Logging Heli time - separate log book?
 

Hi All,

I have recently started flying Helicopters, with a view to getting a PPL then later on a CPL if "environmental conditions" allow.

I already have some fixed wing time - is it worth logging my helicopter time in a separate log book, or would you just log it in the same book as fixed wing flying?

I know it seems a basic question, but to me it makes sense to keep everything in one book, and have a record of total flying hours in the same place. I know others who keep two log books.

Cheers

I just use the one, although that makes it a bit more time consuming working out hours breakdowns if you need to do so for a resume or whatever.

If I was smarter and more forward thinking I would have kept a spreadsheet or something with every conceivable permutation of hours, but I'm not, so every time I need to fill in a form with some whacky hours sub-total it's back to the log books, calculator and head scratching...

Just keep the one, but I also do a monthly summary and keep a spreadsheet

Phil

I always kept a handwritten logbook into which I entered all flights, the master copy you might say. I also kept an electronic one, there are plenty out there. I used Skylog Pro, makes things like summaries etc. much easier. Latterly, it made life even easier as I could enter flights into my mobile phone when away from base and transfer them on return.

Just use the one log book. At the bottom of each column on the right hand page put in two totals, Helo and Plane. Just write small and neatly and it fits in fine. At the bottom of the left hand page you have separate fields for helicopter and fixed wing and a grand total. As a flight examiner when I assess your total flying experience it makes it simple and easy and gives me a good overall indication of your total flying experience. Hope that helps.

I always kept separate logbooks for helicopters and fixed wing. Why would you put them together then kludge a solution that allows you keep totals for both ?

However I also agree that a spreadsheet is the best solution.

The "Senior Pilot" logbook I use has many column headings, and several blank ones, which can be assigned by your choice. The book already has several columns for fixed-wing, as well as a Helicopter column. I break it down further, to track cross-country time by FW vs. RW, as I am low time, and those numbers matter. If I need to report "total time", it's easy to do. If I need to report FW or RW time, it's also readily available.

I use one logbook. Fixed wing in black ink, rotary in blue. Write small and it's OK

I'm with Floppy on colour-coding it. Simple, graphic, imo less trouble than maintaining two. Been doing it this way for nearly 30 years.
I'm not sure of the legal aspect but keeping separate but concurrent logbooks seems contrary to the point of having a logbook in the first place, as well as not providing you with a seamless summary of your flying.

'Started my flying with one logbook and blue and red pens. I very quickly decided this was too messy so as soon as it was full went out and bought 2 logbooks, one for each. So much nicer?

2 Separate Log Books
 

Having been flying now for well over 35 years, and having ATPL's from 5 different countries, I have always used one log book for fixed-wing and another separate log book for helicopters. Overseas you'll find that fixed-wing operators /airlines don't care much about your helicopter time, while helicopter operators worldwide may tend to recognize your fixed-wing background more so. You will also find that overseas, the local governing aviation authorities ie DGCA in India or the GCAA in the U.A.E. will want a separate breakdown/log of your flight time in either F/W or R/W before they issue you a license or validation. If you're logging time (or eventually plan to) in B737 and AW139 class aircraft as I have, you'll find it much easier to keep them separate, especially when dealing with licensing authorities overseas. Hope this helps.

Out of curiosity, where can one get such an awesome job? :ok:

Coming back to logbooks, I also keep 2 separate. It's easier to add hours from 2 logbooks when needed, than weed out the needed data from a common logbook. As for the spreadsheets, e-logbooks etc. - they're good to extract specific data (like: PiC hours on certain type, etc.), but I found out they are time-consuming to maintain and (surprisingly!) more error-prone than hardcopies. After experimenting with several electronic logbooks (Excel, Logten, MCC) I decided to stick with the paper one...

I use two separate logbooks and two separate excel spreadsheets.
It makes it easy to calculate hours totals for whatever reason (insurance, medical etc.) For fixed wing we tend to round to the nearest five minutes. The rotary is in decimal hour increments (six minute intervals).