Logbooks

Last week I completed a minor milestone: I filled up my first logbook. That's not very important as aviation milestones go, but it did make me think of a few things:

My experience now includes 192 flights, 81:34 hours, 63:46 as Pilot in Command.

In addition to my logbook, I enter my time and flights in an Excel spreadsheet. That makes it a little easier to total things up, check the math, and answer questions like how much time I have in each type of glider. It also handles a quirk of tracking time and flights: once you have your Private certificate, you can log instructional time as both Dual Received and PIC.

Whenever I fill a page of my logbook, I run a photocopy of it. This is really important! I had not thought of it until one of my instructors had several logbooks stolen from a car. The CFI went to a lot of trouble to try to recreate the records, by asking students for copies of their logbooks etc. We put in a lot of work to accomplish our training... to lose the records of it would make it very difficult to apply for certificates and ratings.

My first logbook was the red SSA one, my second is the new blue and white one. One big difference I see is a new column to track Ground Training Received. Also, the front of the new book lists requirements for various tests and ratings.