Electronic logbook

[FJ2ME]

Hi all, just a quick question. Do any of you have any recommendations for a cloud-based logbook app that can be used on a phone, tablet or laptop? I've looked at LogTen pro but it's pretty expensive, but admittedly very impressive. Are there any more cost effective solutions people use? Cheers

[FJ2ME]

Originally Posted by CharlieMike

Just use an excel or numbers workbook. Much easier to exactly replicate your RAF logbook and the data is easier to manipulate/extract if you need to. It also guards against the software company stopping supporting the software as excel/numbers will be with us for a lifetime.

Fair points but I've done that previously and now I want a more slick solution preferably with a phone app. Don't mind paying but LogTen is £70 which is a bit excessive.

[Bob Viking]

Try Logbook Adder. Search for it on the Apple App Store. It was made by a mate of mine. Very cheap and does the job nicely.

BV

[FJ2ME]

Originally Posted by Bob Viking

Try Logbook Adder. Search for it on the Apple App Store. It was made by a mate of mine. Very cheap and does the job nicely.

BV

Thanks Bob, have an hours calculator already. Looking for a comprehensive app where you just put your flight details in and it produces the summaries as demanded. Basically I want LogTen pro capability but at less buy-in price!

[Bob Viking]

I'd need to be doing an awful lot of flying before I'd consider spending more than a couple of quid on an app to do my monthly summary for me. Ultimately you're still going to have to write them in pen and ink aren't you?

You must be getting paid too much. If you have spare cash I have more great ideas for how to ease your pain.

BV

[ArrowFly]

Originally Posted by FJ2ME

Hi all, just a quick question. Do any of you have any recommendations for a cloud-based logbook app that can be used on a phone, tablet or laptop? I've looked at LogTen pro but it's pretty expensive, but admittedly very impressive. Are there any more cost effective solutions people use? Cheers

Try mccPilotLog. One time pay only and lots of functions. Works on all platforms.

[Jhieminga]

MCCPilotLog? Free to try, but you need to pay to be able to use it on your phone as well. I've only been using it for a brief period but it seems to do all I want.

[Wensleydale]

How legal is an electronic logbook? Surely you need a paper signed up copy to prove your hours? Otherwise it is an extra chore over and above.

[jtt]

Originally Posted by FJ2ME

Hi all, just a quick question. Do any of you have any recommendations for a cloud-based logbook app that can be used on a phone, tablet or laptop?

I may look like a spoil-sport and I'm not a (mlitary) pilot but merely a programmer. But the question you should ask yourself is how important are those data to you? If you can say without hesitation that it won't make a lot of a difference to your life if they suddenly disappear don't bother reading any further.

If they are important to you, though, your first concern shouldn't be the shiny interface but the question if you can keep them in a way that doesn't depend on the continued existence of the company storing them for you. Companies have gone out of business all the time. And if the company you trust your data with uses another company for storing them and that company folds, they may very easily also be toast. So, is there a plan B for that? Can you retain all those data in a place you can control and in a format you can read once they've vanished without prior notice? Or, for short: if you can't make a local backup of your data that you can use once they've vanished from the internet better stay away from them, no matter how nice and professional their user interface looks like. When the proverbial sh*t hits the fan there will be no user interface left and the only question then will be if you've retained a backup of your data that you still can use.

[Herod]

jtt. Spot on. There is a backup that will retain a permanent record. As far as I know it's called "Pilot's Flying Log Book".Pen and paper. Simples

[trim it out]

Thinking out loud, isn't there an option on JPA for aircrew hours? Never heard anyone use it and I've never even clicked the link so I wonder if I'm missing a trick.

[Dan Winterland]

Don't trust anything valuable to the cloud. Plenty of people have found this the hard way.

[Dan Winterland]

I've used both Excel and a paper book for years - largely because where I fly, a paper log book is mandatory. The spread-sheet is great for calculation's and summaries.

[OvertHawk]

I use a good App on iPad / iPhone - I won't name it as it's still in Beta and not available.

My point is, however, that despite it being backed up both in the cloud and on my own computer, each time I fill a "page" I print it off in high quality, put it in a nice folder and sign the declaration at the bottom of the page to say it's legit. Voila - a paper logbook to satisfy anyone that wants it plus a hard copy backup! (It's my intention in time to have the pages bound properly).

I love the ease of use of the App but I keep a paper copy too.

[Brian W May]

LogTen Pro might be expensive but it's the canine's gonads.

[thing]

I use Logbook.aero. Excellent piece of kit, as versatile as you could want it to be. Every time you make an entry you are e mailed a back up. I think it's about £30 a year subscription, or about a round of drinks in the average pub if you want to put it into perspective.

[FJ2ME]

Originally Posted by Bob Viking

I'd need to be doing an awful lot of flying before I'd consider spending more than a couple of quid on an app to do my monthly summary for me. Ultimately you're still going to have to write them in pen and ink aren't you?

You must be getting paid too much. If you have spare cash I have more great ideas for how to ease your pain.

BV

Thanks for your views. My concern is mainly that I am conscious that the only legally admissible record of my flying is in an highly fragile paper book that has been around the world a few times. If you don't have any more useful suggestions to make then that's fine. Leave it to someone else. Equally, casting aspersions as to my (likely far less than yours) salary are unhelpful, especially since I started this by trying to improve capability and reduce expense. Honestly I despair some times.

[FJ2ME]

Thanks to everyone who made constructive suggestions, and I'd be interested to know the beta one mentioned above that wasn't named.

To all the dinosaurs who's best response is to say "what's wrong with engraving it in stone?", I'm afraid I don't need any more of your wittycisms. If you're not interested in progress and making things more secure, faster to update and less fallable to human error, then why don't you click on one of the other threads instead of getting gritty with me..?

And yes, the cheap recycled paper book that gets written in once a month, is the one and only legal document in the RAF, but that's not my question either.

[Ascoteer]

Originally Posted by FJ2ME

Thanks to everyone who made constructive suggestions, and I'd be interested to know the beta one mentioned above that wasn't named.

To all the dinosaurs who's best response is to say "what's wrong with engraving it in stone?", I'm afraid I don't need any more of your wittycisms. If you're not interested in progress and making things more secure, faster to update and less fallable to human error, then why don't you click on one of the other threads instead of getting gritty with me..?

And yes, the cheap recycled paper book that gets written in once a month, is the one and only legal document in the RAF, but that's not my question either.

Ignore the Cold Warriors! They're the exact same ones who are holding back 2Gp massively on EFBs, which save millions and make everyone's lives easier.

Anyway, MCCPilotLog gets my vote. You can even get a paper logbook printed (and bound) straight from the app!

Can I respectfully make a suggestion? If you're thinking of leaving Her Majesty's Service and fly civilian at any time, be sure to add your military flights to a civilian 'logbook' too with the off and on block times. LASORs 2010 allowed factoring of military logbooks, but under EASA it doesn't technically exist any more...

Best of luck 👍🏻

[salad-dodger]

Does anyone know of a good place where I can get my e-logbook nicely bound?

S-D