Under AMC and GM to Part FCL, AMC1 FCL.050 Recording of Flight Time

Thanks ifitaintboeing:ok:,
My take on the subject is that you need to maintain a hard copy logbook, and you can only use an electronic one as a backup.
If the dog eats your logbook then if you need to prove such things as "Biennial Training Flight" or "3 Landings/Take-offs in last 90 Days", then its a case of going back to the instructor or airfield to get a copy of their records.

FCL.050 requires flight time to be recorded "in a form and manner established by the competent authority" and, as such AMC1 FCL.050 is guidance and has no legal force. The UK legal requirements for the recording of flight time are contained in Article 79 of the Air Navigation Order 2009.

Article 79 does not require the personal flying log to be maintained in any specific form and it is perfectly acceptable to keep the information electronically and with no hard copy. Neither is there any requirement in law regarding the way that refresher flying with an FI is recorded - it will be sufficient to identify refresher flying as such without the need for a signature.

The only requirement for an FI's signature is in the case of differences training (FCL.710(c)), which is often provided on a separate label for inclusion in a hard copy logbook. It should not be difficult to design some means of including this (e.g. as a scanned copy) in an electronic log.

The above describes the legal requirements - there is no suggestion that merely adhering to these minimum requirements will be either convenient or efficient when dealing with the UK CAA.