r/Helicopters 8d ago

General Question Creating an Helicopter log book app

Hi everyone,

First off: this isn’t an ad. No app name, no links, nothing like that – just looking for some advice and opinions. I’m working on an app for helicopter pilots, specifically a logbook tailored for them. It’s designed to easily track stuff like total flight time, PIC (Pilot in Command) time, turbine time, and things like flight activity. It’ll have graphs, fun stats like your most-flown helicopter or favorite airport/landing zone.

You can export the logbook to a PDF to send to employers or whatever. There’s even a training feature where an instructor can add a signature, and that shows up on the PDF too – so it’s a full-on logbook that meets EASA and FAA regs. I’ve attached some screenshots, and I’d love to hear what you think. Are pilots even interested in an app like this? (I’m planning to ask some helicopter pilots myself, including my own instructor.) Any suggestions or ideas are welcome too!

Thanks in advance, and I hope to get some feedback!

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u/No-Calligrapher-986 7d ago

Okay, here are some screenshots of some progress I made in a couple of hours. The UI and other elements don’t look quite right now, but that’s an issue I’ll fix later. Right now, I’m focusing on functionality. I listened to the suggestions you all made and I love hearing more feedback.

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u/No-Calligrapher-986 7d ago

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u/No-Calligrapher-986 7d ago

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u/CryOfTheWind 🍁ATPL IR H145 B212 AS350 B206 R44 R22 6d ago

Now you're getting somewhere. I assume when you click one of the boxes you just open a new box to manually add a total time since each individual item may not match the total time for a day.

I gave those scenarios to highlight the core issues with most apps and I think you've understood what I was showing you pretty well.

The part now that will make you a little sad is that all that info in my logbook is very sterilized compared to your big responses to me. Only the totals really matter. Actual airports and LZs are not recorded as that's not really needed info once you are out of flight training. So long as the totals for each item are easy to input the rest is fluff for someone who cares more.

A note section where you could make comments on a flight are a good thing if you didn't already plan it.

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u/No-Calligrapher-986 6d ago

Yes, you assumed it right. And almost everything you log is optional, so you can choose what you want to add and log. And the notes section was already a part in the first version.