Over the past four years, I have learned several tips I wish I knew when I started my logbook. I plan on flight instructing once I finish my bachelor's degree in May and these are a few tips I will teach my future students.
1. Use black ink!
I would recommend sticking with just a basic, black pen to write the entries. Blue ink should work too. However, it looks much more professional to just stick with black. Also, absolutely no pencils!
2. Include the year when writing the date in the logbook entries.
When I first started my logbook, I did not include the year when I wrote the dates of my lessons. For example, if I had a flight today, I would just put 10/19 instead of 10/19/19. Including the year is very important. Examiners and employers will want to see what year the entries were made.
3. Buy a large professional logbook.
Especially if you have plans of making a career out of flying, skip the standard student pilot logbook and buy a professional one. You can buy them online, such as this one from Sporty's or through ASA.
4. Get an electronic logbook when you start training.
Right when you log your first hour, create a digital logbook. Personally, I use ForeFlight to log my hours. However, there are many other options too. I have heard horror stories of pilots losing their logbook. A digital logbook can help you retrieve that data if anything were to happen to your paper logbook. I recommend transferring over the flights to an electronic logbook right when you take your first lesson. I waited until I had 225 hours before I started an electronic logbook- it was very time consuming to log those entries into my digital logbook.
5. Correcting mistakes.
It is inevitable that you will make a mistake in your logbook. If you're like me, the mistakes happen a little more often than I would like. Make sure to take your time when writing the entries to try to avoid mistakes. If a mistake does occur, make a single line through the entry and write the correct entry in the next space below.
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