Value of old pilot logbooks?

CharlieD3

CharlieD3

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CharlieD3
I'm a vfr pilot with about 120 hours. I have 2 logbooks. My current one is new since my rusty pilot seminar.

My old one started in the late 70's and ended in 1998... It's only half full but I ended it and wrote "next log book" immediately after the last entries in it.

My PPL checkride and solo is in the old book.

Any reason to transcribe all of that into "my flight book"

I know I don't have to, "MFB" lets you post old log totals in and adds to them...

Any reason to keep the old logbook?

I mean other than nostalgia...
 
Yes. If at some point you need to justify your hours, or need to total them up a different way (say, for insurance purposes, or an accident, or a new rating) you will want/need the old data.

If you have any endorsements (like high performance or complex) and they're in your old logbook, you definitely need to keep those.

I'm a little bit confused maybe, though, since they way you're asking implies you're thinking of just throwing it away. What's the advantage to that? It's not like they take up much space.
 
Adam Weiss said:
I’d recommend checking out:
https://myflightbook.com/logbook/Default.aspx

I transcribed all 600 hrs I to here, and never looked back. pits nice to have in a digital format.
Click to expand...
I'm starting to use MyFlightBook. I know I don't NEED to transcribe all those old logs... But started doing it anyway.

What I'm asking for are tangible, viable REASONS to do so...
 
Are any of the signatures or sign are still valid? Like an IPC?
 
RussR said:
Yes. If at some point you need to justify your hours, or need to total them up a different way (say, for insurance purposes, or an accident, or a new rating) you will want/need the old data.

If you have any endorsements (like high performance or complex) and they're in your old logbook, you definitely need to keep those.

I'm a little bit confused maybe, though, since they way you're asking implies you're thinking of just throwing it away. What's the advantage to that? It's not like they take up much space.
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No, I wouldn't throw it away... I'm lucky to have it, as it was in a storage unit when my house blew up in 98.

It is my history as a pilot, so has some sentimental value...

@65 years old, about the only rating I might get would be IFR... And that's not likely...

I enjoy flying about. Without a NEED to go anywhere. I rent 'cause I can't afford to buy... So I fly every couple of weeks...
 
MooneyDriver78 said:
Are any of the signatures or sign are still valid? Like an IPC?
Click to expand...
My solo and ppl checkride are in it... But the FAA guy that gave me my ticket is likely dead by now... The guy that let me solo the first time is prolly gone too.

My original home airport has been plowed under... As was my best destination flight to Howell in the Chicagoland area.

No IPC
 
CharlieD3 said:
I'm a vfr pilot with about 120 hours. I have 2 logbooks. My current one is new since my rusty pilot seminar.

My old one started in the late 70's and ended in 1998... It's only half full but I ended it and wrote "next log book" immediately after the last entries in it.

My PPL checkride and solo is in the old book.

Any reason to transcribe all of that into "my flight book"

I know I don't have to, "MFB" lets you post old log totals in and adds to them...

Any reason to keep the old logbook?

I mean other than nostalgia...
Click to expand...
i photocopy the completed pages of my lobbook as well as all of my endorsementz and keep them in mh safety deposit box. i started doing that when my CFI lost his logbook and was trying to reconstruct it from other records. i'd do the same with your log.
 
CharlieD3 said:
house blew up in 98.
Click to expand...

Sounds like you being here at all let alone the logs is pretty lucky. And I'd imagine that might be why the gap in logs. Keep the logs. I haven't got on the digital train yet. I like seeing handwritten things.
 
Racerx said:
Sounds like you being here at all let alone the logs is pretty lucky. And I'd imagine that might be why the gap in logs. Keep the logs. I haven't got on the digital train yet. I like seeing handwritten things.
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Nah, I was at work when it went, nobody else at the house at that time... The motorcycle accident in '86... now, that one, I'm lucky to have survived! LOL!

And I like handwritten stuff,too... though I doubt anyone will care about 'em after I'm gone....
 
I say keep it. One day when you can no longer fly, May be you can sit on the porch with a glass of favorite beverage and relive the moments and get some joy. After all everything we do is for memories only( or it should be). Can’t take anything else with you.



I should stop drinking now
 
CharlieD3 said:
I'm a vfr pilot with about 120 hours. I have 2 logbooks. My current one is new since my rusty pilot seminar.

My old one started in the late 70's and ended in 1998... It's only half full but I ended it and wrote "next log book" immediately after the last entries in it.

My PPL checkride and solo is in the old book.

Any reason to transcribe all of that into "my flight book"

I know I don't have to, "MFB" lets you post old log totals in and adds to them...

Any reason to keep the old logbook?

I mean other than nostalgia...
Click to expand...
I'm trying to understand this, but I must be missing something...

You filled a log book to half full, flying from 197X to 1998, but you only have 120 hours total...????? Does your typical flight last .2 hours or something? As an example of my own flying, I've filled 1 log book, just started my second, and I have 1000 hours since 1994.
 
Keep the old logbook for nostalgia.

Transfer the logs to myflightbook for all the other reasons going forward.

And/or do what I did and continue to handwrite in a logbook and record in mfb because I like to turn the pages of the physical logs for some unknown reason……
 
tawood said:
I'm trying to understand this, but I must be missing something...

You filled a log book to half full, flying from 197X to 1998, but you only have 120 hours total...????? Does your typical flight last .2 hours or something? As an example of my own flying, I've filled 1 log book, just started my second, and I have 1000 hours since 1994.
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Eh.. life happens... Once I got my PPL, life happened a lot... Flying wasn't a part of it... And after my wife died, and the kids were grown... I met someone else, and got current again... I took her for a hundred $ steak. But then, life happened again. That was '98... And the old log book.

Fast forward to 2020... I got current again.

Then the pan-damn-demic.... But, I stayed current and fly when I can....

Wish I were you and had 1000+ hours... Alas... life got in the way....
 
I'm on my third logbook and never did anything other than copying the totals forward to the first page of the next book. Keep the old ones on the shelf in my office (well these days that's where the new one lives except when I'm getting a sign off).
 
CharlieD3 said:
Eh.. life happens...
Click to expand...

I don’t think his point is the low hours. That happens.

I think his question, and I thought the same thing, was that your logbook was “half full” with only 120 hours. So, either your average flight length was really short, or you have a very thin logbook. Obviously this depends on what type of logbook you have and how you make your entries, but he filled his up with 1000 hours, I generally run about 800 in each of mine. A half-full logbook with 120 hours implies only about 240 hours would fit, which seems like a really small logbook.

But if that’s your logbook, that’s your logbook! No big deal, just kind of stood out to apparently both of us.

I will say, I have seen people who log each leg of a flight on a separate line, even if on the same day. So for a training flight with landings at 4 points, that would be 4 lines. That will definitely fill up a logbook quickly.
 
RussR said:
I don’t think his point is the low hours. That happens.

I think his question, and I thought the same thing, was that your logbook was “half full” with only 120 hours. So, either your average flight length was really short, or you have a very thin logbook. Obviously this depends on what type of logbook you have and how you make your entries, but he filled his up with 1000 hours, I generally run about 800 in each of mine. A half-full logbook with 120 hours implies only about 240 hours would fit, which seems like a really small logbook.

But if that’s your logbook, that’s your logbook! No big deal, just kind of stood out to apparently both of us.

I will say, I have seen people who log each leg of a flight on a separate line, even if on the same day. So for a training flight with landings at 4 points, that would be 4 lines. That will definitely fill up a logbook quickly.
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Might not be 1/2 full... It is partially full.

Not one line per leg, unless overnight.

That said, the pages are yellowed, a bit brittle, cover has a touch of mildew...

So, I started a new logbook... I mean the first one is 30+ years old.
 
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I stopped logging my time in my logbook around 2006. All of my stuff is recorded digitally by our flight department now so no need for a personal copy. I still have my logbooks from day one though.
 
OP: you’re fine. No need to do anything differently. Enjoy!

I’ll never need it, but I’m glad I have my first logbook, just to have it. It’s like a souvenir from living the way I want.

I’m also glad I have my Dad’s — his last flight was in the 1970s. It’s a souvenir, too. And that’s its value.
 
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k9medic said:
I stopped logging my time in my logbook around 2006. All of my stuff is recorded digitally by our flight department now so no need for a personal copy. I still have my logbooks from day one though.
Click to expand...

I started to do that too but have always copied into paper till recently, mainly to have something for the CFI to endorse when doing an IPC or BFR.
How do handle that?
 
Rgbeard said:
I work in technology and as such I see a lot of horrific stuff.

what happens when one of these cloud-based offerings has a thunderstorm? Do they offer you periodic backups of your entries?
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Yeah, I wouldn't get rid of the hard copies, and continue to log both ways...

Many "clouds" claim to have more than one site... But I do intend to keep the hard copy.
 
Rgbeard said:
I work in technology and as such I see a lot of horrific stuff.

what happens when one of these cloud-based offerings has a thunderstorm? Do they offer you periodic backups of your entries?
Click to expand...

Myflightbook.com automatically saves a backup of my logbook onto my own Google Drive every night. So that would be two different cloud storage "locations". I think that's pretty reasonably safe.
 
MooneyDriver78 said:
I started to do that too but have always copied into paper till recently, mainly to have something for the CFI to endorse when doing an IPC or BFR.
How do handle that?
Click to expand...

You can have him/her/it sign a sticker and put it in the back of your logbook. I take a checkride every 6 months so it's recorded there.
 
Lost my first one loooonnnngggg ago. When I started flying again, I started with 75 hours even though I probably had 200+. Now I’m using both paper and ForeFlight.

Wish I had the old one. I would like to see what I entered for the more interesting ones like engine failure, com failure, first solo, etc

Keep the old one.

Cheers
 
MooneyDriver78 said:
I started to do that too but have always copied into paper till recently, mainly to have something for the CFI to endorse when doing an IPC or BFR.
How do handle that?
Click to expand...
Myflightbook has a way... But not sure how it works.
 
I do both MyFlightBook and paper logs. I also keep a separate time/fuel and oil consumption for our airplane.

As for backup I export MFB to excel.
 
CharlieD3 said:
I'm a vfr pilot with about 120 hours. I have 2 logbooks. My current one is new since my rusty pilot seminar.

My old one started in the late 70's and ended in 1998... It's only half full but I ended it and wrote "next log book" immediately after the last entries in it.

My PPL checkride and solo is in the old book.

Any reason to transcribe all of that into "my flight book"

I know I don't have to, "MFB" lets you post old log totals in and adds to them...

Any reason to keep the old logbook?

I mean other than nostalgia...
Click to expand...


I would keep it, why would you not?

I almost had 120 hrs when I took my checkride for my PPL in 2015 !!! lol

Since then I earned my instrument rating.

I have almost filled up my 3rd log book 6 years later and at about 1000 hours. I try to fly almost everyday.

I keep my old logs books with my airplane logs.
 
Gary Ward said:
I would keep it, why would you not?

I almost had 120 hrs when I took my checkride for my PPL in 2015 !!! lol

Since then I earned my instrument rating.

I have almost filled up my 3rd log book 6 years later and at about 1000 hours. I try to fly almost everyday.

I keep my old logs books with my airplane logs.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I shouldn't have asked should I keep it... I am gonna... Just really wonder about the need to transcribe all of it... Instead of just carrying over the totals...

But, I'm already transcribing it, so the whole thing is moot.

I'm actually enjoying the transcription, bringing back a lot of memories... And was surprised that MFB actually had a picture of my first field... A grass strip long plowed under...

7IA3
 
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