Anyone ever lose a log book, as a student?

exncsurfer

exncsurfer

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exncsurfer
Anyone ever lose a log book, as a student pilot?

I'm wondering what would you do? Surely you don't have to start over, right?

Don't ask me why I'm wondering.
 
Oooooh, bad news, bummer. The good news: you're still a student pilot with not a huge number of entries to track down. You may want to consider an electronic log book which will be backed up in multiple places.
 
My school keeps a record of my flights, maybe yours does the same? Otherwise, I make a photocopy of each page as I complete it.
 
When I was a student I kept all of my receipts. I could have rebuilt it with a little help. Now I keep paper and online.
 
Your rental outfit almost certainly has Hobbs records if you are charged by Hobbs. So does your instructor. CFIs have to log instruction given. And he can give you new endorsements.

You can reconstruct all your flights this way. It will be a PITA.
 
whereisrandall said:
Oooooh, bad news, bummer. The good news: you're still a student pilot with not a huge number of entries to track down. You may want to consider an electronic log book which will be backed up in multiple places.
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Its not lost yet, its in the mail hopefully, I talked to the guy at the FBO who has it. It just made me wonder what you would do. I do have it online so I could recreate it and have my cfi sign off each entry again, is that what you'd have to do?
 
MAKG1 said:
Your rental outfit almost certainly has Hobbs records if you are charged by Hobbs. So does your instructor. CFIs have to log instruction given. And he can give you new endorsements.

You can reconstruct all your flights this way. It will be a PITA.
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Right, I forgot he has an entry for all the dual, not the solo stuff though. Hopefully this is all theoretical for me.
 
Well, you could replicate much of it from your CFIs personal log, plus you could probably get the billing info on the plane to replicate any solo time.

Personally I scan and uploaded my paper log, and use a electronic one now, though for a student this isn't the best idea when your CFI is going to be putting a lot of ink in those pages.
 
Just treat your logbook like your wallet or birth certificate...it's not something you want to lose. As mentioned above if you do misplace it, there are ways to recover it. After you start to accumulate a good number of hours with endorsements, an electronic log becomes a must.
 
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Interesting article in smithsonian a couple of years ago asking well known astronauts and other military greats how they kept track of their flight time.i was amazed at how many , after the first few years, never even made entry's any further! When I was young there were many who started training at a local airport and then quit after a time for any number of reasons, leaving their log books at the airport. One could , if they lost theirs , find one with approximate hours of instruction and commandeer it. There was a big pile of them amassed over many years. Personally , I often flew and never marked it in my log, like if I flew after work for an hour or so , etc. seemed silly. If I'd flown for a career I would have been far different.
 
Xerox it. Every time you open a new page, xerox the one you just finished.
 
I spoke with an instructor who had his logbook stolen when his car was broken into. He advised I take photos at the completion of each page.
 
Jimmy cooper said:
Interesting article in smithsonian a couple of years ago asking well known astronauts and other military greats how they kept track of their flight time.i was amazed at how many , after the first few years, never even made entry's any further! When I was young there were many who started training at a local airport and then quit after a time for any number of reasons, leaving their log books at the airport. One could , if they lost theirs , find one with approximate hours of instruction and commandeer it. There was a big pile of them amassed over many years. Personally , I often flew and never marked it in my log, like if I flew after work for an hour or so , etc. seemed silly. If I'd flown for a career I would have been far different.
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It's funny how that works, two diffrent crowds, some still log everything, some just stop logging in their personal logs (many still have limited company logs).

Still logging after every flight, I type comments in for what the flight was all about, any interesting things that occurred, how much fuel I added, contacts I made at a FBO, etc. I find it fun to look back on it also can help jog the memory if anyone asks about a specific flight from the past.
 
Exactly why I log it James. I can't remember what I had for dinner last night so when someone asks, "Hey Tim, when did we fly to...?" I've got it.
 
I know people that have lost a log book and gotten an instructor to make a note to the effect of the pilot is understood to have X hours and this log book will count as of that point. I am not sure the exact wording or how official that is but I am aware if it being done for a pilot that lost a book w/ about 400 hours in it.
 
It won't help students out much, but that is part of the reason the FAA wants to know your hours when an 8710 form is filled out. If you've recently completed a checkride you can get your hours off the form and start from there so that hopefully you'll know most of your hours.
 
I take a picture of every newly completed page with my phone, and email it to myself. Takes about 10 seconds, and is a pretty good backup.
 
Ryanb said:
After you start to accumulate a good number of hours with endorsements, an electronic log becomes a must.
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???

I'm not sure why, especially if you're not a commercial pilot, employed commercially.

Like others, I back up my logs electronically. I scan my plane and pilot logs and burn them to a CD every six months. It goes in the safe deposit box.

And put me squarely in the camp with those who log every hour. It's just part of the ritual. The fight's not over until it's recorded in the logbook. It never grows old. About 1800 hours here.
 
I have no idea where my original logbook is. I flew a bit 30 years ago (~300hours) and then stopped. Took up flying again and so just started a new one from 60 hours which is "close enough for government work". I figure having a certificate is proof enough of at least 60 hours.

Never going to be flying for money so it doesn't really matter to me. If I ever go for another rating or something else, I'll have at least the minimum hours for sure. I do photo the pages now.

Cheers
 
timwinters said:
???

I'm not sure why, especially if you're not a commercial pilot, employed commercially.

Like others, I back up my logs electronically. I scan my plane and pilot logs and burn them to a CD every six months. It goes in the safe deposit box.

And put me squarely in the camp with those who log every hour. It's just part of the ritual. The fight's not over until it's recorded in the logbook. It never grows old. About 1800 hours here.
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Electronic logs are easier IMO, don't need to worry about scanning and updating pages, and it's backed up by its very nature.
 
Take photos of each page. Consider a duplicate electronic log. Better to log the electronic entries now than trying to reconstruct later.
 
exncsurfer said:
Anyone ever lose a log book, as a student pilot?

I'm wondering what would you do? Surely you don't have to start over, right?

Don't ask me why I'm wondering.
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Another thought. If you use foreflight they have an electronic log as part of program. If you're like me too busy to enter, I have the phone number of a company that will do it for you for a fee. They will provide a file for you to import. That's what I did for about 10 pages. They were fast and accurate, just did not enter the remarks.
 
X3 Skier said:
I have no idea where my original logbook is. I flew a bit 30 years ago (~300hours) and then stopped. Took up flying again and so just started a new one from 60 hours which is "close enough for government work". I figure having a certificate is proof enough of at least 60 hours.

Never going to be flying for money so it doesn't really matter to me. If I ever go for another rating or something else, I'll have at least the minimum hours for sure. I do photo the pages now.

Cheers
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Right, thats why I asked about a student losing the log book, since they'd still need to prove the various required hours are met. I don't expect it would matter so much after certs are acquired.
 
asgcpa said:
Take photos of each page. Consider a duplicate electronic log. Better to log the electronic entries now than trying to reconstruct later.
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Yea, I have the stuff on a spreadsheet, I'd just have to fill out a new one and get the CFI signatures again. How do electronic log book apps handle CFI sign-offs? scanning?
 
exncsurfer said:
Yea, I have the stuff on a spreadsheet, I'd just have to fill out a new one and get the CFI signatures again. How do electronic log book apps handle CFI sign-offs? scanning?
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I have a home brewed excel logbook in Google docs, I just scan any signature needed and put it into that flights row under comments.


asgcpa said:
Another thought. If you use foreflight they have an electronic log as part of program. If you're like me too busy to enter, I have the phone number of a company that will do it for you for a fee. They will provide a file for you to import. That's what I did for about 10 pages. They were fast and accurate, just did not enter the remarks.
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Why?

Just scan your old paper log into a *.pdf, make a new electronic log, and make a entry your hours forwarded.

No sense duplicating like that, and no way on earth would you want to pay someone to do something which doesn't even make sense in the first place. I'd also not want a stranger going through my logs.
 
James331 said:
I have a home brewed excel logbook in Google docs, I just scan any signature needed and put it into that flights row under comments...
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Yea that is what my electronic version is, a home grown google sheet. I'll just do the email photo of each page thing once I get it back(hopefully in a few days).
 
No, but my frigg'n Ex stole/lost/burned/tossed mine when she vacated my house... I've had to rebuild my time for IR... Karma, is what I'm hoping settles this since other methods are against the law.... almost 500 hours in that dam book!
 
I lost my logs when I first started. I used a private instructor and the family airplane so there were no backups. I had hoped the instructor logged the time on his books but no such luck. Ended up starting over again in the end.
 
Also some pilots like to take their logbooks with them when they fly and it can easily get lost either in the plane or at the destination if you're not careful. I never take my logbook with me flying. There really is not reason to. My logbooks sit on my desk at home.
 
Cajun_Flyer said:
My school keeps a record of my flights, maybe yours does the same? Otherwise, I make a photocopy of each page as I complete it.
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This. Your CFI should be able to bail you out if he's logged all the training flights. If you've done any solo flights, those may be gone... but hopefully there weren't that many hours.

I make it a habit to take a cell phone photo of each page as I fill it i up, and that replicates to the cloud. While not as nice and neat as a spreadsheet, worst case scenario is I print those photos and put them in the new logbook.
 
Grum.Man said:
I lost my logs when I first started. I used a private instructor and the family airplane so there were no backups. I had hoped the instructor logged the time on his books but no such luck. Ended up starting over again in the end.
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Wow, that sucks. My instructor logs all the dual and has me sign his book, I figured that was standard practice. I have 10+ solo hours that I'd not want to lose, I typed them all in to a spreadsheet so I could recreate it. I'll be making photos or photocopies now.
 
Just to close this thread, it figures, after I gave up on ever seeing it again, obtained a new book, copied over all my electronically saved entries(no signatures) into the new book, getting CFI to sign off on previous dual and solo endorsement do-over, my log book showed up in my mailbox. Almost a month later.
 
exncsurfer said:
Just to close this thread, it figures, after I gave up on ever seeing it again, obtained a new book, copied over all my electronically saved entries(no signatures) into the new book, getting CFI to sign off on previous dual and solo endorsement do-over, my log book showed up in my mailbox. Almost a month later.
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Now you're really backed up! :rockon:
 
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