Keeping a log book

Warlock

Warlock

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Warlock
Other than noting my last night flight for currency and approaches I am trying to figure out why I need to keep a log book...I am not looking for an Aviation Job...I am the only one who flies my airplane and use tach time for oil changes thus can reference also hour flown...thoughts?
 
Job, ratings, Currency, endorsements, and BFR are the only reasons to have a logbook.

If you never fly pax, you only need to log the BFR every 2 years.
 
Insurance, wanting a additional rating some day, just a good idea, I mean you have to keep track of the time for the plane anyway.
 
Insurance is the real reason in lieu of anything else. I occasionally work with people who have taken a long gap in flying, are just getting back into it, OR just bought a new airplane and have been flying but not bothering to log any of it, because it didn't matter.

Until it does. For example, if you buy a retract and have 1000 hours of retract time but none of it logged, it may be more expensive to get insurance. Worked with a guy in a turbocharged airplane, same story - he paid a little more than he would have only because he hadn't been bothering to log it.

But if even that doesn't matter to you, then as stated above, there's no real requirement to log anything other than what you need for currency.
 
There's no law saying you have to. I know that after 40+ years there's a lot of stuff I just never got around to writing down.
 
For future ratings,insurance,and if you keep notes on your flights,for nostalgia.
 
I almost never write flights in a logbook. It's just like driving the car to the grocery store, I don't feel a need to record that for posterity either. Keeping track of hours/cycles on the plane doesn't require recording each flight, just like you can tell your car has 5K miles and needs an oil change without needing to know where you drove it in that time.
 
Silvaire said:
There's no law saying you have to.
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Actually, there is, unless you never intend to fly again as PIC. See 14 CFR 61.51 for starters, along with 61.56, 61.57, and 61.31 for support. Granted, you don't have to log everything you do, but if you're ever going to fly as PIC again, there are certain minimum requirements which must be recorded in your pilot logbook which must be available for FAA inspection "upon reasonable request".
 
Warlock said:
Other than noting my last night flight for currency and approaches I am trying to figure out why I need to keep a log book...I am not looking for an Aviation Job...I am the only one who flies my airplane and use tach time for oil changes thus can reference also hour flown...thoughts?
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My logbook is a trip down memory lane every time I reflect back on it. I've always logged everything. Takes a minute on average. Well worth it.
 
Ron Levy said:
Actually, there is, unless you never intend to fly again as PIC. See 14 CFR 61.51 for starters, along with 61.56, 61.57, and 61.31 for support. Granted, you don't have to log everything you do, but if you're ever going to fly as PIC again, there are certain minimum requirements which must be recorded in your pilot logbook which must be available for FAA inspection "upon reasonable request".
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Those were exclusions the OP stated in his opening statement and outside of them there ain't no law. That's what he asked.
 
Insurance and currency would be good reasons. But the most important reason for me is to record the memories and experiences. If that isn't important to you, log for currency and to minimize your insurance premium.

If logging my driving had did anything to lower my insurance premium, then I would gladly do so.
 
Kinda depends on what else you might want to do. What are your certificates and ratings at this point? And interest in a higher grade certificate or a new rating? If so, are al the requirements for those already logged?

What are you flying? Any interest in an upgrade at some point? Will there be insurance premium benefits based on hours flown and broken down into categories?

Or, as others said, how about the jollies in having something to look back on? My logbook is hardly a scrapbook but I'm often surprised at the number of times I refer back to it because I want to know something like when I did my first mountain flight, first instrument approach near minimums solo, or the time I did turns around a point over a sunken battleship off the coast of Lanai.

No, as others already said, after certificate/rating/endorsement qualification and currency, no "legal" reason to keep a logbook, but there are other reasons you might want to consider when deciding to forego the 1 minute involved in logging a flight.
 
Arrow115 said:
Insurance and currency would be good reasons. But the most important reason for me is to record the memories and experiences. If that isn't important to you, log for currency and to minimize your insurance premium.

If logging my driving had did anything to lower my insurance premium, then I would gladly do so.
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after awhile you'll find more hours don't do anything for insurance, it's as low as it will get
 
LDJones said:
My logbook is a trip down memory lane every time I reflect back on it. I've always logged everything. Takes a minute on average. Well worth it.
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/\ /\ /\ :yes: /\ /\ /\

And they are good ones!
 
Silvaire said:
Those were exclusions the OP stated in his opening statement and outside of them there ain't no law. That's what he asked.
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The "exclusions" I mentioned went significantly beyond the "exclusions" the OP mentioned ("currency and approaches"), and you did not qualify your answer even to that extent.
 
Last edited:
Maybe you should just join the conversation rather than focusing on trying to one up somebody :rolleyes2:
 
Silvaire said:
Maybe you should just join the conversation rather than focusing on trying to one up somebody :rolleyes2:
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Maybe you should either answer fully and correctly or not complain when someone corrects your inaccurate and incomplete answers.
 
only for the special endorsements....:D

I'm thinking tail wheel, complex, or high performance endorsements would be required docs to keep.
 
Ron Levy said:
Maybe you should either answer fully and correctly or not complain when someone corrects your inaccurate and incomplete answers.
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See what I mean? I guess you just can't stop yourself, it's some sort of compulsion.
 
I think 1,000 was my magic number. After 1,000 flight hours I only log what I need for currency. I don't care about what I did yesterday. My life is the future not the past.

Same with Scuba. Stopped at 1,000 dives. Only log when I instruct nowadays.
 
I was very bad when I was younger. Failed to log several unique airplanes. Sure, I know I flew them, but wish I'd been more concerned with details. I've been able to recall most and about when, but N numbers on many are elusive.


Jim R
Collierville, TN

N7155H--1946 Piper J-3 Cub
N3368K--1946 Globe GC-1B Swift
N4WJ--1994 Van's RV-4
 
But now we're talking personal. I've logged pretty much everything but there have been some fill-ins because sometimes you just do a lot of flying in a short span and there's no time to fill out records. I mean it's like a diary, the guys on the Lewis and Clarke expedition regularly let them lapse for months because face it, it's just plain tedium.

But something I did about fifteen years ago was create an Excel spreadsheet. It took some time to retro input thirty years of logbook entries but all of the flying after that had an additional field of comments that are pretty cool. Of course it was just like going on a diet and eventually the entries went back to being terse if there at all.

Like I said, a personal thing and YMMV
 
Silvaire said:
See what I mean? I guess you just can't stop yourself, it's some sort of compulsion.
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Yes, I am compelled to provide complete and accurate answers to questions people ask, rather than giving short, inaccurate, incomplete responses.
 
I have been flying for 30 plus years...mostly military...Even then as a maintenance test pilot we never logged all the time flown. .1's and .2's turned into and hour off the airframe with ground runs for tracking and such and took away from bank time so we never logged it.

Phase test flights were always 1.0 or 1.1 just from a professional point of view (All took longer) Its been a long time since hours meant anything to me so I just wondered...I am at the point where I don't log much other than required for currency...thanks for the responses....
 
If you fly an airplane for business the tax code requires you to keep contemporaneous records to justify the expenses......if and when you are audited it improves your likely outcome.
 
RotorDude said:
I think the right question is "how many shoeboxes do you have?" :)
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Tupperware works better ;)

personallogs_zpsxvgow5yy.jpg
 
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