Electronic Logbooks and Interviews
 

I am preparing for the interview process that I hope to begin in a few months, and have been thinking about different ways to make myself look more presentable/professional. I have started to grow up and make a point of keeping my logbook clean and updating it as I fly, but I did have a point where I was getting lazy about logging flights, and in the process of updating my logbook in bulk, made a few errors that don't look too pretty. I've been told it isn't a big deal because I was young and inexperienced, and I have made a concerted effort to have all my recent entries be more neat. My question is concerning the validity of bringing electronic prints of flight times to interviews.

I would rather not spend a lot of money on an expensive software program when I can make my own spreadsheet in MS Excel. If I make a nice, presentable spreadsheet with my complete flight history, and attach photocopies of all endorsements and checkrides, will that look good to an interviewer? Obviously I would bring my original book with me to the interview as well, but would it be worth it to make a nice, neat printout? I just want to maximize my professional image. When it comes time for the HR/Tech interview, should I just ask if they would like the printouts? Thanks for the input.

I highly recommend spending a little money on an electronic logbook program. Safelog or Logbook Pro work well.
It is the best aviation purchase I have ever made. You will be very glad to have it some day.
Do it while you are still low time and it won't take too long to fill it out.

I don't even keep a paper logbook anymore. I brought just my printed Safelog logbook to my last interview and got hired to fly an MD-80. Excel will work, but it lacks some of the best features and it doesn't look very professional.

Spend the money and do everything you can to make a great first impression. My interviewers did a general overview of my electronic logbook printouts and thanked me for being organized. They made a few comments on how miserable it is to sift through sloppy logbooks.

Do you guys know if Safelog or Logbook Pro have the ability to sort out flight time by aircraft type?

Yes, LBP can show you a report based on type, years, months, etc. It's really easy.

Do what you want. As long as you have a record of your flight time in an orderly/neat/presentable format, these days it really doesn't matter any more. Remember though that if you receive flight training, you still need to have some sort of physical endorsement/signature from the instructor (a sticker will suffice for those out of regular flight training towards ratings).

I have tried several different commercial and shareware logbook programs. At the end of the day, I still preferred my own excel spreadsheet since I can program and format it exactly how I like. It doesn't do all of the "gee whiz" stuff like breaking down currency and how many hours I have in a particular tail number in whatever month of whatever year, but most of that is just fluff anyway.

Every couple of months when I fill out a new "page" I print it and put it into a nice binder with the rest of the pages- this becomes my "presentation" logbook that I use for interviews. Here's an example of the printed page:

http://www.crosswindlanding.com/temp...ok-Example.jpg

It works for me and I've never had any issues in an interview.

Your logbook is your "diary" or sorts...it's only as good as your word. So what format you choose and how you choose to present it is completely up to you - it's a personal choice.

Just don't forget to sign the pages!

By the way...the neat and presentable part (Josh is absolutely right) is important because the interviewer needs to be able to read it. This is why white out is a no-no. They simply need to be able to read and understand it and your flying history.

Thanks for all your responses. I ended up buying Log Book Pro. I've spent the last few days entering all the stuff into my computer and there are a lot of errors, mostly in my flight training stage (i.e. logging PCATD in total time, logging PIC time in a multi before I had my multi rating) and it all around just looks very sloppy (entries written in blue, green ink). If at all possible I would rather just not show my original logbook to future interviewers at all but FlyerJosh mentioned the thing about all the dual received signoffs. Even after I do all this do I still have to show the original flight training logbook solely for all the signoffs?

When I interview, I present my printed logbook, but also take ALL of my paperlog books (3 of them) with me just in case they want to see endorsements or training signoffs.

So even though you do your electronic log book you also log your flights in a traditional paper logbook?