Where/how do you store your aircraft logbooks?

Jim K

Jim K

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Pretty sure I'm overthinking this....

Debating where to store my airframe and engine logs. I completed scanning them into the computer last night, and they are backed up on the 'cloud' as well, so that angle is covered.

I understand not leaving them with the mechanic or in the airplane.

First inclination is in the fire resistant safe in my office at home, but that makes them awefully inconvenient when I'm in the hangar. It also exposes the logbooks to a different set of risks from the airplane. The positives I see to that is that I'm more likely to keep up with scanning new entries and printing nice stickers for oil changes instead of my sloppy handwriting.

I keep thinking that the hangar is the obvious place. If the airplane is lost to fire, wind, or theft, I'm not going to care about the physical books, right? If the airplane isn't totalled, it seems likely the books would survive as well. The backup issue can be solved with a jpeg to pdf app.

Any good reason NOT to store the logs in the hangar with the plane?
 
I have one of those job site tool storage boxes in the hangar to keep logbooks and valuables in. Probably not the absolute safest solution, but a good blend of safety and accessibility.
 
A drawer in the hangar and a copy at home. Every year I copy the latest entries and add to the home binder. It doesn't get more than a couple entries per year, and other than annual they're my own(I'm an a&p) so it works fine. Big stuff like upgrades/annuals I do copy pretty quickly however. If my house and the hangar burn to the ground, I got bigger problems. Although running the copied back up through a scanner to make a PDF wouldn't be a bad thing. I should probably do that.
 
I keep mine at home, far from the pane.

Why do you need the logbooks with the plane? Anytime you will need a logbook in the hangar, you'll be at home first to bring it along.

Put your scans on your phone/tablet/computer and take that to the hangar.
 
You have a hanger? Assume you have a small table or something for your tools, spare oil and what not.

Get a fire proof safe from WallMart and keep in your hanger. That way 1 you know where they are, and 2 they’ll be there to use with the insurance company after your plane and hanger have burned down........
 
Domenick said:
I keep mine at home, far from the pane.

Why do you need the logbooks with the plane? Anytime you will need a logbook in the hangar, you'll be at home first to bring it along.

Put your scans on your phone/tablet/computer and take that to the hangar.
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Because they'll be times I'll be at home and I'll tell the IA to bring the airplane from my hangar to the maintenance hangar and then I don't have to worry about the log book entries. He can do the work, make the entries, put the plane back. You guys must know some really ****ty mechanics, that you don't trust them with books.
 
EdFred said:
Because they'll be times I'll be at home and I'll tell the IA to bring the airplane from my hangar to the maintenance hangar and then I don't have to worry about the log book entries. He can do the work, make the entries, put the plane back. You guys must know some really ****ty mechanics, that you don't trust them with books.
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Ouch. Dude. Where did the animosity come from? I'd put my mechanic up against yours any day. Remember, YOU asked the question, then got an answer you didn't like and got ****y.
Figure out your issue yourself.
 
Domenick said:
Ouch. Dude. Where did the animosity come from? I'd put my mechanic up against yours any day. Remember, YOU asked the question, then got an answer you didn't like and got ****y.
Figure out your issue yourself.
Click to expand...
I didn't ask any question.

Learn how to read.
 
My logs are in a secure place, separate from the airplane and hangar. That way, if I kill myself in a crash, my wife can plausibly claim ignorance as to the locations of my airplane logs as well as my pilot log.
 
Cervieres said:
I have one of those job site tool storage boxes in the hangar to keep logbooks and valuables in. Probably not the absolute safest solution, but a good blend of safety and accessibility.
Click to expand...
I was thinking of my tool box, but I'm pretty sure that if someone broke into the hangar, the toolbox would be the first thing to get stolen. I'm going to get a cabinet for oil and whatnot, thinking that would be the best place. An old crappy looking desk might be better yet.

Domenick said:
I keep mine at home, far from the pane.

Why do you need the logbooks with the plane? Anytime you will need a logbook in the hangar, you'll be at home first to bring it along.

Put your scans on your phone/tablet/computer and take that to the hangar.
Click to expand...
I often get to the field and realize I left the tractor key on the nightstand. I've gotten to the airport and had to turn around and go home to get my wife's headset. Checklists are my friend. I take your point, though; you don't need the physical books very often.

OneCharlieTango said:
My logs are in a secure place, separate from the airplane and hangar. That way, if I kill myself in a crash, my wife can plausibly claim ignorance as to the locations of my airplane logs as well as my pilot log.
Click to expand...
Not the first time I've heard this, but I really don't understand it. Are you knowingly in violation of the FARs and worried about insurance not paying? I'd rather the NTSB get all the logs. If I killed myself they're going to blame me either way, and if the airplane killed me, I'd like them to figure it out so it doesn't happen to anyone else.
 
At home. Not in the plane or at the airport. They go the the mechanic for annuals or maintenance, when a sticker is not practical or a more complete review of logs is required.
 
Right now all of them are on my work table at the basement, it’s been there for last 3 months. When I scan them, they go in cardboard box 3 feet away.
 
EdFred said:
Because they'll be times I'll be at home and I'll tell the IA to bring the airplane from my hangar to the maintenance hangar and then I don't have to worry about the log book entries. He can do the work, make the entries, put the plane back. You guys must know some really ****ty mechanics, that you don't trust them with books.
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Not only do I trust the shop, they have keys to the airplane and hangar. More important, as a long-time customer, they don't want the log books for liability reasons. For new customers, yes, because they want to go over the books in detail. Shop types up the sticker along with the bill, sticker goes into the appropriate logs. 4 copies are burned to CD any time there's substantial work done on the cherokee. No, I don't burn a new CD when I change the oil. But it does get logged in the books.
The physical books are in the safe deposit box along with a CD of PDFs of all the logs.
  • The shop has a current copy of the CD with all the logs.
  • CD #2 is in the airplane itself with AROW.
  • CD #3 is in the house.
  • And the 4th copy is here in the house.
Yes, I'm paranoid.
 
EdFred said:
You guys must know some really ****ty mechanics, that you don't trust them with books.
Click to expand...
Stuff happens, to the best of them.

When I lived in WA State, all the maintenance was done by a good, trustworthy shop on the field. They did the work, filled out the books, then gave the big grey pouch containing all the airplane's records back to me each time.

Then we moved three times in the space of one year, winding up in Arizona. Once settled in I looked in the pouch and noticed that the first two volumes of airframe logs (1977-97) were missing. I checked with the shop in WA; they said they didn't have them. I figured they somehow got lost in the shuffle of the interstate moves. Years earlier I had scanned all the logs and I had pdfs of everything, so it could have been worse, I thought.

Fast forward two years. I got a phone call from the shop in WA. They found my logbooks among the records of a Civil Air Patrol 172 that they worked on, and that was just about to go up for auction. With profuse apology they overnighted the books to me.

Moral of the story -- scan the logs and save them in the cloud, on tangible media, every which way you can.
 
In my gun safe that has something like a 2 hour firing rating. Dang thing weighs somewhere between 900-1,000 lbs so it won’t get moved in almost any environmental event. I still need to make digital copies, but there are lots of log books!
 
Jim K said:
I
Not the first time I've heard this, but I really don't understand it. Are you knowingly in violation of the FARs and worried about insurance not paying? I'd rather the NTSB get all the logs. If I killed myself they're going to blame me either way, and if the airplane killed me, I'd like them to figure it out so it doesn't happen to anyone else.
Click to expand...
It's just a way of keeping control over the information. It might be helpful to her cause. It might not. But she gets to decide.
 
Like you, I have scanned and uploaded the logbooks to the cloud. I use "Scanner Pro" for my iPhone and I can add pages as needed, and just re-upload to the cloud whenever I need to update.

As for the physical log books - I keep them FAR from the plane unless it's maintenance time. The logbooks stay at home in my safe along with other important/original papers.
 
Actual logs are at the hanger in our small office. I have scans of the entire box and I uploaded it to Planelogix. I now keep track of everything via that website. I’m not a whiteboard on the hanger wall type of guy for tracking MX dates and times.
 
Here's a vid of them testing the security door for the home bunker to keep my aircraft logs

Forced-Entry-Testing-GIF.gif


This obviously failed, so we had to move to a more advanced and secure method (I mean, after all, these are AIRCRAFT logs being secured!)

Finally I settled on this model built into my basement

DetailedSpeedyGalah-size_restricted.gif
 
Before I sold my plane the logbooks were in one of those security pouches we used to transport documents at work and that was in the safe at home. All entries were done via sticker so no need to take them out until I handed them to the guy doing the prebuy.
 
I think it makes perfect sense to guard the logbooks with my life. Ever since I learned that the logbooks account for half the value of an airplane...

Choke, hack, cough.
 
DK, the dog snagged it and I don’t know which hole it’s buried in,

upload_2020-11-1_9-22-0.jpeg
 
Fire proof safe at home
 
Doc Holliday said:
Here's a vid of them testing the security door for the home bunker to keep my aircraft logs

This obviously failed, so we had to move to a more advanced and secure method (I mean, after all, these are AIRCRAFT logs being secured!)

Finally I settled on this model built into my basement
Click to expand...

You didn't spring for the cris-crossed laser beams?

tmp.gif
 
My logbooks are in a waterproof box in my hangar. Been keeping them that way ever since I started housing my airplane in a hangar.
 
Jim K said:
Pretty sure I'm overthinking this....

Debating where to store my airframe and engine logs. I completed scanning them into the computer last night, and they are backed up on the 'cloud' as well, so that angle is covered.

I understand not leaving them with the mechanic or in the airplane.

First inclination is in the fire resistant safe in my office at home, but that makes them awefully inconvenient when I'm in the hangar. It also exposes the logbooks to a different set of risks from the airplane. The positives I see to that is that I'm more likely to keep up with scanning new entries and printing nice stickers for oil changes instead of my sloppy handwriting.

I keep thinking that the hangar is the obvious place. If the airplane is lost to fire, wind, or theft, I'm not going to care about the physical books, right? If the airplane isn't totalled, it seems likely the books would survive as well. The backup issue can be solved with a jpeg to pdf app.

Any good reason NOT to store the logs in the hangar with the plane?
Click to expand...

Keep your logbooks at home...tell a family member where they are kept. A friend of mine passed last year with Alzheimer's...they never found his log books.
 
Wait.

You telling me that digitized on a USB stick and kept in the ol’ prison wallet is ... overkill?!

I gotta have a talk with whoever here recommended that years ago... sheesh.

Uncomfortable.

LOL LOL LOL.
 
I know I’m in the minority, but I haven’t kept my logbooks at home, ever. The shop has always kept them and never an issue.
 
Doug Reid said:
Keep your logbooks at home...tell a family member where they are kept. A friend of mine passed last year with Alzheimer's...they never found his log books.
Click to expand...
the engine in my RV is from that exact situation. It was in a 66 mooney. the owner died and the heirs could not find the log books. the IA told the family that it would cost more than the airplane was worth to comply with AD's and inspections. he told them to sell it for salvage. that's how I got it.

mine stay in one of the safes in my office, they come out when I sign them, then go right back in.
 
Doug Reid said:
Keep your logbooks at home...tell a family member where they are kept. A friend of mine passed last year with Alzheimer's...they never found his log books.
Click to expand...
Fortunately, my cousin is a signatory on my safe deposit box and has specific instructions...first, find all the cash and hide it! Sell the house, hide the cash. Sell the airplane, hide the cash. Anything else, whatever he wants to do and have a good time!
 
Read the book “Papillon” by Henry Charriere. Put all your aircraft records on a thumb drive, and place the drive in a “charger”.

If you read the book, you’ll get the idea. ;) :eek:
 
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