rdavid2792

55 years old career rotary wing pilot here. Commercial instrument helicopter. Currently at a major 135 operator in the Gulf of Mexico and planned on retiring here. As a result, I haven't touched a logbook in years since this company keeps accurate track of all my times and I can easily print out a summary which includes all my military time and other past times with other employers etc. Also, had no plans on changing companies but current environment here is "sinking ship" so I'm probably going to make the jump via RTP. I'll be scheduling an interview for RTP in the next month or so.

I did keep all my flight sheets and could realistically sit down and transfer everything to a paper logbook but I'm certain it would be very obvious to anyone that looks at them that I transferred everything at once. Not to mention the 100 or so hours it would take to try and rebuild all my times on paperwork. Geeezzzz, that's going to be painful...

I guess my question is, should I go ahead and try to get everything in a paper logbook even though it's not going to be pretty? Thanks.

new guy

Electronic brother. Everyone will accept an all digital book. If you have need of signatures, keep the originals and let them use those as reference, they'll scan to confirm.

I just created a digital from scratch. Everywhere I interviewed liked it which to pull me aside and let me know they liked it.20180228_133156.jpg

AV8LAW

Which software is that? Pretty slick.

rdavid2792

OK. Thanks new guy.

Electronic sounds way better than hand writing thousands of entries. I do have accurate totals of everything so that won't be a problem. I've been flying almost 30 years so should I try to rebuild every minute with electronic logbook or can I show 20 years on paper and the last 10 years electronic?

new guy

It took me 4 days to build 12 years. Not saying it'll be that quick for you. But if your records are clear and concise, it could be done quicker than you think.

rdavid2792

Great. I'll definitely commit to getting this done asap. Maybe it won't take as long as I'm thinking it will.

Hey, which logbook software did you use? Looks really good.

new guy

I chose Mccpilot log. Paying a one time fee was important to me, especially after a friends horror stories;


after the 15 versions of logbook pro and upgrades and blah blah blah ended up costing him hundreds upon hundreds, only to find out after one of their upgrades they were discontinuing service, rebranding, and there would be a new subscription requirement with no service for the old stuff (maybe it want logbook but it WAS one of the Apple product only companies.)

Also, I wanted a product that worked on Windows, Android, and Apple (in case I ever get one.)

The fact that it's completely customizable (since I fly a tandem seat aircraft) made this an easy pick for me.

But do your own research. Lots of guys have their preference, and some are probably better than mine depending on what you need.

Clearedhot28

I went the logten pro route and I’m glad I did. It was a pain to enter in my flights but it was worth it when I interviewed. After I got out of the Marines I got hired flying civilian helos and had kinko’s/fedex print off my logbook and bound it. Logten has a nice flight time summary print off and put that in the front of the logbook.

Did the same when I interviewed with PSA about this time last year. Was complimented on the logbook and the time summary sheet at the interview. They didn’t even ask for my military log books. When I got to training I had no issues for the logboook review for getting my atp.