for the dual line, stud for their initial solo line.

 

I wish these penguins would fall off the iceberg already...

 

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[pilot]

https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/agc/practice_areas/regulations/interpretations/data/interps/2009/herman - (2009) legal interpretation.pdf

You don’t need to have the complex or high performance endorsement to log PIC time for an aircraft in which you are rated (cat/class/type if applicable) as seen in this FAA legal interpretation...so no, not worth it for the reason of getting to log some extra PIC at UPT. But as stated, no one will count UPT stud time as PIC for airlines anyway. If you want, in your personal logbook, if you ever want a flying career outside the military, make an “FAA PIC” column (sole manipulator or whatever, applicable towards FAA ratings or insurance or whatever FAA PIC is good for) and a “signed for the jet” column of PIC (for airline apps). 

That said, for mil logging, I keep it in a separate logbook, with a single line entry for each mil acft flown in my civ logbook for airline interviews, and I brought a mil print out with my military flying summary to corroborate my single line entries. 

Edited September 24, 2018 by FlyArmy