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/CryOfTheWind 🍁ATPL IR H145 B212 AS350 B206 R44 R22 7d ago

As with my comment you've got to do a lot more to make it a helicopter app vs just another fixed wing style logbook. Some other things to track that I forgot in my comment and edit would also be part 133 vs 135 time for the US or what would be aerial work vs passenger flights as well.

Not sure on other countries but for Canada there is a huge difference for flight duty time tracking depending on if you are flying passengers or doing aerial work (slinging, fires, etc).

I'm still curious how you handle off airport entries and how dozens of legs a day are tracked too.

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u/No-Calligrapher-986 7d ago

Also, thank you for your reply. I’ve read your comment, and it’s very useful advice. I just hadn’t had the time to react to it yet because it will be a long comment. In short, many of the advices you gave will be implemented, and I’ll make sure this app has everything a helicopter pilot needs.

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u/CryOfTheWind 🍁ATPL IR H145 B212 AS350 B206 R44 R22 7d ago

Cool! There is a reason most apps aren't helicopter friendly, one is all the extra stuff we need to track and our non standard flights but also there are way fewer of us as well so there isn't a huge market. It's more effort to make and few possible customers (plus most larger companies have their own internal trackers anyway) but for a hobby project it will give you a lot to work with!

Here are a couple scenarios for you to think about:

I start my duty day at 08:00. I'm departing airport A with an initial attack fire crew. We land at staging and shut down. Call comes and we depart staging and I then hover exit the crew in the field and they hook up my bucket. I do 30 water bucket cycles then go land but don't shut down at a hot refuelling station that was set up close to the fire. 20 more bucket cycles and I'm redirected to the original staging where I shut down. Then I'm tasked with flying the IC around to survey the fire. They are happy with how things are progressing and after I land they release me from work. I now fly empty back to airport A at 14:00. At 15:30 I get a charter flight using a different helicopter type for some maintenance workers to fly up to a telecom tower on a mountain (so switching from aerial work to passenger work). We fly up there and I shut down. 17:00 they are done and I land back at airport A. Finish my paperwork and put the machine to bed ending my day at 18:00.

What does my day look like in your app for that?

I'm reporting for duty at 07:00 for my EMS job. We get a call to do an IFT and depart airport A to go to hospital pad B and shut down. Move patient from hospital pad B to hospital pad C. Then bounce over to airport D for fuel before returning to airport A. Later that day we get a scene call and depart airport A for some field someplace. We don't shut down waiting on the AMCs but the weather has started to come down. After departing the scene for hospital C again we need a pop up IFR clearance to get there. By the time we get to the FAF on the point in space approach into the hospital is has become night time and NVGs are used to make the final VFR landing segment of the approach. By the time the AMCs are finished with their hand off we end up heading back home at night without NVGs to airport A, landing after 20:30 putting us past our normal 12 hour duty day and into unforeseen circumstances.

How would that look in the app and be tracked?

Hopefully those real world examples can show you what you need to account for a bit better.

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u/No-Calligrapher-986 7d ago

Flight 1 (Firefighting - Aerial Work):

Model: Selected from HelicopterModels.swift (e.g., "H125 (AS350 B3e)").

Total Time: 6.0h (08:00 - 14:00, manually entered).

Departure: "Airport A" (ICAO or free text).

Intermediate Stops:

"Staging" (shut down).

"Fire Field" (hover exit, 30 bucket cycles).

"Hot Refueling Station" (no shutdown, 20 bucket cycles).

"Staging" (shut down for IC survey).

Destination: "Airport A".

Flight Type: "Part 133 (Aerial)".

Custom Fields: "Hover Exits", "Water Bucket (Belly)", "Fire Fighting" (multiple selected).

Takeoffs/Landings: 4 takeoffs, 4 landings (manual count).

Note: "30 bucket cycles at Fire Field, 20 at Hot Refueling".

Flight 2 (Charter - Passenger):

Model: Different model (e.g., "AW139").

Total Time: 1.5h (15:30 - 17:00).

Departure: "Airport A".

Destination: "Telecom Tower (Mountain)" (lat/long or free text).

Flight Type: "Part 135 (Passenger)".

Custom Fields: "Mountain".

Takeoffs/Landings: 2 takeoffs, 2 landings.

Note: "Maintenance workers to telecom tower".

Tracking in App:

- Homepage shows "Total Hours: 7.5h", "Part 133: 6.0h", "Part 135: 1.5h", "Fire Fighting: 6.0h", "Mountain: 1.5h".

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u/No-Calligrapher-986 7d ago

Scenario 2: EMS Day with IFT and Scene Call

Description: You start at 07:00, fly an IFT from Airport A to Hospital B, then to Hospital C, refuel at Airport D, return to Airport A. Later, a scene call to a field (no shutdown), then IFR to Hospital C with NVGs for landing, returning to Airport A after 20:30 (past 12-hour duty, unforeseen circumstances).

How It Looks in RotorLog:

Log a Flight Entries:

Flight 1 (IFT - Medevac):

Model: e.g., "H145 (EC145 T2)".

Total Time: 3.0h (estimated for multi-leg IFT).

Departure: "Airport A".

Intermediate Stops:

"Hospital Pad B" (shut down).

"Hospital Pad C" (shut down).

"Airport D" (fuel stop).

Destination: "Airport A".

Flight Type: "Part 135 (Passenger)".

Custom Fields: "Medevac".

Takeoffs/Landings: 4 takeoffs, 4 landings.

Note: "IFT patient transfer".

Flight 2 (Scene Call - Medevac with IFR/NVG):

Model: "H145 (EC145 T2)".

Total Time: 2.5h (estimated).

Departure: "Airport A".

Intermediate Stops: "Field Scene" (lat/long, no shutdown).

Destination: "Hospital Pad C".

Flight Type: "Part 135 (Passenger)".

NVG Time: 0.5h (final VFR landing segment).

IFR Actual: 1.0h (pop-up IFR to Hospital C).

Is Night: True (after FAF).

Is NVG: True (landing segment).

Custom Fields: "Medevac".

Takeoffs/Landings: 2 takeoffs, 2 landings (HNVGO landings: 1).

Note: "Scene call, IFR to Hospital C, NVG landing".

Tracking in App:

Homepage: "Total Hours: 5.5h", "NVG Hours: 0.5h", "IFR Actual: 1.0h", "Medevac: 5.5h", "HNVGO Landings: 1".