| When a pilot loses or suffers a stolen flight logbook it | | | | a licence, they should have a copy of the hours you |
| will quickly become apparent that the flight logbook is a | | | | declared when applying for your last licence/rating or |
| valuable personal document. The challenge of | | | | records from your last medical form. If you are |
| recreating the logbook will be made more difficult the | | | | intending obtain further licenses or ratings you may |
| more hours you have accumulated and greater period | | | | also be required to obtain a sworn affidavit from a |
| of time the logbook covers. This quick guide should | | | | solicitor detailing your claimed hours to the best of your |
| help you resurrect your logbook quickly if the worse | | | | knowledge. |
| happens and also gives a few suggestions how to | | | | If you are a professional pilot you can use company |
| avoid this catastrophe happening to you. | | | | records to help duplicate your logbook. Journey reports |
| Recovery Steps | | | | used for each flight are handy in the event something |
| There are several ways to recreate your logbook | | | | should happen to your logbook. For multi-crew |
| once it has been lost or destroyed by using other | | | | operations you could ask your co-pilots/captains if they |
| records of the flights, no matter what stage you are at | | | | can provide you with details of flights where you have |
| in your flying career. | | | | flown together. |
| Hopefully your logbook will be found and returned, you | | | | Prevention |
| did write your name and address inside, didn't you? | | | | A traditional paper logbook should always be kept in a |
| First jot down when and where your flying hours were | | | | location secure from both fire and theft, such as a |
| gained, the more detailed information you can provide | | | | fireproof safe. If you need to take your logbook with |
| the easier it will be for others to assist you. Use diaries, | | | | you, avoid bundling it with other high value items in your |
| receipts for aircraft rentals, bank statements, and | | | | flight bag which could be a target for theft. A better, |
| curriculum vitas to pin down flight dates and places. | | | | safer option is to use an electronic logbook, and make |
| If you have recently been undertaking training your | | | | regular backups of the data. |
| flying instructors will each have their own personal | | | | There are many options when it comes to logbook |
| logbook that has records of the flights that you flew | | | | software and online pilot logbooks. One of the nice |
| together. You could ask your flight instructors for | | | | things about electronic logbooks is being able to export |
| copies of the relevant pages. For solo flights the flight | | | | your precious data files to many different formats for |
| school or organization should have both financial | | | | both printing and storing. |
| records and aircraft records (technical logs) of the | | | | Personally I use an electronic logbook and have a |
| flights that you lost. You should contact the flight school | | | | backup copy of the logbook files on the hard disk, |
| and ask for a copy of the relevant records. It should | | | | which is in turn backed up daily to a second hard disk. |
| be pretty simple to track down these records | | | | Once a month I also burn a copy to CD-ROM including |
| especially if you have a general idea of when you | | | | printout of my logbook to a pdf file. |
| flew. | | | | Other backup options could be to keep a copy of data |
| For private flying if you own or part own an aircraft | | | | files on a separate computer, laptop or memory stick. |
| check group flying booking and accounting records. | | | | If your emails are stored online you could email a copy |
| You could also check the aircraft logbooks which | | | | of your logbook data to yourself, otherwise consider |
| should have a daily total of hours flown. | | | | an online storage vault, or keep copies at a different |
| Contact your Civil Aviation regulator if you already hold | | | | location. |