Took me 5 years to switch from paper logs to a tablet in the cockpit...

I used to carry around those brittle paper logbooks for every preflight and post-flight check. Marking down voltages and resistances by hand, then trying to read my own scribbles later... it was a mess. About 3 years ago I finally bought a cheap Samsung tablet and loaded it with a simple spreadsheet app. Now I type everything in real time and it syncs to my home computer. The change clicked for me after I spent 45 minutes hunting down a bad connector because my handwriting was so bad. Has anyone else made the jump to digital records and found it makes troubleshooting faster?

3 comments

3 Comments

craig.parker18d agoMost Upvoted

Ask @rosepark if he ever lost a tablet mid-troubleshoot and had to fall back on paper emergency backups.

parker_hall518d ago

Nah, "chicken scratch" is still more reliable than a dead battery when you're knee deep in a panel.

rosepark18d ago

Oh man, I was the exact opposite for years. I swore by paper logs because I figured digital stuff would just be another thing to break or lose battery on. But then I had a situation where I was trying to trace a voltage drop through three different logs and my handwriting from last month looked like chicken scratch. Spent two whole afternoons redoing tests I'd already done. Finally caved and grabbed a cheap tablet with a basic notes app. Now I can search for "ground lug 4" and it pulls up every single reading from the last 18 months. It made me realize I was just being stubborn about the paper.