§61.189: Flight Instructor Records -- What's a good practice for this?

AggieMike88

AggieMike88

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The original "I don't know it all" of aviation.
How do our instructors of PoA keep up with the various endorsements and sign offs they give to their students?
  • A simple paper logbook?
  • A simple word processing or spreadsheet file?


For those wondering what I'm inquiring about......

§ 61.189 Flight instructor records.
(a) A flight instructor must sign the logbook of each person to whom that instructor has given flight training or ground training.

(b) A flight instructor must maintain a record in a logbook or a separate document that contains the following:

(1) The name of each person whose logbook that instructor has endorsed for solo flight privileges, and the date of the endorsement; and

(2) The name of each person that instructor has endorsed for a knowledge test or practical test, and the record shall also indicate the kind of test, the date, and the results. ​

(c) Each flight instructor must retain the records required by this section for at least 3 years.​
 
Add it to the MyFlightBook Thread :)

I use a spreadsheet
 
I do a lesson sheet on a knee board. After the flight it goes in the students folder. For one-off things like flight reviews and IPCs, I snap a photo of the logbook entry.
 
I would be curious if the any of the e-logbooks that do endorsements implement a feature that meets the data retention requirement as I’ve never researched it.
 
Brad Z said:
I do a lesson sheet on a knee board.
Click to expand...
Hmmmm.... you're giving me a possibly good idea of how to keep track of the who and what and how well it was done for the flight.
 
SToL said:
(b) A flight instructor must maintain a record in a logbook

This has worked just fine for me for the last 30 years.
Click to expand...
is this a separate item from your "normal" logbook?
 
I just put it in the comments on my logbook. ".5 dual solo endorsement wannabe pilot." That covers name and date. I dont think you need some book of logs.
 
".....in a logbook or separate document..."
There is no particular FAA definition of logbook, though for pilot time, most of us use the pre-formatted purchased versions, or electronic. A spiral school notebook or such would satisfy the legal requirement. Personally, (full disclosure, I am a die-hard paper dinosaur) I didn't want the student endorsement records adding to the volume of my own pilot log, so I keep a separate loose-leaf binder notebook for those instructor records of student endorsements. Also makes it easy to purge after the 3-year time, if desired.
Bottom line, any medium and format of your choosing is fine, electronic, paper, stone carvings, separate or included in your pilot log, doesn't matter, as long as legible and easily reviewed if required.
 
Brad Z said:
I do a lesson sheet on a knee board. After the flight it goes in the students folder. For one-off things like flight reviews and IPCs, I snap a photo of the logbook entry.
Click to expand...

I don't do the logbook snapshot but for almost as long as I have been teaching I have used a lesson sheet. It used to be multi-part NCR in the Stone Age. Now we just sign it on my tablet. It's gone through a couple of iterations and there are variations for VFR, IFR and recurrent training which might combine elements of both. This is a sample of an older VFR version.

For endorsements required to be kept, it used to be a page I created and pasted into my paper logbook. Now it's just a spreadsheet.
vfrTrainingRecordSample.jpg
 
I put a star in my logbook on each line that contains a solo or checkride endorsement.

I also keep a Google spreadsheet
 
Made up my own Excel spreadsheet that I use for a logbook and make comments regarding the training.

I take photos of the applicable endorsements and store them at home and a backup server at work. One could also store them on the cloud.
 
All of the above work. Had similar questions when I did it.

Don’t forget your mandatory TSA paperwork and someplace to put personal data no flight instructor should be storing anyway, for seven years. Encryption recommended.
 
midlifeflyer said:
I don't do the logbook snapshot but for almost as long as I have been teaching I have used a lesson sheet. It used to be multi-part NCR in the Stone Age. Now we just sign it on my tablet. It's gone through a couple of iterations and there are variations for VFR, IFR and recurrent training which might combine elements of both. This is a sample of an older VFR version.

For endorsements required to be kept, it used to be a page I created and pasted into my paper logbook. Now it's just a spreadsheet.
vfrTrainingRecordSample.jpg
Click to expand...
Interesting that you retain a document with the student's signature confirming that you provided them that instruction. Personal preference or did someone try to dispute that you provided them with specific training after they had an accident?
 
denverpilot said:
Don’t forget your mandatory TSA paperwork and someplace to put personal data no flight instructor should be storing anyway, for seven years. Encryption recommended.
Click to expand...
Adds to office supply list to purchase...

Confetti paper shredder and mason jars....​
 
I used to put every tiny detail of every flight with and without students in my logbook.

I also kept a notebook with all my endorsements.
 
AggieMike88 said:
Paging @EricBe
Click to expand...
Yes, MyFlightbook keeps these records indefinitely, thus meeting the 3 year requirement. You're free to manually delete sooner than forever, if you like. Any endorsement you give is automatically visible to you in your account, and you can make records of endorsements given out-of-band. (I have a work item to allow you to upload images of given endorsements.)
 
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