In the 21st century, information is becoming digitally stored. There is a lot of administration in our lives which reduces our limited time from those activities that we really like: flying. No matter if you are just a cadet or an experienced pilot you have to keep a record of your flight data in a pilot logbook. But nowadays, you can choose between a printed logbook and a digital one. We summarized the pros and cons for you before making the final decision if you are considering becoming digital.
Why do pilots have to use a logbook?
The number of flight hours is a factor that brings experience to pilots. If you fly, you must keep track of and manage your important flight data in a logbook to be able to prove and provide information about your experience and ratings. There are rules that pilots should keep in mind (according to FAA/EASA standards) which provides guidance regarding the content and format of the information stored in the logbook. You have to record the date, flight time, aircraft type, etc. Besides that, it’s a duty can help you to see your flight history. You can read more about the FAA Logbook regulations and about the EASA Logbook regulations on the website of the given authorities. Your logbook contains all the information regarding your flight time, ratings, skill tests, etc. It’s considered an official document and losing it could very well cause a great amount of trouble to the pilot. Keeping it safe and backed up should be of the utmost importance for pilots.
Should you consider changing to a digital pilot logbook?
It’s a tough question and there’s no right answer. It mostly depends on which one you prefer. However, there are pros and cons to use a printed or digital pilot logbook.
If you choose the paper-based logbook you won’t lose it due to system errors, battery problems, or cloud synchronization failure but you can just as easily lose it somewhere or have it stolen from you. However, once you write down the data in a handwritten logbook, it will be always there. This makes it safe and secure if you take good care of it. But this creates some other cons to printed pilot logbooks, for instance, you cannot easily edit existing data that was entered incorrectly. Furthermore, it is offline, so there won’t be any backup that would be useful in case you lose it. Of course, you can always create a copy but it’s a lengthy process that can easily take hours and it’s very easy to make mistakes due to the monotony of the task.
If you prefer or consider changing to a digital logbook, you can store and manage the flight data without carrying a printed logbook with you. Most pilots rightfully fear losing their flight records. By using a modern digital logbook this can be easily avoided. With the press of a button, you can create several copies for any of your mobile devices and cloud services. Another advantage is that you can print the data if you want to keep a physical copy of it. Your flight logs are available offline, and you can make backups online. This means you can also access it anywhere with your phone, tablet, or any computer with internet access.
There could be a problem however with your obligation to show your logbook to the authorities before or after flights if you haven’t paid attention to your battery life. Unlike paper, a tablet can discharge and cause problems in this scenario. You can avoid it by simply monitoring the battery level of your device. Luckily if you have your smartphone around you can use that as well to present your logbook if you’ve synchronized it before.
Countless functions can make the life of a pilot easier. You no longer have to manually summarize your flights by time periods, or aircraft types. Use pre-made reports or easily create your own summaries within minutes. Store and manage all your certificates, get notifications if any of them are about to expire, and so much more.
All in all, we recommend you become digital and create offline and online backups easily and regularly. Even if you prefer to stick with a written logbook you can still enjoy the functions of a digital logbook if you use it as a backup.
Let FlyGo help you become a digital pilot
With FlyGo’s Pilot Logbook app you will gain access to all the previously mentioned functions and will never have to worry about your flight data anymore. You can store and manage all your important information in one place and share with multiple iOS devices. We developed a customizable Logbook app that provides a wide range of available settings for pilots. Beside the default FAA and EASA compatible logbook profiles you can keep track of a number of flight information such as NVFR hours, IFR actual, landings and take offs, route information, aircraft categories, and so much more. You can turn such functions on and off anytime by adding or removing columns in your logbook. The same is true for flight reports, you can choose multiple columns to summarize by, categorize and manage your flight information.
Each license and rating you have can be added to your profile and you’ll receive notifications if they’re close to expire. You can modify existing or create your own notifications to a number of scenarios such as missing your required flight times in the past 90 days, etc.
Since our app gained a widespread customer attention all over the world, our digital pilot logbook was improved and now compatible with FAA/EASA standards as well.
In order to make the pilot’s life easier a digital logbook needs an airport database as well. Our users can easily choose from more than 50.000 airports worldwide to make it easy to fill the necessary cells. In addition, new auto-fill function was also developed recently to reduce pilots administration times. Due to this improvement our digital logbook fills certain cells for you automatically if you turn this function on. Moreover, the intelligent search function yield also some benefits for our users to easily find certain flight information.
Or you already use other aviation apps and services? If you have a RosterBuster account, then we have good news for you. Our logbook is among the firsts worldwide which can be synchronized with Roster Buster account that you can benefit from..
If you still thinking to change from paper-based pilot logbook to a digital one or you consider to switch from an existing app to the FlyGo Pilot Logbook then read this detailed description of our app and get inspired by other users’ opinion!
Find out more about FlyGo Pilot Logbook App!
Have a good flight, pilot!
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