At a glance
Which digital pilot logbook fits depends on how you fly: with a club, privately, in training, after a switch or with a paper logbook. Useful questions cover format and audit trail, bringing data in, export, use on the move, signatures, cost and data location. The article says what cloudlog.aero can do today.
Anyone looking for a digital logbook quickly finds long feature lists. Whether a program suits you usually comes down to a few questions: do you fly with a club or on your own? Are you coming from a paper logbook or from another app? Does an instructor have to sign your flights?
This article collects the points that often decide the choice. It also says what cloudlog.aero can do today. What a digital logbook must be able to do under EASA rules is covered in the article EASA digital pilot logbook.
What to look for
| Topic | Question for the provider | What cloudlog.aero offers |
|---|---|---|
| Format and audit trail | Does the printout follow the format in FCL.050? Are changes logged in a traceable way? | Printouts follow EASA FCL.050 and the FAA requirements in five layouts: Jeppesen EASA single- and double-sided, Jeppesen FAA, Schiffmann and Schiffmann extended with SET and MET. Every change to a flight is logged at attribute level. |
| Bringing flights in | Can I bring my existing flights? Is my club’s booking system connected? | Twelve importers for other logbooks, among them SkyDemon, LogTen Pro, CrewLounge and FlightLogger. Aircraft Info Desk, Vereinsflieger and Charterware are connected (Pro). From a paper logbook you take over your totals as carry-over values. |
| Taking flights out | Can I export my data at any time? In which format? | Export as CSV, Excel or text, optionally by filter. You download the file or have it sent by email. You can delete your account yourself. |
| On the move | Does the app work without a connection? How do devices sync? | Web app plus iOS and Android app. The app keeps a complete local copy. You log flights without a connection and everything syncs automatically afterwards. The app is included in every membership. |
| Signatures | Can my instructor sign digitally? What applies until then? | Signature directly on the device or by request. Anyone without an account signs via a link. A training flight stays marked as incomplete until it is signed. |
| Cost | What does it cost per month? How long am I tied in? Is there a trial? | Essential €3.99, Pro €7.90 per month, cancellable monthly. The first 30 days are free, with no payment details required. TEAMS costs €4.99 per member per month from five members. |
| Data location | Where is my data stored? | In German data centres subject to the GDPR. |
Not every row matters equally to everyone. Think about what is a must for you and what would merely be nice.
What fits your everyday flying
You fly with a club or flight school
The biggest time sink here is double entry: first in the aircraft log or booking system, then again in your own logbook. So ask first whether your system is connected. cloudlog.aero fetches flights from Aircraft Info Desk, Vereinsflieger and Charterware automatically. For Vereinsflieger your full history comes in once, after that new flights arrive continuously. The connections are part of Pro. More is on the Integrations page. How a whole club can approach the topic is described in the article Logbook for clubs and flight schools.
You are a student pilot
For you the instructor’s signature matters most. In cloudlog.aero a training flight stays marked as incomplete until it arrives. You collect it directly on the device or send a request to a contact with an email address. The process is described in the tutorial Request and give flight signatures.
You fly privately, with your own or a rented aircraft
You keep your logbook on your own and mainly want to stay on top of things. The cockpit shows the 90-day rule per type, meaning landings flown against landings required. You keep licences, medical certificates and ratings in the pilot file and get a warning before they expire. The pilot file is part of Pro, see the tutorial Using your pilot file properly. If your aircraft has a Mode S transponder you can also import flights from the flight network (Pro), provided there was reception along the route.
You are coming from another app
What matters is that nothing gets lost. Check whether your current program can output a file as Excel, CSV or text. cloudlog.aero accepts up to 3,000 rows per file, so split larger logbooks first. The import adds to your logbook and overwrites nothing. Rows that cannot be taken over are listed with the reason. It is best to try the switch during the free trial. The steps are in the tutorial Switching to cloudlog.aero.
You currently keep a paper logbook
You do not have to retype everything. You enter your existing totals once as carry-over values and cloudlog.aero builds on them. The individual flights stay in the paper logbook, so keep the original. Whether your authority wants to see both parts at a check is best clarified in advance.
What you can ask any provider
- Certified or compliant? Formal authority certification exists only in isolated cases so far. A program supporting the AMC1 FCL.050 format is something different. Ask what exactly is meant.
- How do I get my data out? Export is your exit guarantee. Try it before you commit.
- What happens after I cancel? Some providers clear out accounts after a period. So export regularly to your own device.
Conclusion
The best logbook is the one that fits your everyday flying. In a club the connection to the booking system counts, in training the signature, after a switch the import, and with a paper logbook the route via carry-over values. If you want to try cloudlog.aero, the first 30 days are free with no payment details required. Prices are on the Pricing page.