Did Pilot Log App Die?

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Leo Langston

Pre-takeoff checklist
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Dec 30, 2016
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llangston1
Did the iPhone Pilot Log App just die? I have been using that app on my phone for years to keep my flight time but yesterday my
Log in failed and when I ask for a password reset it acts like I have no account. I do keep a paper log so I have not lost anything but it is annoying if the app was abandoned with no advance warning? Did anyone else use that app and have the same problem?

Leo
 
I just downloaded and created a new account to see. Worked fine for me.
 
I can do that but worried I lost all my previous log entries
 
I can create a new account but I want to know where all my years of log entries went.
 
And that, boys and girls, is why I still keep a paper logbook and my electronic one is stored locally and not in the cloud.
 
AV8R_87 said:
And that, boys and girls, is why I still keep a paper logbook and my electronic one is stored locally and not in the cloud.
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OTOH I haven’t kept a paper logbook for any purpose for 6 years. For 4 years before that, I used it a few times for dual received when the CFI was not comfortable with electronic signatures. Stopped logging my own flights on paper in 2013. The closest I come now is my annual print-to-pdf from MyFlightBook (which I’ve used for almost 20 years).

It’s not about the medium. It’s about what you do with it. Yes, I agree it’s definitely a bad idea to rely 100% on a vendor who might or might not be here tomorrow to protect your entries.
 
Leo Langston said:
I can create a new account but I want to know where all my years of log entries went.
Click to expand...
Have you contacted the developer? Looking for silver linings, maybe there was a crash at their end and they have backups for recovery?

BTW, which app? There are at least two with the simple “pilot log” name.
 
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As the software guy in the room, what you're describing - logins failing and password resets saying "no account" - usually isn't the app being lovingly retired. It's the backend: an unpaid server bill, an expired database, or an account table that got wiped. The phone app is just a window; when the lights go out behind it, your entries can be gone with no warning and no "export" button left to press.

+1 to Mark's point that it's about what you do with it, not the medium. The test I'd apply to any logbook app before trusting it: can I export everything, today, to a plain CSV or the standard logbook format (the LogTen/ForeFlight CSV layout is a decent lingua franca)? If the only way data comes out is a screen you scroll through, you don't really own it - you're renting access to it. I export a backup a couple times a year and keep the file somewhere I control. A vendor folding then becomes an annoyance, not a disaster.

For anyone stuck right now: before you delete and reinstall anything, check the phone's local app storage / any iTunes or iCloud device backup - the database file may still be sitting on the device even if the login server is dead.
 
Is it possible OP used an older/less frequent/discarded email address when he created the account?
 
In addition to your paper Logbook, you should also Export your data from Pilot Log on a regular basis to have a backup. Then if they ever do go under, it should be fairly simple to modify their .CSV file to Import the data to whatever other Logbook App you go to.

How often you Backup can depend upon how often you fly. If you're flying a few times a week, I'd do it ever month. If not that often, then maybe every 6 months. And keep your Dec. 31st Backup every year. You may find years later (in whatever program you're using) the file got corrupt and there's a big chunk of info missing. It's simple to rebuild if you have the data from before the corruption.
 
cleared360 said:
As the software guy in the room,
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LOL! I wouldn't make that assumption around here :D I worked in a software company for 10 years. Technically in the legal group for banking software, but my specialty was finding ways to break things during beta testing :D
 
i’m sure you’ve updated the app but I thought I’d mention it b/c that has caused crazy things for me
 
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