Electronic Pilot Logbooks (preview of episode 6)

Over the last couple days I’ve been testing some electronic logbooks, and the episode covering them is here. Here is a comparison (my notes) about some electronic logbooks.

The most important feature of an electronic logbook is “export” if it has nothing else, a logbook must have this! You don’t know if you will keep this service/application for your entire career as a pilot. You want to be able to change to another service whenever you want. Importing is also important, but it’s really up to you if you carry over your old data into the new system, or just start from scratch.

Still, the whole point of even considering an electronic logbook is to track your “currency” automatically. I wouldn’t consider a logbook that didn’t make this easy. For some people a customizable spreadsheet is all they need. I like something that tells me “X days left on VFR Day Currency”. “Medicals and Certificates“, “Flight Reviews“, and “Flight Limits” fall into the same category. It’s just a question as to what you’re comfortable with.

Reports handle viewing your data, but what about other things you want to track? “Configurable Fields” are important to allow you to track stats which not typical. Also, custom field ordering is important to see and understand your stats at a glance. Remember, the application must to work for you. There’s no point in using an electronic logbook if you are a slave to it, so I feel that custom fields are very important.

“Inflight Timers” are simply cool. I don’t know how useful they are in practice, but if it means that all you have to do is tap a button to start and stop a timer to calculate your day and night portions of a flight, and not have to do any math – I’m for it!

“Airport” and “Aircraft” databases are simply nice. It’s not a “must have”, but being able to look up an airport and have consistency is great. Also, some logbooks will calculate the distance flown based on the airport locations and way points – This is cool (a feature of LogTen).

if you’re a student (we all are on some level) then tracking “Practical FAA Requirements” can be useful. Very few logbooks do this. Some applications have reports which accomplish the same thing, but SafeLog actually has a specialized feature that tells you exactly what minimum requirements must be met for your certification. This is pretty cool, but not a “must have”.

Finally, if you’re going to store your logbook in byte form you’ll need a backup solution. Yes, this is a plug for a sponsor Mozy, but I really do believe in them, and it’s extremely important to have a backup solution. Use our coupon codes “PFT“, or “PFT15” for the pro version. You will save 15% on the price of a backup subscription.

Now, to the electronic logbook feature comparison: