[Gertie]

I wouldn't want the microlights ... but I would want a column for floatplanes. I suspect that one size doesn't fit everyone, maybe the columns should simply have blank headings so we can each put in what suits us

[ianfallon]

At the moment I'm maintaining an Excel sheet and one of the small blue paper logbooks.

I format the start and end times as HH:MM but the lengths of time of flights as minutes (calculated by Excel from the times) - this keeps things simple for summing up time.

Excel is so much better compared to paper for getting stats of course, like tailwheel time, time on a type etc. (useful for insurance renewal time).

With a bit of a pivot table and chart you can do this sort of thing too

[Genghis the Engineer]

That's very much how I use Excel too - and yes have a summary pie chart, showing time on my main types.

But there is an aesthetic and permanence to a paper logbook that I find compelling.

G

[leiafee]

I'll need a new one in the not too distant and have looked without success for one with headings for both micros and SEP without me having to cross out and rewrite in new headings!

Also like the idea of a blank heading or two.

[Lockhaven]

For me I am on my eleventh large Airtour commercial logbook and to be honest I don't bother filling it in all the time unless its something interesting, can't be bothered either with all these excel spreadsheet ones they have no style or history to them.

GtE's idea of blank column headers and fill in as required sounds a good idea.

[Genghis the Engineer]

So here's a question - is there any reason to have a fixed heading for anything on the right hand page? Or should I just have a set of columns with two blank heading boxes, top for class, bottom for capacity?

So I might fill mine out, for example...

"Other" ......3-axis......Flexwing..........SEP....... SEP........Instructor..........Night.........IFR.......Inst.Ref
P/UT...............PiC.............PiC................P/UT......PiC...........................................................................................

With a reminder somewhere about only adding columns up once for total time (so, for example, not accidentally adding "instructor" time already added in to the flying hours total.

G

[GrahamB]

I think the thing to do is to keep the columns together in two distinct groups:

- those that define the operating capacity/class/day/night etc. which make up Total Time, and what you enter in these has to add up to the time of the flight

- those that qualify further the time(s) in the above - such as IFR, Instrument, SSAT, Aerobatics or whatever else you wish or need to record.

[T67M]

Looks good to me. I'd probably add columns for "Aerobatics", "Takeoffs" and "Landings", and I'd also probably draw a hard black vertical line between the "add" and "exclude" from Total Time types. So, that's a minimum of 12 columns on the right hand page, two blank "header" rows, "totals" rows at the top and bottom, and the vertical lines printed as dashes to be made solid where appropriate.

Genghis, I think you have a winner!

[Paul_Sengupta]

I'd probably add columns for "Takeoffs" and "Landings"

How many discrepancies do you have here?

[Straight Level]

I'd probably add columns for "Takeoffs" and "Landings"

How many discrepancies do you have here?

[GrahamB]

I'd probably add columns for "Takeoffs" and "Landings"

How many discrepancies do you have here?

Perfectly feasible if you change PIC during the flight.

[T67M]

I'd probably add columns for "Takeoffs" and "Landings"

How many discrepancies do you have here?

Since I fly as an instructor, quite a few!

I also have many flights with "zero" in both columns. I do sometimes wonder how to log the "botched and rescued landing" where the student makes a mistake and I have to intervene - is that their landing, my landing, or since neither of us was "sole manipulator of the controls", can neither of us log it?

[Bobcro]

It looks as if you have sorted it it out G but I have found that the standard Pooleys have served me well over many years and I just Snopaked out some of the headings and over the years as I no longer use them for say SET or MET then these can be totalled and are then free to use for Microlight, weightshift or unpowered if I ever venture that far again.

If you are so inclined you will find that you remember the flight but whether or not you did 1' 00"" or 1' 15" is immaterial, as long as you don't over estimate the actual hours in flight you know that what you wrote was a true record of flying and not taxying.

[Genghis the Engineer]

If you are so inclined you will find that you remember the flight

What the ANO says about logging time, we all know well enough. But this point is worth commenting on.

I had around a thousand hours when I decided to copy my paper logbook up onto an electronic spreadsheet version and run them in parallel. I found that as I did so, I could remember something significant and interesting to me about every third flight - roughly.

I'm guessing that most other people would find something similar, as would I still. It does make a point about how personal our flying records are to us all.

G

[Paul_Sengupta]

I do sometimes wonder how to log the "botched and rescued landing" where the student makes a mistake and I have to intervene - is that their landing, my landing, or since neither of us was "sole manipulator of the controls", can neither of us log it?

Half each?