Which Electronic Logbook

bob_albertson

bob_albertson

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Bob
A cross post from the red board, but just looking for opinions and recommendations.

I have decided that it would be a good idea to get an electronic logbook. I will most likely end up using it as my primary log, however, what first made me consider a duplicate logbook was the fact that it is always a good idea to have a backup for anything of importance.

I will keep my paper logbook current also, but at least this way I will have two in the event something stupid happens. I have read about logbook pro, that Sporty's carries, and so far that is the only one I have seen advertised. I need something that will be able to hold a lot of entries, so the limited free versions don't seem like they would fit the bill :D.
What other "professional" logbooks have you all had experience with? One thing I need to do is have the ability to print the entire logbook with a nice format so it can be reviewed..... another reason why I think I'll use the electronic version as the primary logbook is because I have the handwriting of a doctor (on my really good days).

Are there any you would recommend staying away from? Does it allow you to break your time down by type (ME,SE, Actual, ect...)? Can you print off a summary page (something that you can possibly edit which hour totals are displayed?)? Can you have it quickly calculate how many hours you have flown within a specific time period?

The transfer is probably gonna take me a while, but the ease of use, and safety in numbers definitely mean I feel like I need to get one (vs. just want to get one)

Have a good one, and enjoy the flying this weekend!!
Bob
 
If you're planning to use it as your primary logbook, let me know when you find one that permits entry of instructor signatures and endorsements "in a manner acceptable to the Administrator." I know of only one, and that one requires that the instructor also be a paying client of the service.
 
I made my own. I have a paper logbook for signatures for now. If I got a tablet PC I could easily make it so you can sign your name.
 
I made my own as well in MS Excel. I print out pages and paste into a traditional logbook. All endorsements, etc are in the good ole book.
 
I went with Access. Screen shot:

logbook.jpg
 
Flightlogg.in is a free one I've been using. Pretty straightforward and you can break down your times.
 
Thanks, I like it because I can filter for any of the checkboxes - either show all flights that are night, or are not night, or any combination like if I wanted to know night instrument solo time. (0.4 btw) I haven't added a date range yet...havent been ambitious enough to do so.
 
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I use LogBook Pro, bought from the company web site directly, many years ago, not through Sporty's.

Yes, Capn Ron, it does not do "electronic signatures" for instructor or other endorsements. A standard bound logbook is done for that.

I use the electronic logbook to answer those pesky insurance questions about "hours in make model", track other data they ask. And I use it to fill in the 8710-1 data every two years for my CFI Renewal.

A few people that are smart in MS Excel have coded their logbooks into Excel with routines for data extraction based on what ever they want, N number? Make Model? last 30-60-90-xxx-360 day currencies... Sort by what ever they need.
 
I use SafeLog by Dauntless Software. I'm very impressed with it.
 
I use LogbookPro and it is really great. It has more features than you can think of and tracks everything including currency, etc. In addition, it also will fill out Form 8710-1 with your flight times in the format the form wants them in which is a time saver.

Best,
Jason
 
LogbookPro is what I have been using as my electronic backup for the past 7 years.
I love it for all its features and ease of use, not to forget all the free upgrades.

The only thing they are missing is a smartphone edition (or iPhone app) instead of the outdated PDA.

David- KFHB



Sent from my iPhone
 
I use FlightNotes. Not sure if it is still available. I also have two different Excel spreadsheets, one that someone gave me that tracks things the way an 8710 wants it and one that tracks the way I want (by calendar year, by make and model, etc).

And then there's the printed and bound logbook that has it all, as well, plus all necessary signatures and endorsements. That gets scanned and the files saved off-site.
 
Ron Levy said:
If you're planning to use it as your primary logbook, let me know when you find one that permits entry of instructor signatures and endorsements "in a manner acceptable to the Administrator." I know of only one, and that one requires that the instructor also be a paying client of the service.
Click to expand...
which one is that?
 
Ron Levy said:
If you're planning to use it as your primary logbook, let me know when you find one that permits entry of instructor signatures and endorsements "in a manner acceptable to the Administrator." I know of only one, and that one requires that the instructor also be a paying client of the service.
Click to expand...

Zululog (http://www.zululog.com) supports electronic signatures and linking to student's logbooks/filling in flights/giving endorsements, etc.

There is a free version available but the extra features do cost. I believe I pay something like $8 a month because there were some features I wanted that are not in the free version. There are some rebates/specials available.

I have not used the CFI signature/endorsement feature since I am not yet a CFI and none of my instructor's have the service. I do enjoy it and it is a good backup for my paper logbook where I continue to log flights/get CFI signatures. Eventually, I will probably add the CFI features and get my students started with an electronic logbook as well as a paper one for redundancy since not everyone will have the service/use electronic books.
 
Stay away from Logbook Pro. I have been using it but it completely failed now and will not open. I have a ton of time and money into setting it up and cannot use at all now. Contacted NC Software than owns Logbook Pro for support and they said to try some things and they did not work. I loaded the program onto a second computer with completey different operating system and it failed on that one too. Company said it is my problem and cannot help me. I asked for refund on program, binder, ect and they said no. Worst experience ever with a program and I am very window experienced and every other program I have on the two computers works perfect and I have a lot of them. Some issue with their program that conflicts with something as it is not a self contained program so a disaster for me and a real problem to reconstruct my history now.

You asked what to stay away from and my experience the hard way says Logbook Pro unfortunately. Hope no one else runs into my issue if you have it but if you don't I would strongly recommend looking elsewhere or stay with paper.
 
My experience with Logbook pro has been completely different. I'm quite happy with it. Of course I back up the data regularly and have survived multiple upgrades and some system (not application) crashes and rebuilds over the years.

I'm sorry it's not working out for you, it's quite possible that you have something rare on your systems that conflicts with Logbook Pro.

Oh, one question - did it work and then stop working? Or did it never work? They do offer a trial version so you can check it out and maybe discover the incompatibilities before you invest money.
 
I have two concerns regarding "online" log books and "electronic" log books. There is a difference.

My concern regarding online log books free or pay is that they are maintained by a third party and are potentially discoverable or subponeable by the FAA or any other entity and since they are not " official" log books the information therein could be misinterpreted.

My concern or question regarding any form of electronic log book is can you insert more that two airports per line. For example I may fly LOM to UKT and thats easy but sometimes I'll make many stops in one day ie I'll fly LOM to RDG to MQS to UKT and I'll put those on one line. Can that be done on an E log book? I suspect if you did your own like Ed you could just expand the field.​
 
AdamZ said:
Can that be done on an E log book? I suspect if you did your own like Ed you could just expand the field.​
Click to expand...

I put additional airports landed at in the notes field. Mine does not calculate distance. Mostly because I don't care, and I haven't downloaded the entire list of airports with lat/long to run the math.
 
TMetzinger said:
My experience with Logbook pro has been completely different. I'm quite happy with it. Of course I back up the data regularly and have survived multiple upgrades and some system (not application) crashes and rebuilds over the years.

I'm sorry it's not working out for you, it's quite possible that you have something rare on your systems that conflicts with Logbook Pro.

Oh, one question - did it work and then stop working? Or did it never work? They do offer a trial version so you can check it out and maybe discover the incompatibilities before you invest money.
Click to expand...

It did work fine for months and then quit. moved data to another computer and it worked for days and then quit too. I agree its not widepsread but i have two boxes with two different opererating sytems that it did fail on so it can happen.
 
thepilot said:
It did work fine for months and then quit. moved data to another computer and it worked for days and then quit too. I agree its not widepsread but i have two boxes with two different opererating sytems that it did fail on so it can happen.
Click to expand...

Very strange. I have been using Logbook Pro for years now with no issues at all. I don't even know anyone who has had an issue that uses it until now when you just posted. Have you tried calling NC Software directly and seeing if you can get a live individual to support the software issues you're experiencing?

Best,
Jason
 
HPNPilot1200 said:
Very strange. I have been using Logbook Pro for years now with no issues at all. I don't even know anyone who has had an issue that uses it until now when you just posted. Have you tried calling NC Software directly and seeing if you can get a live individual to support the software issues you're experiencing?

Best,
Jason
Click to expand...

I did email support i would guess 12 times with response each time. They also did check the file and the data file is not corrupt. Under their direction we deleted registry files and reloaded program maybe 10 times. None of this fixes the issue on two different computers running two different platforms. Clearly something is wrong and neither logbook pro support or I can figure it out. They even tried to remote in to fix and could not get it going themselves. I am dead in water with no way to open file without setting up on new box or they suggested rebuilding entire machine. That would take a long time and likely if I put all back on will be at same point after rebuild if the program conflicts with something.
 
AdamZ said:
My concern or question regarding any form of electronic log book is can you insert more that two airports per line. For example I may fly LOM to UKT and thats easy but sometimes I'll make many stops in one day ie I'll fly LOM to RDG to MQS to UKT and I'll put those on one line. Can that be done on an E log book?​
Click to expand...

You can do that with Log Book Pro. I've got entries with four airports in the route of flight field. I think you could add more. I'm not sure what the limit is for the field size.
 
thepilot said:
I did email support i would guess 12 times with response each time. They also did check the file and the data file is not corrupt. Under their direction we deleted registry files and reloaded program maybe 10 times. None of this fixes the issue on two different computers running two different platforms. Clearly something is wrong and neither logbook pro support or I can figure it out. They even tried to remote in to fix and could not get it going themselves. I am dead in water with no way to open file without setting up on new box or they suggested rebuilding entire machine. That would take a long time and likely if I put all back on will be at same point after rebuild if the program conflicts with something.
Click to expand...

Great use for a virtual machine. You install Windows in a virtual machine and it has a clean registry. Install your software, export your data to a flash drive, and wipe the whole thing out.
 
AdamZ said:
My concern or question regarding any form of electronic log book is can you insert more that two airports per line. For example I may fly LOM to UKT and thats easy but sometimes I'll make many stops in one day ie I'll fly LOM to RDG to MQS to UKT and I'll put those on one line. Can that be done on an E log book? I suspect if you did your own like Ed you could just expand the field.​
Click to expand...

Dunno about any others, but LogTen Pro on the Mac does allow you to put a bunch of extra airports in. In fact, I was just entering things in as "From:" MSN for example, and then "To:" 79C KSUE 6Y9 and it automatically put 79C KSUE 6Y9 in the "Route" field as well. And yes, it calculates the distance too.
 
I use a Mac. The only one that I have found that will work on this system is LogTen Pro. It has worked really well for me. I keep a backup of the most current saved file on two other computers as well as a backup memory stick that I have. Its been a good product so far. I have been using it for about 3 years now. The trouble that I am having is to now keep my paper logbook caught up.

When I converted from a paper logbook only to electronic and paper logbooks, I found several addition errors that came up to about 50 hours of unaccounted for flying. I did go back 20 years and started from hour 1.
 
LearDriver said:
When I converted from a paper logbook only to electronic and paper logbooks, I found several addition errors that came up to about 50 hours of unaccounted for flying. I did go back 20 years and started from hour 1.
Click to expand...

I guess I must have been rounding up because I lost 3 hours overall when I switched to electronic from 23 years worth.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
flav8r said:
I guess I must have been rounding up because I lost 3 hours overall when I switched to electronic from 23 years worth.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Looks like you are better at math than I am. I was only off by about seven hours per thousand logged. Not too bad. How do you like the electronic version. I am really liking it. It sure makes it easy before school to get current numbers and at insurance time.
 
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LearDriver said:
How do you like the electronic version.
Click to expand...

I love my electronic logbook because it gives me much more room for remarks and references which I frequently use to add photo details and other misc. categories that wouldn't fit in the paper version.

I still keep a paper logbook as my backup.

I only wish that Logbook Pro would come out with a iPhone/iPad version.
 
flav8r said:
I love my electronic logbook because it gives me much more room for remarks and references which I frequently use to add photo details and other misc. categories that wouldn't fit in the paper version.

I still keep a paper logbook as my backup.

I only wish that Logbook Pro would come out with a iPhone/iPad version.
Click to expand...

Logten has an iPhone version.
 
I have my primary paper log book, which I backup by electonic entry into an excel file that tracks my time and keeps summary of my currency, total time in each plane tail number, etc.

I also scan my logbook after each calendar year to keep a PDF backup of everything, which includes all my signatures and endorsements.... which I'll have to rescan soon after my tailwheel training is completed. :smile:
 
LogTen allows you to scan endorsements and place them in the logbook.

I have yet to see anything official that says those signatures are not "a manner acceptable to the administrator." Until I do, I plan to continue to use it as my exclusive logbook.

FWIW, it is no more susceptible to fraudulent signatures than paper and pen are.
 
I did get my Logbook pro fixed after being down for weeks and more hours trying to fix than I would have imagined. It started after an update they did and they could not help me fix it no matter how many reinstalls or their registry suggestions including logging into my machine. Happened on both of my machines, my laptop I travel withand my desktop. Eventually I got a very talented IT professional to help and go in and find all of the files in the registry to be able to get a clean install. I was able to then open my data again but lost all the settings and custimization of my fields and screens so spent a long time putting that back. fortunately I keep a back up so could restore once I could get program to run again. Was a nightmare but back in business. If go electronic make sure you back up and print as could end up havign to reload if program you use ends up being unusable in the furture. I am pretty computer savy and I lost use of mine for weeks and Logbook Pro could not even help and said good luck and would not refund my money. I was not a happy camper.
 
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