The MyFlightBook thread

[EricBe]

Can possibly add a toggle. Personally if I do an approach to an airport I put it into the route even if I don’t land but I can see why others may choose otherwise.

Note that this whole screen ultimately only does two things: a) assists in creating a text description (in the Approach Description property) of the approaches in the form #-KIND-RUNWAY@AIRPORT, and b) optionally bumps up total approach count by #. I.e. it’s not doing anything you can’t do directly, it’s just saving you touch typing (which is why airports are a pick list)

So you can also pick a random airport from the scroll list and then edit the description

maybe, though, it should just be an autocomplete; that’s generally the best way to combine selection from a constrained list and free form typing...

 

[midlifeflyer]

Can possibly add a toggle. Personally if I do an approach to an airport I put it into the route even if I don’t land but I can see why others may choose otherwise

No pony in this race. The names of the approaches fields are among the many additional fields I don't use.

But I'll mention I'm one of the "choose otherwise." In my case, it started with my first instructor using "LOCAL" instead of a second airport ID if there was no intermediate landing at another airport. I picked it up. When I began using an eLogbook in the early 1990s, I found it was a way to query "generic" cross countries (remote point of landing regardless of distance) without creating a field. "Doesn't contain LOCAL." Just never saw a reason to change it.

 

[EricBe]

But I'll mention I'm one of the "choose otherwise." In my case, it started with my first instructor using "LOCAL" instead of a second airport ID if there was no intermediate landing at another airport. I picked it up. When I began using an eLogbook in the early 1990s, I found it was a way to query "generic" cross countries (remote point of landing regardless of distance) without creating a field. "Doesn't contain LOCAL." Just never saw a reason to change it.

Note that MyFlightbook already has built-in support for non-local without having to use "LOCAL". If the route of flight is either XXX or XXX-XXX (hyphen optional), then it's a local flight. If you want to see your "generic" cross-country, just search for "non-local" flights.

 

[midlifeflyer]

Note that MyFlightbook already has built-in support for non-local without having to use "LOCAL". If the route of flight is either XXX or XXX-XXX (hyphen optional), then it's a local flight. If you want to see your "generic" cross-country, just search for "non-local" flights.

I know. But one of the things I like most about MyFlightBook is how it allows me to log the way I have for 30 years without forcing me to accept "your" way

 

[iamtheari]

This is, I think, a feature request. I want to be able to say "I have logged PIC in N different aircraft" or "I have landed N different airplanes," and I want to find N without having to filter my flights by each separate plane or type to tally them up.

Basically, I am looking for the path of least resistance to get a list like this, which would be useful almost exclusively for bragging purposes:

N1234: 10.2 hours, 3.7 hours PIC, 8 landings, 5 day full stop, 2 night full stop
N56AZ: 1.3 hours, 0 hours PIC, 0 landings, 0 day full stop, 0 night full stop
N78BY: 5.7 hours, 5.7 hours PIC, 2 landings, 1 day full stop, 1 night full stop

I have 15 tail numbers in my logbook and at least one of them has been reassigned to a different plane. I could find this information by hand in about the time it took type type this post. But I can imagine that some people have 150 tail numbers in their logbooks, with dozens of them belonging to different aircraft now, so it would be impractical to distill the same data without computer help.

 

[EricBe]

Try Training->8710 Form->Rollup by model to do it at least at the model level.
If you want it at the individual tail number level, then I'd recomend downloading to excel and creating a pivot table. Very quick to do that.

 

[denverpilot]

Try Training->8710 Form->Rollup by model to do it at least at the model level.
If you want it at the individual tail number level, then I'd recomend downloading to excel and creating a pivot table. Very quick to do that.

 

[EricBe]

I'm happy to help create that spreadsheet for you.

 

[NealRomeoGolf]

My life at work almost every day. You should see this 5 level nested if formula I did....

Love your program Eric.

 

[Tokirbymd]

I have to say THANK YOU. I recently completed my IFR training and was filling out my IACRA form. My logbook was a MESS. multiple addition errors, etc. fortunately I had digitized my logbook recently on MyFlightbook. Made it super easy to go back and correct math, identify all of the specific flight conditions for the IACRA, etc.

However, I noted recently since iOS update that MyFlightbook crashes when I try to add a new flight from iPhone. Usually right after finishing all of the information on the flight and pressing add. Interesting enough many times if I refresh the recent list the flight is there but it is also still waiting for me to add the flight from the new flight page. Not sure what is happening.

 

[EricBe]

I have to say THANK YOU. I recently completed my IFR training and was filling out my IACRA form. My logbook was a MESS. multiple addition errors, etc. fortunately I had digitized my logbook recently on MyFlightbook. Made it super easy to go back and correct math, identify all of the specific flight conditions for the IACRA, etc.

However, I noted recently since iOS update that MyFlightbook crashes when I try to add a new flight from iPhone. Usually right after finishing all of the information on the flight and pressing add. Interesting enough many times if I refresh the recent list the flight is there but it is also still waiting for me to add the flight from the new flight page. Not sure what is happening.

thanks for the kind words - but I'm a bit distressed to hear about the crash! Can you send me a crash report? (Should take this offline to myflightbook@gmail.com).

 

[smv]

My life at work almost every day. You should see this 5 level nested if formula I did....

Love Excel.

My first e-log was created using an early version of Excel that did not have the "IFS" function. This is an example of one of the formulas in that worksheet. This one pulls out Night X-Cntry PIC time from an entry:

=IF(AND(AND(W36>0;Y36>0);OR(I36>0;J36>0;K36>0));IF(W36>Y36;Y36;W36);0)

The front sheet of the workboox emulates an 8710 but goes beyond that. It also shows me all of my currency items as well as breaks out individual lines for Make/Model.

The copy on this device hasn't been updated for a few years (since I started using Garmin Pilot) so all the currency blocks just show '-' but this gives you an idea of how it works...

 

[EricBe]

Love Excel.

My first e-log was created using an early version of Excel that did not have the "IFS" function. This is an example of one of the formulas in that worksheet. This one pulls out Night X-Cntry PIC time from an entry:

=IF(AND(AND(W36>0;Y36>0);OR(I36>0;J36>0;K36>0));IF(W36>Y36;Y36;W36);0)

The front sheet of the workboox emulates an 8710 but goes beyond that. It also shows me all of my currency items as well as breaks out individual lines for Make/Model.

Gets really complicated really fast, indeed! Although even the formula there could be simplified (e.g., for Night-PIC-Cross-country, I'd use MIN(Night, PIC, Cross-country) and you need to be careful to do it on the individual flights, not the totals.

E.g., suppose you have three flights in the same aircraft: #1 has 2 hours of PIC, but no cross-country and no night. #2 has no PIC, but 2 hours of day cross-country. #3 has no PIC and no cross-country, but has 2 hours of night. Your totals row for the flights in that aircraft would show 2 hours of PIC, 2 hours of Cross-country, and 2 hours of night. And your formula would yield 2 hours of Night-PIC-Cross-country. But alas - you actually have NO night-PIC-cross-country in this scenario. So you'd need to do this for each flight (as a new column) and then sum up that column.

Excel's great for a lot of things, but it really breaks down for things like currency where you might have multiple paths to currency. (E.g., you can get instrument current by 6 approaches+hold OR an IPC; a checkride counts as a flight review, etc.)

 

[smv]

E.g., suppose you have three flights in the same aircraft: #1 has 2 hours of PIC, but no cross-country and no night. #2 has no PIC, but 2 hours of day cross-country. #3 has no PIC and no cross-country, but has 2 hours of night. Your totals row for the flights in that aircraft would show 2 hours of PIC, 2 hours of Cross-country, and 2 hours of night. And your formula would yield 2 hours of Night-PIC-Cross-country

Negative... Each flight would be on its own line and each line has the formula applied individually (for a log with 500 lines of blank entry lines, the file size was over 15MB in just formulas alone) so line #1 would add to the PIC tally, lines #2 & #3 would not add to anything because if I am not logging either PIC, Dual Received, or Dual Given, there is no point of even logging the time.

 

[EricBe]

Negative... Each flight would be on its own line and each line has the formula applied individually (for a log with 500 lines of blank entry lines, the file size was over 15MB in just formulas alone) so line #1 would add to the PIC tally, lines #2 & #3 would not add to anything because if I am not logging either PIC, Dual Received, or Dual Given, there is no point of even logging the time.

Ahh, if it's all on its own line, then it's what I was proposing (not what I saw in the screenshot, which looked like totals grouped by model). BTW, can often be worth logging time even without PIC (in my example above, you might have been training in a new category/class and been able to log dual received but NOT log PIC), but I agree if you're not PIC/SIC/CFI or Dual, then not much point...

 

[smv]

Ahh, if it's all on its own line, then it's what I was proposing (not what I saw in the screenshot, which looked like totals grouped by model).

Yup. The screenshot is just the "gather it all in one place" sheet and most of the formulas there are not much more than =SUM(LOG!EM:EM) type formulas (that one being the "X-Cntry PIC" block) where LOG!EM:EM holds the nested IF/AND statements.

The Make/Model blocks are more like: =SUMIF(LOG!C:C;A6;LOG!Y:Y) This one being the one that calls up all PIC in a C182RG.

BTW, can often be worth logging time even without PIC (in my example above, you might have been training in a new category/class and been able to log dual received but NOT log PIC), but I agree if you're not PIC/SIC/CFI or Dual, then not much point...

Indeed. That is how I ended up with upwards of 380 hours of Dual Received. ASEL, AMEL, ASES, Glider, & Helicopter.

 

[RussR]

@EricBe , what is the sort logic on the web version, for the search function, when selecting "Flight is in one of these models"?

Here is my list. I always find it difficult to locate anything in here.

For example, the A36 Bonanza is near the top right. But the V35B Bonanza is in the lower left. And others are in a few other places.

Is it by the model number? Seems like it. Which is why the Pipers are all together (starting with PA). And most of the Cessnas are too (starting with C-), except the T-41s which are down at the bottom.

If you're taking suggestions, then my preference would be first by "Make", then by "Model". I think the app version does sort by Make first. It's much easier.

 

[EricBe]

Yes, it's by model number: A36 is before F33 is before N35 is before S35 is before V35. I can look at sorting by full display.

 

[EricBe]

Note that simulators or different manufacturers can also make that a bit weird. e.g., when two companies have made the same model.
But it's an easy change; I just checked it in. Look for it live soon...

 

[RussR]

Note that simulators or different manufacturers can also make that a bit weird. e.g., when two companies have made the same model.
But it's an easy change; I just checked it in. Look for it live soon...

Thanks, I will!

 

[RussR]

Now that looks nice! Much more intuitive and easy to find things, at least for me.

 

[RussR]

Ground track offset on iPad display?

Anybody else getting this? From today's flight, but I've seen it before as well:

This is the "landing" portion of the flight.

First pic: from the website. We landed on runway 01L, exited at the crosswind runway, and taxied to parking. I assume the sharp angle of the line here is due to a lower refresh rate once we land (? don't know, but that's not my question anyway). Regardless, we did park at the end of the red line.



Second pic: from the iOS app. Notice that the entire track is shifted something like 1000 feet to the SW. No, we did not land on the parking ramp!

At the beginning of the flight track (the takeoff end), both tracks line up correctly. This displacement seems to be on just about every flight when viewing the iOS version, though the direction of the shift varies. The website displays it fine in every case. I assume the lat/long data is the same. Different airplanes, different GPS sources as well.

 

[EricBe]

Wow, that is weird. Try holding your iPad about 1000 ft northeast of your hand?

The actual latitude/longitude coordinates are indeed the same; I just hand the coordinates to Apple and let them draw it. I wonder if it's a projection thing.

 

[smv]

Different datums?

 

[cgrab]

Although this is interesting, I doubt it is your answer. I'll agree with smv on why your picture is shifted.

The Alabama Board of Engineers and Land surveyors published an article on the length of the foot. It turns out that the US foot is not the same as the international foot. When the US adopts the international foot the width of the US will be 28 feet longer.

From elementary school to trade school, it’s taught that one
foot equals 12 whole inches. For Land Surveyors across the
United States, that’s about to change.
According to an ABC News article published Dec. 14,
2019, the U.S. foot is about to get the boot.
Quoting the article: “The difference between them (the U.S.
foot-measure and the International foot-measure) is so tiny
that you can’t see it with the naked eye on a 12-inch ruler.
But over big distances it matters. So, to reduce the chance for
errors and confusion, the federal government has announced
it’s finally giving the boot to the survey foot.”
So what does this really mean? in the example given in the
article essentially says that using the International Foot, the
U.S. is 28 feet wider.
In the late 1800s the U.S. Government defined a foot as
1,200 hundred meters divided by 3,937 which calculates
to .3048006. The International Foot was established in the
1930s and made the distance simpler at .3048 meters.
So there’s that.
Also: why the discourse over the distance?
Referring back to the article: “The change started in 1959,
when the federal government mandated that everyone use
the International Foot but allowed surveyors to keep to the
old U.S. Survey Foot for a while.”
That broad span of “for a while” turned into more than 60
years with a deadline of 2022, according to NOAA and the
National Institute of Standards and Technology.
Surveyors in approximately 40 of these United States use
the U.S. Survey Foot. The rest have crossed the troubled waters
and are using the International Foot.
According to NOAA rep Michael Dennis: “We have chaos.”
Documented chaos actually, as (according to the ABC News
article) projects in California, Oregon and Washington state
have been stymied by the difference in measurement

 

[smv]

I'll agree with smv on why your picture is shifted.

In my experience, most GPS systems use WGS84 by default as do most app writers. There is, however, the occasional outlier that uses NAD27 or NAD83 because they base their data on USGS mapsets. If you are using USGS maps, you have to apply the correcton factor (usually found somewhere on the map) The difference can be hundreds of yards off.

Maybe this will help:

https://www.maptools.com/tutorials/map_datum

 

[EricBe]

But if it's a datum thing, wouldn't it affect both airports, not just the arrival airport? I looked at Russ's flight on my iPhone and indeed, the departure seems spot on and the arrival is off.
W.r.t. the foot - that's interesting, but does that affect latitude/longitude? I don't do anything in feet. It's all latitude/longitude for position, and meters and meters/s for altitude/speed (converted to ft and kts for display only; and I don't use altitude for anything, and speed only for takeoff/landing detection).

 

[smv]

But if it's a datum thing, wouldn't it affect both airports, not just the arrival airport?

Is it two different airports or is it two different views of the same track? Maybe I am confused but I thought the two pics were the same data viewed from two different apps...?

 

[EricBe]

Two different views of the same track. The red line is the same data in both cases (series of latitude/longitude). The top image is on the MyFlightbook website, which uses Google maps to display the data. The bottom is the identical data, but displayed on the iPad, which uses Apple maps. Not shown are the departure airports in both systems; those both line up with the departure runway.

 

[smv]

That is a head scratcher...

 

[EricBe]

Nope, never mind - I figured it out. It's an artifact of compression; it's not datum or feet or apple vs. google. Russ - you can see this all on the website if you click on the route of flight in your logbook. https://myflightbook.com/logbook/Public/ViewPublicFlight.aspx/9908737 vs. https://myflightbook.com/logbook/Member/FlightDetail.aspx/9908737?tabID=Chart (those two links will only work for Russ). See below; both are from the website.



Here's the issue: when you add telemetry to a flight, I parse it and then save a highly compressed version of the *path* of the flight in the database (using a google algorithm, actually; see https://gist.github.com/shinyzhu/4617989), while saving the original telemetry in a file (outside of the database, actually).

This has three advantages: (a) much faster processing when viewing the flight, since I don't have to parse the flight data (which can be both slow and memory intensive), and (b) much better performance, since I'm loading a small (highly compressed) path for each flight instead of a huge telemetry file, and (c) significantly faster download to a mobile app when displaying the path, since it's significantly less data to download.

So when viewing a flight, I just decompress the path (since that's all I need) from the compressed data. This is what I do when you view a public flight (or click on the date of a flight in the logbook view on the web) or view a flight on a map on one of the mobile apps.

BUT...alas, the compression is a bit lossy. That's why it's off by a bit in what you see.

On the other hand, when you click for *DETAILS* of a flight (either clicking the paper clip icon or the date-of-flight), then I load the data from the full telemetry file and generate the path from original data - so by definition, no losses. For details, I have to go to the source because that's where data for charting is, and that's where data to download is. But that's a relatively infrequent operation, so it's fine to do the additional database load and parsing.

Other than finding a better compression algorithm, I'm afraid there's not a ton I can do about this...I'm very reluctant to go parse the original data every time.

 

[RussR]

Very interesting, Eric, thank you. I never noticed it on the website because I didn't even know you could click on the route to view the flight - I just always click on the paperclip icon if I want to view the track.

I do notice that the compressed version you get by clicking the route is definitely faster to load. But of course doesn't have the altitude and speed chart that you get while looking at the telemetry, which I am usually interested in as well.

 

[EricBe]

I do notice that the compressed version you get by clicking the route is definitely faster to load. But of course doesn't have the altitude and speed chart that you get while looking at the telemetry, which I am usually interested in as well.

Precisely - clicking the route is all about showing a 2-D path on a 2-D map; the details needs to preserve altitude/speed/etc., so it does the extra data load/computation.

 

[EricBe]

Please join me on Thursday at 10AM PDT, I'll spend about 40 minutes talking about various tips/tricks in MyFlightbook with time for Q&A afterwards. If this works well, then next week I'll do another one where I'll talk about mobile apps or maybe club functionality or ...? I'll record this as well.

If you have specific questions, feel free to email me ahead of time and I'll try to cover them.

To prevent zoom-bombing, I'm not going to post the details publicly here, I want to limit to MyFlightbook users. Go to MyFlightbook.com and sign in (if you aren't already); you'll see a header at the top of the screen that announces this. Click it for the zoom details.

 

[EricBe]

Last week's Tips & Trick's webinar was fun and well attended. This coming Monday (May 4) at 11am PDT I'm going to do another one, this time focusing on training. As above, to get the details, go to MyFlightbook.com and sign in (if not already signed in) and click on the header for Zoom details.

 

[RussR]

Last week's Tips & Trick's webinar was fun and well attended. This coming Monday (May 4) at 11am PDT I'm going to do another one, this time focusing on training. As above, to get the details, go to MyFlightbook.com and sign in (if not already signed in) and click on the header for Zoom details.

I was up flying for the last one, but did watch the recording later - great information, and I learned a few tricks. I will definitely be attending this next one, assuming of course I'm not flying...

 

[EricBe]

I was up flying for the last one, but did watch the recording later - great information, and I learned a few tricks. I will definitely be attending this next one, assuming of course I'm not flying...

Glad to hear you're able to go fly!

 

[EricBe]

Reminder - tomorrow I'll be doing a webinar at 11am PDT to discuss training scenarios. Click the header on the MyFlightbook website (signed in) for details.

 

[AggieMike88]

Reminder - tomorrow I'll be doing a webinar at 11am PDT to discuss training scenarios. Click the header on the MyFlightbook website (signed in) for details.

Are you recording these? I can't make the live session.

 

[EricBe]

Are you recording these? I can't make the live session.

Yes. Last week's "tips and tricks" session is up on youtube (click on "Videos" on the footer of the MyFlightbook page)