Learn why you need properly-designed drone logbooks and why you should use them to log your drone operations. The question behind this is: do you want to run your drone program professionally, or not?
The fact is, neither the FAA nor EASA have published specific requirements concerning the logging of drone flights. Nevertheless, you benefit from logging certain flight-related data and should, therefore, do it even if the civil aviation authority does not require it. This article, which is an abridgment of our more comprehensive treatments of the subject in our Parhelion Guide series of cornerstone Articles, namely: “Drone Pilot Logbooks” and “Drone Aircraft Logbooks,” will briefly address the advantages you gain by logging your flight activities. We invite you to read more about this subject in the articles just mentioned. To compare the pros and cons of digital and paper logbooks, read our Parhelion Guide article: Digital or Traditional Logbook.
Drone logbooks: the drone pilot logbook
For those who fly drones for fun rather than profit, logging your flight data creates a tangible record of your flying experiences and adds to the satisfaction and pride of operating your UAV.
The problems that commercial drone pilots face, however, make using drone logbooks extra important:
You might find yourself wondering, for example, how you can support your claim to clients that you are an experienced UAV pilot. A problem like this can be solved by maintaining an accurate, written record of your flights. By documenting your flight data in a pilot logbook you create a document that demonstrates your piloting experience, both in its totality and, if the logbook is any good, in its variety. This is a valuable asset that can help to legitimize your experience for any employer or client who asks.
This same problem is further addressed by logging your UAV flight-related training, particularly formal courses that have exams and that result in licenses, certifications or exemptions from restrictions. Such a record provides valuable proof of your professionalism and competence.
Drone logbooks: the drone aircraft logbook
Alternatively, perhaps the problem you face is how you will be able to assess the airworthiness of your aircraft over the time of its useful life. Guesswork will take you only so far and a miscalculation may result in an unsafe situation, leading to embarrassment at best but injury or property damage at worst. Professional pilots obviously want to avoid such situations and take steps to ensure that they do not happen. Careful use of a drone logbook to keep track of the mechanical condition of your aircraft permits you to know in detail its airworthiness on any given day. You can therefore fly confidently, knowing your aircraft is safe. It additionally permits you to demonstrate to anyone that you are diligent in maintaining your knowledge of your machine’s condition, which is another mark of your professionalism. To fully log an individual drone’s flight and maintenance history, especially when more than one pilot flies it, is beyond the scope of most or perhaps all pilot logbooks. To make such a record would require a separate, dedicated maintenance log, which we refer to as an Aircraft Logbook.
The same consideration applies to your aircraft’s accessories/equipment (e.g. batteries and propellers). By keeping track of their age and amount of use you can better schedule their replacement before they let you down (pun intended). It is better to rely on a written record than on memory and guesswork when it comes to safety of flight.
Consider the money:
If you were to think of this in terms of income, for those of you who fly commercially, how would it feel to lose a job worth several thousand (Dollars, Euros, Swiss Francs) to a competitor who DID keep such a logbook and who had it on hand to validate himself to the prospective client? In the competitive environment in which we operate it is smart to gain every advantage that you can; this is one that is well within your grasp.
As additional considerations, using a drone logbook to keep track of factors such as aircraft age, its amount of use and technical history (to include damage occurrence) may directly affect dollar items such as insurance and resale value, and when dealing with these it is always to your advantage to have accurate records to show. This applies to both commercial and private UAV operations.
The specific items that ought to be logged in a properly designed drone pilot logbook will be discussed in the next article.
Bottom Line:
Using a drone pilot logbook solves certain problems for you in that it demonstrates your flight experience, professional training and operational safety record to anyone who needs such evidence. Using a drone aircraft logbook helps you to keep up with the technical condition of your aircraft and its equipment so that you can avoid nasty in-flight surprises. Together these things reveal your professionalism and reliability.
Log your data! Be ready and able to demonstrate your experience and training. Know definitively and in detail the mechanical status of your machine and its equipment. While there are many views on the subject, ours are derived from over 30 years of professional flying (standard aircraft and UAV). To review or buy drone logbooks that fulfill the criteria stated in this article, click on UAV Logbooks. Published by Parhelion Aerospace.