Electronic pilot log books

Let'sgoflying!

Let'sgoflying!

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Dave Taylor
I’m at the end of a paper logbook, it’s a convenient time to consider switching.
What is out there?
I need easy, inexpensive - vs complicated & pricey.
(I have FF, is there one built into one of those versions?)

-needs to have a good backup, even if it’s emailing a digital file to myself
-needs to have running totals readily available for several insurers, medicals.
-would be great if it could catch addition errors ie incompatible totals which plague the paper version.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
I’m at the end of a paper logbook, it’s a convenient time to consider switching.
What is out there?
I need easy, inexpensive - vs complicated & pricey.
(I have FF, is there one built into one of those versions?)

-needs to have a good backup, even if it’s emailing a digital file to myself
-needs to have running totals readily available for several insurers, medicals.
-would be great if it could catch addition errors ie incompatible totals which plague the paper version.
Click to expand...

ForeFlight pro has it built in I believe, it makes logging very easy and seem less.
 
A few have already mentioned MyFlightBook. FWIW, I've been using it since 2006 (before Foreflight or the iPad existed). It is now my only logbook.
 
I really like FF for its ease of use. I have mine set to start the clock automatically when I takeoff and stop after I land if I forget to stop it. Then is just a matter of a few clicks to confirm the info verify pic,solo,xc etc then approve the entry.

The only caveat is if you forget open the app before launching or if the device dies in flight.
 
Kitch said:
The only caveat is if you forget open the app before launching or if the device dies in flight.
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Can you then add the info manually after the flight?
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What is the backup situation with either FF or MFB?
 
Foreflight allows you to export or import logbook entries. Exports them to standard csv format.
 
I like to keep the data under my control. Using a spreadsheet works great. I keep it on a Google drive, save a copy, and occasionally print a copy. As future proof as can be,

The template I use is this one: https://easypilotlogbook.com/

Price is right… free, though donations are appreciated.
 
I was in the same situation a few years ago. I chose MyFlightbook, and actually went through the trouble of entering my entire flight history. I’ve been very satisfied. I fly a number of different aircraft, and MyFlightbook helps me manage currency, IFR proficiency, BFRs and Medicals, the whole thing.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
Can you then add the info manually after the flight?
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What is the backup situation with either FF or MFB?
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Yes you can add logbook entries into FF manually.

Both apps allow export to CSV. MFB includes a manual updatable Excel spreadsheet option and, as already mentioned, an annual "donation" gets you automatic daily csv exports to the cloud of your choice. That stuff is important for, to borrow the phrase, "future proofing."

if you are going to use it as your only logbook (I do at this point; I've been backup eLogging since DOS), the advantage of either over a personal spreadsheet or database is the ability to capture unalterable electronic signatures for instruction received and endorsements with AC120-78A.

I chose MFB to replace my personal database after looking at a few others that were available at the time. I never even considered Foreflight (I had already been using MFB for 5 years and I dint like the idea if feeling tied to a single EFB) but have become somewhat familiar with it because of students. It's OK but it always struck me as an casual add-on rather than a core function. I've seen a number of complaints about it but those were mostly in the certificate/rating requirements tracking area.
 
I use the one built into Garmin Pilot, including all endorsement and other tracking.
Works well, and also tracks currency.

Tim
 
Have been using MyFlightBook for years. What happens if you let your Foreflight subscription lapse do you lose access to your logs?

I do paper and electronic. The electronic is the backup and I backup that too. :)
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
Can you then add the info manually after the flight?
break
What is the backup situation with either FF or MFB?
Click to expand...

You can add it in manually. However at that point you don't get the actual gps track log with altitude and ground speed info etc

As far as back up you can export it and save it or print it. So far I'm happy overall. Like everything there is always something that could be tweaked a little bit.
 
Lycosaurus said:
I like to keep the data under my control. Using a spreadsheet works great. I keep it on a Google drive, save a copy, and occasionally print a copy. As future proof as can be,

The template I use is this one: https://easypilotlogbook.com/

Price is right… free, though donations are appreciated.
Click to expand...

How’s that different than using ForeFlight and exporting your logs monthly to a local drive?


I’d trust ForeFlight before google with my personal information.
 
I recently exported all of my FF logs to MFB and I'm really impressed with it. I'm in the process of switching over to Garmin Pilot anyway, which doesn't have all of my logbook history, so just putting everything into MFB made the most sense.
 
Lindberg said:
MyFlightbook can download to your device and backup to Google Drive or Dropbox. For a $25 donation, you get a year of automatic nightly backups.
Click to expand...
In addition, MyFlightBook can export in a spreadsheet form which I email to myself for backup. Also can import from this form if you've got a lot of data to enter.
 
For those who maintain only an electronic logbook, how do you deal with things like Flight Review and IPC signoffs? Or checkouts in other aircraft?

I use Safe Log for electronic, but also maintain a paper log book.
 
Pinecone said:
For those who maintain only an electronic logbook, how do you deal with things like Flight Review and IPC signoffs? Or checkouts in other aircraft?

I use Safe Log for electronic, but also maintain a paper log book.
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I’m coming up on crossing this bridge. My paper logbook is full. I’ve been using that as my ‘official’ logbook with all my endorsements in it and MyFlightBook for data entry (which I later transcribe to paper, once every few months). I’ll be using MFB as my only logbook going forward, but I can envision instructors who don’t use it being uncomfortable signing my flight review on a cocktail napkin that I just snap a picture of to import into MFB and then throw away.
 
As apps come and eventually go, I'm sticking with the Amish paper log book with a back up on an excel sheet. Also copy (PDF) the log book after each page is filled for another back up.

If you use an electronic log book, suggest you periodically save a print file (PDF) as a back up so you can always access without the app.
 
Pinecone said:
For those who maintain only an electronic logbook, how do you deal with things like Flight Review and IPC signoffs? Or checkouts in other aircraft?

I use Safe Log for electronic, but also maintain a paper log book.
Click to expand...

Garmin pilot allows me to record the info, locks the record and records the digital signature of the CFII. There is also a special endorsements section to record endorsements, not just the flight log entries.

Tim
 
Pinecone said:
For those who maintain only an electronic logbook, how do you deal with things like Flight Review and IPC signoffs? Or checkouts in other aircraft?

I use Safe Log for electronic, but also maintain a paper log book.
Click to expand...
MFB can track all that and capture CFI signatures.
 
I’m with @WDD The last thing I need is orphaned data from an abandoned platform.

I have an old-fashioned paper logbook coming from Amazon in a day or two as I am reaching the end of my current one.
 
Ok here's one since I'm coming up on this soon. Using MFB, what do you do for a checkride? Have it up on a tablet? Print it out?
 
Sierra_Hotel said:
Ok here's one since I'm coming up on this soon. Using MFB, what do you do for a checkride? Have it up on a tablet? Print it out?
Click to expand...
Do both. MFB has flexible print capability. It also has a screen that lists and automatically tracks the requirements for each certificate/rating and will jump you directly to the flights that satisfy those requirements. So you can easily print the whole thing and flag relevant flights, and also show it all on the screen.
 
Nice, I was just playing around in the print screens seeing what options are there.
 
Rgbeard said:
I’m with @WDD The last thing I need is orphaned data from an abandoned platform.

I have an old-fashioned paper logbook coming from Amazon in a day or two as I am reaching the end of my current one.
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I still use paper even as a CFI, which can be a pain when I fly 6 flights in a day. I should probably go digital, honestly.

But even as a paper user, I’d concede that I’m more likely to lose my logbook, have it stolen, or have it burn up in a fire that Google is to orphan my data.
 
Pinecone said:
For those who maintain only an electronic logbook, how do you deal with things like Flight Review and IPC signoffs? Or checkouts in other aircraft?.
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Digital signatures. They've been around for a long time now. You can buy a multimillion dollar house with them. Amazingly even the FAA not only accepts them but uses them!
 
Bonchie said:
But even as a paper user, I’d concede that I’m more likely to lose my logbook, have it stolen, or have it burn up in a fire that Google is to orphan my data.
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I have used an eLog for 30 years and MyFlightBook for the past 16. I went pretty much paperless in my law practice sometime before 2010 when the courts began accepting eFiling and dropped the requirement to keep paper originals, not to mention electronically signed business documents. So It's kind of funny to hear people still talk about losing data backed up in the cloud as if paper is somehow more secure. Heck, I have data from decades ago I couldn't get rid of if I tried :D
 
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Bonchie said:
…….., I’d concede that I’m more likely to lose my logbook, have it stolen, or have it burn up in a fire that Google is to orphan my data.
Click to expand...


The issue isn’t that Google (or more popularly Amazon or MS Azure) burns up in a horrible fire. It’s more that the app developer decided to go a different direction. Who the app developer “is” will color exactly what that looks like.

If the developer is a bright 19yo that made the app popular from his parent’s basement, he simply drops his cloud presence/servers when life hands him different “stuff” to do. Poof. It simply all disappears. No recourse or warning is necessarily going to happen.

If the developer is a corporation they could stop development at any time and eventually stop accepting changes/updates. You’re more likely to have a window of time to export your data. But now you have to figure out next steps.
 
Rgbeard said:
The issue isn’t that Google (or more popularly Amazon or MS Azure) burns up in a horrible fire. It’s more that the app developer decided to go a different direction. Who the app developer “is” will color exactly what that looks like.

If the developer is a bright 19yo that made the app popular from his parent’s basement, he simply drops his cloud presence/servers when life hands him different “stuff” to do. Poof. It simply all disappears. No recourse or warning is necessarily going to happen.

If the developer is a corporation they could stop development at any time and eventually stop accepting changes/updates. You’re more likely to have a window of time to export your data. But now you have to figure out next steps.
Click to expand...

That's a whole lot of worry about nothing.

All of the popular electronic logbooks have an import and export function. I know MFB best, so I can talk about it. I get a nightly backup of my logbook, in .csv format, saved to MY Google drive. If @EricBe ever decided to just quit and deleted everything he ever did with MFB, I'd still have my data. It would then be a matter of choosing a new logbook and importing my data to it. Sure there might be a little massaging of the column names or something, but a good electronic logbook (like MFB) should be able to figure it out pretty easily.
 
RussR said:
That's a whole lot of worry about nothing.

All of the popular electronic logbooks have an import and export function. I know MFB best, so I can talk about it. I get a nightly backup of my logbook, in .csv format, saved to MY Google drive. If @EricBe ever decided to just quit and deleted everything he ever did with MFB, I'd still have my data. It would then be a matter of choosing a new logbook and importing my data to it. Sure there might be a little massaging of the column names or something, but a good electronic logbook (like MFB) should be able to figure it out pretty easily.
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you worry about what you want, and I will worry about what I want.

You and I have different backgrounds and experiences that have each gotten us to today.
 
Rgbeard said:
you worry about what you want, and I will worry about what I want.

You and I have different backgrounds and experiences that have each gotten us to today.
Click to expand...
I think Russ's point is that MFB can shut down operations tomorrow with no warning, and I'll still have all of my data in a fully portable format. I honestly can't think of any advantage paper logbooks have over electronic.
 
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