Decent Logbook

BaronPete

BaronPete

Jaw Harp Troubadour
Hello all,

I'm looking for direction on a new logbook. I currently have a sporty's and, frankly, I'm not very pleased with it. Most importantly, there's a laughable amount of room to write any kind of constructive notes about a given flight in legible handwriting. I'm going back over about 35 hours worth of private pilot instruction and I can barely read my instructor's writing due to the gross lack of space to comment on anything.

Thoughts / recommendations?
 
Plenty of room to comment on a given day's flight? weather / maneuvers etc?

The sporty's is seriously like 3"x1"...:mad: the comments column, that is..not the whole logbook obviously, hah.
 
BaronPete said:
Plenty of room to comment on a given day's flight? weather / maneuvers etc?

The sporty's is seriously like 3"x1"...:mad: the comments column, that is..not the whole logbook obviously, hah.
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Yup. Plenty of room.
 
Where are you at in your training?

When you get further along, there are less things to write in the comment section. I switched to a "professional" logbook after my commercial rating, and like 5 years later I am still using it and it has yet to fall apart. Once you start flying for a living, you will just update it every month or so, not after every flight, so the chance of it falling apart are nill.
 
You mentioned you are using Sporty's. I don't have experience with the smaller Sporty's logbook. I have been using Sporty's "senior pilot logbook." I like it because it has several blank columns that I can use to keep track of different types of cross country time.
 
If you're going to make a career out of this, start with an electronic logbook right this very instant. You'll thank me later. There's no statutory requirement for what constitutes a "logbook". Have your CFI write out what you did on a blank piece of paper, sign it, and put it in a folder somewhere. Voila.
 
Boris Badenov said:
If you're going to make a career out of this, start with an electronic logbook right this very instant. You'll thank me later. There's no statutory requirement for what constitutes a "logbook". Have your CFI write out what you did on a blank piece of paper, sign it, and put it in a folder somewhere. Voila.
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+10....I spent an absurd amount of time recently, updating to electronic. Do it while you only have a page or two to transfer :)
 
BaronPete said:
I'm looking for direction on a new logbook. I currently have a sporty's and, frankly, I'm not very pleased with it. Most importantly, there's a laughable amount of room to write any kind of constructive notes about a given flight in legible handwriting.
Click to expand...

The endorsements are the only things that really matter, the comments don't really mean anything (other than to remind your instructor what he has already done).

Other than that, PAX/Night/Instrument currency are about the only things you actually need to log. Doesn't take much space.

My trusty old Jeppesen log is about to fill up soon, I'll probably replace it with the same one. As already mentioned, I only update it once a month, from an electronic logbook.

A more practical question - I'm just about out of space for endorsements. Stickers on basically every page or surface that isn't a line for flight entries. Can I staple an endorsement in? Or just put stickers over a page used for flight entries? I'm guessing that isn't a problem.
 
///AMG said:
+10....I spent an absurd amount of time recently, updating to electronic. Do it while you only have a page or two to transfer :)
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What about the Dual Received column, how does an instructor sign your electronic logbook?
 
7700 said:
What about the Dual Received column, how does an instructor sign your electronic logbook?
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I keep a paper logbook that is only used for dual received which requires a signature.

Everything else goes into the electronic log.
 
I've got the jep "professional pilot green monstrosity" or whatever its called. I wish I had an electronic one. I logged all of my stuff up to about 500hrs in an oldschool small ASA Pilot log, and then switched over. Now all of my 135 stuff is in 1 log and all of my timebuilding, etc. is in another. Worked out pretty well that way.
 
PS. I've done both 135 and 121 interviews and I have yet to meet anyone upset by the fact that my logbook is exclusively electronic, provided I can produce the requisite endorsements, etc. Which, as I mentioned above, I cut out of the various old logbooks and keep in a folder. No muss, no fuss, no mistotaled pages, no throbbing veins, no homicidal urges...

Plus, as an added bonus, once you figure out how to use it Logbook Pro can answer simply and easily all of those infuriating "complex, non high performance, single, nighttime, VMC in the last 2 1/2 months" insurance questions.
 
dc3flyer said:
Where are you at in your training?

When you get further along, there are less things to write in the comment section. I switched to a "professional" logbook after my commercial rating, and like 5 years later I am still using it and it has yet to fall apart. Once you start flying for a living, you will just update it every month or so, not after every flight, so the chance of it falling apart are nill.
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I'm only about 37 hours in or so, I don't have my logbook with me right this moment. Also, I'm not so concerned with rereading what my instructor has noted (his handwriting is abysmal, doubt I can translate anyway), but I would like to start making my own comments/observations/reflections on given experiences and I'd like room to do that. The leather logbook looks really nice, albeit pricey. I'm also curious if anyone has owned one.

Also, do you guys prefer free electronic logbook services or paid for, such as logbook pro?

(Also, the plan IS to make a career out of this :D)
 
The reflections wont last long except for maybe a great part 91 flight. Once you go professional although a good job, it becomes a job.

Mine would look like this...

EWR-BOS...ILS...awesome
BOS-EWR...ILS...awesome
EWR-RDU...ILS...awesome

and you get the idea, a 40 mile long step down journey to a vectored ILS outside the IAF just doesnt leave much to comment about.

now....500 feet down the beach in a J3 cub waving at the people on the beach with the doors open, now that can clear writers block that we call 121.
 
drunkenbeagle said:
Get a diary for that, doesn't really belong in a log book
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I put "there I was" stories in the comments section of my electronic logbook. That will help me with the "TMAAT" part of any future interviews. Some people have flying jobs that include more than just Point A to an ILS full-stop at Point B.

Besides, it's just electrons and file size.
 
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