Adlog™ aircraft recordkeeping system

[AggieMike88]

The Adlog recordkeeping system has been mentioned in a recent thread or two.

http://www.adlog.com/
Mike Busch's description: http://www.avweb.com/news/savvyaviator/190596-1.html

Any PIREPs on the system?

Since I might become part owner in an aircraft within the next 6 months, I'm also looking into things that will help with all of the non-flying requirements to stay legal and organized.

 

[AggieMike88]

If we were to switch from the smaller "original style" airframe/engine logbooks to the Adlog system, do we as the aircraft owner just make an entry into the "old style book" of "information continues in Adlog as of this date" and sign it? Then put any new entries into the Adlog pages?

 

[jbarrass]

Been using it since my first plane and love it. Simple and easy to manage. Much easier to periodically scan pages for a backup of the logs too. And it's cheap!

I just made a note, as the first entry, stating previous entries are in log book #x. Same as when you fill up a small book.

 

[ja_user]

They are very nice for the users of them (pilots), I don't know how much effort the A&P's put into them. But they are organized quite nicely.

 

[flyingmoose]

+1 for ADLOG. I think the system is great. Call and talk to the guy who runs it, he can answer all of you questions in detail. But the skinny is S/N specific ads and a much more organized way of doing things.

I actually run specials where I will eat some of the cost for the system to make my life easier on the back side.

 

[AggieMike88]

I actually run specials where I will eat some of the cost for the system to make my life easier on the back side.

Do you mean you encourage your customer's to move to the system by purchasing it on their behalf and transferring the data/notes/entries?

 

[flyingmoose]

Do you mean you encourage your customer's to move to the system by purchasing it on their behalf and transferring the data/notes/entries?

Yes. And then the yearly $30 or so is on them. It is so easy its worth it to me (well for returning customers that is.) Actually that reminded me..I might just do that again.

Like I said if you call the guy who runs it he can give you a better understanding in less words. You basically have a section for already C/W stuff and a section for recurring. The problem with some of the older AD software was its not S/N specific, so you still have to read through all of them to see if it applies to your A/C eng accs etc.... ADLOG fixes that. If you have a new AD issued for your A/C they send it right to you..

Anyway..I like the set up.

 

[SoloEqs]

I'm sure it's worth it for, say, a C310 or something, but I'm finding it hard to justify the $150 startup cost for a C150.

 

[AggieMike88]

I'm sure it's worth it for, say, a C310 or something, but I'm finding it hard to justify the $150 startup cost for a C150.

Consider how much easier it would be to sell an aircraft with a complete ADLOG file. Everything much easier to find. And your buyer can quickly see that everything is complied with and properly maintained.

Recently, I had spotted what looked like a very nice low time Cheetah. Had the HC upgrade, STEC-50, GNS430, GPSS, Good P&I, but original crankcase, and less than 9 hours of usage over the past 24 months. Price started at $39k but now dropping because a buyer isn't coming through with offer. And my club partner and I are going to pass on it too.

Why? Way too many questions about AD compliance. We recruited someone who knows alot about the Grummans to help us, and learned a ton about what needs to be checked out during the inspections, and what AD's need to be done.

Existing logbooks were lacking lots of documentation about AD compliance. Some were mentioned, but a few of the expensive ones weren't. We were left with too many questions of what was needed to bring this back to legal airworthy.

*IF* the owner of this Cheetah had a system like ADLOG, and had been complying and flying it more, it would have prompted us to be more comfortable with paying close to his asking price. Why? Because we could easily see that that all required items were being done and proper records being kept. And since we were one of the first to contact the seller's representative, we might have been an early purchaser too.


So, is a $150 purchase price and $34/yr subscription worth it to you to get your aircraft sold quickly? I say yes.

 

[darrell]

We use AdLogs at work, and I think they are really nice if maintained properly. We never handwrite anything into them...everything is on an adhesive sheet and "stickied" in the AdLog books. It is ridiculously easy to find information in them. The discrepancy (or type of inspection due) is bolded and underlined, with the signoff and additional info underneath that in normal font. Of course each one has a header with aircraft registration, serial number, total time, and date...etc.

If I bought my own aircraft (just need wife buy-in, we have the money already saved up) I would absolutely use AdLogs. It's helps, I suppose, that I'm also an A&P.

 

[Ted]

The 310 has it and the Aztec did as well. For the Aztec it was less of an issue to me since I didn't deal with the logs much, but I love having it on the 310. It is very easily organized and makes my life a lot simpler looking for particular log entries.

 

[SoloEqs]

Consider how much easier it would be to sell an aircraft with a complete ADLOG file. Everything much easier to find. And your buyer can quickly see that everything is complied with and properly maintained.

. . .

So, is a $150 purchase price and $34/yr subscription worth it to you to get your aircraft sold quickly? I say yes.

I have a binder with printouts of the FAA AD lists and each AD for each component. That cost me a little printer ink and a couple of hours online. Every month, I print out the latest info (about a 5-minute job) and highlight the date. I also have a text file which shows when each was complied with (date, tach and Hobbs hours, shop, pages in the logbooks), and one page showing those which must be repeated, and when.

The binder also has copies of important documents, STC, etc, and the logbooks fit nicely into the zippered holder for pencils, etc. That sits in my fireproof safe, with a note in the plane were to look for this stuff if anyone ever has to.

 

[murphey]

Looks like I'm the only negative. I tried AdLog a number of years ago. The contents of the binder that was sent to me was incomplete and wrong. For example, there were ADs identified that were not applicable to my cherokee or the engine and a number that were applicable, ignored.

And let's add the variety of "appliances" that must also be kept track of. Unless you provide AdLog the list of parts & serial numbers, that entire section is really iffy.

Much easier to do it yourself. Remember, the FAA will email you notices about ADs that you sign up for. Print them out, put them in a binder. Do a search on everything in the FAA library. Print them out, put them in a binder. Yes, startup will be time-consuming, but you'll know exactly what's relevant.

As for AD compliance. Everything is noted in the logbooks. But I also keeps an Excel spreadsheet that lists every applicable AD, recurring or one-time, and all the details such as when it was last complied with. Turns out the A&P/IA at my shop has software that does the same. Redundancy never hurts in this type of situation.

 

[Tom-D]

I like AD Log as much as to give a $50 off for my customers that use it.

BUT

It is not given to you completed. You still must confirm the ADs have been complied with in the proper manor.

Usually that is done once, then it is up to the A&P-IA at each annual to except that or not.

When you remove a component that has an AD and replace it with one that doesn't, you still must update your AD compliance records.

My point? it is not a cut and dried method od AD compliance, but it is much better than the old 1 page entries that we see most often.