I am looking into fixing a few mistakes in my logbook and just wanted to get everyones opinion on this. I'm just talking about fixing up certain mistakes, ex. putting in the wrong airport or putting in the wrong flight time.

I am thinking about just gluing an identical piece of paper over the mistakes from another logbook instead of crossing it out to make it look nicer and cleaner at interviews.

I didn't know if this would raise more suspicions than anything if they somehow saw it but I just wanted to not have a logbook full of crosses and scratches from stupid mistakes. I've done it before and it is barely noticeable.

 

1. Don't make mistakes. Be neat.
2. Don't glue anything on it.
3. If you failed at #1, cross it out and write the correction. Initial the change.

If you can't be trusted to fill out a logbook, why would someone hire you to fly an airplane?

 

I see, well it's probably not a good idea now that I think about it. I'll just cross everything out and initial it.

 

Thinking of it like a legal document, when you do cross it out make sure it is a clean single line. If a correction is made they will want to see what was originally input. Human curiosity, leading to suspicion if you make the mistake unreadable.

 

Don't cross anything out. You can do it less obtrusively and more simply.

Make a new line entry, using todays date. In the various columns, put the correction values (+3.0 multi, -4.6 instructor, etc). Note in the remarks columns that it's a correction entry, and reference the relevant page(s).

The single line entry is discreet, provides an adequate record and full disclosure, yet is easy to miss during a review of the logbook. The main thing is that you correct it, but you don't need to change the original logbook entry. Just make a new one as if it were a separate flight. By the time the page is totaled up at the bottom, the total will be correct with the log adjustment(s) already factored in.

 

I wouldn't sweat correcting stuff like wrong airports, the correction will attract more attention than the error.

 

This is what I do. Looks much cleaner and saves having to re-total a hundred pages.

 

Ok thanks. That's a good idea. I'm trying to avoid crosses and initials all throughout my logbook.

And one more thing. Do employers like to see a separate column for the type of equipment or the specific aircraft?

ex/ If you fly the Dash 8 do they want a T-Prop column or a Dash 8 column with all your times. Same goes with jets. Does everyone write in a general Turbine column or CRJ-700 column

 

Employers don't care about what column you have in your logbook. It's useful for your own purposes to track things like that, because an employer may well want to know what kind of experience you have in type. The only thing your logbook should do is conform to the CFR; it needs to show what's legally needed. Anything else you put in there is up to you. If I'm flying something with a type rating at the time, I'll have a column to track that specific aircraft. When I'm not flying that aircraft for a period, the column gets replaced with something else

You may find it's easier to build separate columns to track turboprop vs. turbojet. Or you might just keep a running total at the bottom of the page.

I keep a notes on each page regarding what employer I was flying for at the time, or notes about specific aircraft. At the bottom of each page, I keep track of all the destinations; not just the To-From in the logbook, but at the bottom it will say something like VHHH=Hong Kong, K65=Dighton, KS, etc.

I have notes in the margins about breaking a thousand hours, or five, or anything else of significance at the time. I glue my medical certificates in the back of each logbook. Some of the logs have taken 12 year to complete, so there are quite a few medicals back there, as well as pictures, business cards, government cardings, and other applicable things from that time period. It's your logbook. Make it yours.

I don't care what an airline wants to see in my logbook. It's my log, not theirs. They have applications with specific requirements to meet their needs and I fill out their application their way. I fill out my log my way, covering what's important to me.

 

What do you guys think about ditching the paper logbook and moving over to digital? After 20 years of military flying there have been some mistakes in my logs, but moving them all over to digital makes cleaning everything up easy.

Next year when I am out of the military I will print out and have my logbook bound. That is what I will show when I go to interviews. That and of course my 759 print out from the Army.