Flight Logging

At the start of your flight
1. Check that the ‘Flight hours since last check’ time shows less than 45 hours. if its is 45 or more then please inform the group management team (email to maintenance@duxfordpilot.uk or via the WhatsApp group)
2. Check that the tacho reading recorded at the end of the previous flight matches the current tacho reading from the aircraft. Note that the tacho reading is recorded under the ‘captains signature’ column.

At the end of your flight
1. Enter the date and place(s) of flight.
2. Under ‘names‘ put the name of the person who is paying for the flight. The ‘duties‘ column will generally be P1 or PU/T.
If you are flying with an instructor then you may use your-name + instructor-name if you prefer.
3. Under ‘times‘; enter the brakes-off and brakes-on times for the flight. Please round the times to the nearest 5 minutes.
4. Under ‘hours of flight‘ column, enter the time difference between the departure and arrival times LESS 10 minutes (allowance for taxying). Only enter a different time if you have an excessively long taxy and hold such as at an International airport. This time should be entered as a time, not as decimal (ie 1 hour 30min flight should be entered as 1:30).
5. ADD the hours of flight to the previous full entry in the book and record this under the ‘next check‘ column.
– To be clear, your entry will be HIGHER than the previous entry.
– Do not make an entry if there are missing flights.
6. If your flight was maintenance-related then please make a suitable note (eg ‘MAINT’) in the ‘Remarks‘ column. This will help us to remember to bill you correctly for that flight.

An example
Prior to your flight the ‘next check’ column says 39:10. You fly from 1332 to 1453. After the flight you record the following in the log:

* Departure: 1330 (round down)
* Arrival: 1455 (round up)
* Hours of flight: 1:15 (1:25 – 10 mins taxy)
* Next check: 40:25 (39:10 + 1:15)

PLEASE WRITE LEGIBLY THROUGHOUT

Some potential questions

What if there are fewer than 5 hours left on the plane?

Please check with one of the management team as we need to ensure sufficient hours remain to allow the plane to be taken to Biggin to be maintained. Running out of hours is expensive and time-consuming to fix, so please take care here.

What if the tacho reading before my flight does not match the last record in the log

Put your opening tacho reading on a new blank line in the log, and let one of the team know so that the missing flight can be properly identified and allocated. Note that the remaining hours will have to be an estimate and should not be completed in this case. One of us will go back and sort out the missing entries when they are known.

What if I want to share the cost of my flight with another person?

Put a suitable note in the ‘remarks’ column and we will try to remember to allocate the times as per your request. Please do check that this has been done when you get the bill. Alternatively, create two logbook entries, or sort it out between yourselves!

What if I see the 'next check' calculation is in error?

Feel free to make changes to fix the times that are in error. Please do not obliterate any original data such as tacho entries or hours of flight. Make sure that the rewritten entry is clear, readable and unambiguous!!

Why can't I use decimal hours?

Having a mix is confusing; we have chosen to use non-decimal hours so please stick to that.