How to: Log your flights

Along, blue, paper logbook – about the size of a chequebook – was put in my hand when I qualified as a CP (Club Pilot), tow-launching in the UK. I was told to record my fights and hours because it would be useful. But what details would be useful in a year’s time? Two years?

There were columns for flight number, date, location, conditions, duration, etc and I dutifully copied the numbers by hand from my shiny new vario for the first 73 flights before it became too tedious.

A typical entry looked like this: 

Jack’s Logbook, 15/11/18, CP +0 hrs: Training hill with instructor. First hill flights out of tow-launch school. Hills need smoothness and timing. I need to move with the wing and not force it into the air. I lift off, wing catches up and dives, I’m running again – down the training slope. Exhausted, but seems like useful stuff to learn.

In 2011, Timothée Manaud founded Stodeus and developed the first BipBip vario. This year, Stodeus is working to develop an online logbook platform which aims to streamline the uploading and sharing of flight data.

While many pilots use websites like XContest.org to keep a record of their flights, for Timothée, this isn’t ideal as he said not all flights can be accepted: some can be declined for airspace infringements or insufficient length, for example.

“I want to offer choice,” Timothée said. “An app where you switch on the device and retrieve the track over Bluetooth. You land and upload the track to a cloud logbook and then share a screenshot. A trend we see now is instant sharing: Instagram and TikTok stuff. People want more interaction with their fanbase. That’s why we developed the new app, and...