How to fill in a pilot logbook, column by column

What goes in each column of an EASA pilot logbook, with worked examples for a solo circuit, a dual cross country and a flight as copilot.

The short answer

One line per flight. Date, where from and when you left the blocks, where to and when you arrived, the aircraft, the total time, who was in command, landings, then how the time splits by condition and by function. Everything in hours and minutes, never decimals.

Column by column

This follows the layout of the EASA paper logbook, which is what an examiner expects to see.

  • Date: the date of departure, in UTC if you fly across midnight
  • Departure and arrival: ICAO code plus off block and on block time, for example EDDS 09:12 and EDNY 10:03
  • Aircraft: type and registration, for example C172 and D-EABC
  • Single pilot time: single engine or multi engine, or multi pilot time for crewed aircraft
  • Total time of flight: block to block, 00:51 in the example above
  • Name of PIC: SELF when you are in command, otherwise the commander's name
  • Landings: day and night counted separately
  • Operational condition time: night and IFR
  • Pilot function time: PIC, copilot, dual or instructor
  • FSTD sessions: simulator time on its own line, never added to aircraft totals
  • Remarks: exercises, endorsements and the instructor's signature

Three worked examples

A solo circuit session in a student aircraft: total 00:45, PIC 00:45, five day landings, remark "solo circuits, supervised".

A dual cross country with your instructor: total 01:50, dual 01:50, PIC column empty, name of PIC is your instructor, who signs the remarks.

A sector as copilot in a multi pilot aircraft: total 02:10 entered as multi pilot time, copilot 02:10, landings only if you flew them.

Totals and corrections

Add up each page and carry the totals forward. Corrections on paper are one clean line through the mistake, never correction fluid. In a digital logbook the edit history does that job.

caeloo fills the columns from the times you enter, checks that function time never exceeds block time, and exports the same layout as a PDF with page totals carried forward.