I'd be happy to write something like this, but as a private pilot, I don't really have a good feel for what you pros need. If y'all can provide a detailed list of specs (post them here if you like), I'll see what I can do.
I'd pay for it! columns could be just like the paper one, total time, multi single engine, PIC, SIC, night, xc, dual, complex, high perf etc... and a place to put aircraft tail numbers and dates flown and places flown to and from.
There could even be just blank categories we could fill in! Maybe even syncable to pc for a back up, OOOh the possibilities.
Is there a way to update an excel file actually on the Eris and use that as a log??
Seriously, I can't figure out why Android is the only major platform that doesn't have a pilot logbook. I'd be willing to pay up to $120 if it were able to upload the data to my Mac. Make me wish I had paid more attention in my college computer programming classes. I would be making more money selling this app than I make flying in the airlines.
Roger that man! I wouldn't pay that much myself though. $10 is the highest id go. Hell i'll develope it if someone points me in the right direction of a program to create Mobil apps for HTC.
I'm not really familiar with what any of this stuff 'should' look like. So basically just a list of what needs to be on it and a general overview of how it should be organized.
I wouldn't mind taking a crack at this one, too. I'm a long-time java developer/enterprise architect and the android api are something i am new to (i've deployed my own apps locally...nothing for sale). I'd love to give this a shot (along with sn00zer) (not meant to be competitive - but more collaborative). I'm finding the hardest thing is getting good ideas - building them is the easy(ier) part....
I agree. Right now it is the only reason I have not got the Droid. If someone could develop this and make it more than just a speadsheet, I'd go out and get a new phone the day it's ready. It should have the ability to not only log flights but keep track of flight time every 7 days, 30 days, and yearly to ensure compliance with FARs.
I'm currently working on this. I'm working from a log book that had the following columns.
Flight number
AC
From
To
Out
In
TT
Act
Appr.
Night
Landing
I'm adding the ability to add pilots (up to 4) and to add text comments to a particular flight log entry. If anyone has anything additional please let me know. Screenshots/Scans of actual logbooks that you use would be great. Feel free to shoot me an email ( jason.warford ) at logixtechnology *dot* (com)
sn00zer... looks great so far. Here are a few tips:
1. You should be able to log IN/OUT times in Zulu time... if we log it in local and you cross time zones the total time wouldn't be correct.
2. There should be an ability to export the database to CSV... so users can import into their electronic logbooks... without this the app is largely useless, because I can simply copy my hand written log into my logbook.
Would be nice to have features but not neccessary:
-Be able to differentiate Type of approach and number
--- I.E. ILS,LOC,VOR,NDB,GPS,etc.
- Be able to enter crew flown with
- Ability to track Duty Day, i.e. time on duty/time off duty
- Have the logbook automatically alert when you are getting close to exceeding duty limits... i.e. 16 hour Duty Day, 8 Hours of block in a day, 30 in 7, 100 per month, and 1000 per year
-Ability to import trips from crew trac (this one is probably wishfull thinking, but there is an interface that will turn your trips into .zip files at https://schedule.logbookpro.com/)
- Ability to Select airports from a drop down menu, and add notes to specific airports ( Airline pilots, especially in the regional world, like me, often fly to a lot of the same airports over, and over, so it would be nice to be able to enter the code once, and then simply be able to select it. Also, if you can make notes that are specific to that airport that would be great... for Jetbridge door codes, and such.)
I hope this helps, I know i'm asking for the moon here. Please let me know if there is any way i can help... i have some limited programing knowledge. I would be more than happy to be a beta tester for your program also... I could take it live into the field. I will send you a PM with my e-mail.
I agree with Joethepilot. Also please include:
1) the abitlity to start with previously acrued hours in each column (expl: I have 5000 hours)
2) the ability to name the categories as I wish.
3) the ability to change the duty restrictions (14 hrs duty, 10 hrs flight time/ rest for 135/91K)
4) the ability to download in a sharp, presentable format on a PC, like Excel.
Last edited by thedoss; January 23rd, 2010 at 02:38 PM.
I would also like to be a tester if possible. I currently have my cmel csel instrument airplane and looking for work. But have always wanted the ability to log electronically. With my eris I would like to give it a try.
Invest a little money and purchase "Logbook Pro" or any other reputable logbook software. If you want to build a useful logbook app for the Android OS you'll need to include all of those functions.
In an earlier post by joethepilot he hit the nail on the head. If I'm going to purchase your software it must include all of those features. (With the exception of importing schedules. That would just put it over the top.)
Develop a nice app and nearly every pilot with android will pay decent $ for it. Does anyone have a workable beta version yet? Let's get it out there so we can "line check" it.
Can't wait to try it, sn00zer.
Is there a way to edit crew position such Pilot/Co-Pilot/Navigator or can the user edit that info themselves? The ability to add fields/catergories would be great, ie military folks can note type of mission, NVG hours, etc. I guess my request would be the ability to edit existing fields and add your own. Thanks so much for developing this app!
Sorry to post this here, but I figured this is the best place to ask since the pilots are here. Have any of you found any apps that include enoute charts and sectionals and an AFD? I know ForeFlight has done it for the iPhone, but I've yet to come across anything for Android. I don't know if it could be somehow linked to skyvector.com or airnav.com, but that's an example of what I'm looking for. Thanks.
Last edited by TheGirl; January 25th, 2010 at 07:21 PM.
Date (self explanatory)
Aircraft/Simulator - Type (pull-down menu) - Registration (pull-down menu)
Commander (name field, can be defaulted to "SELF")
Other Pilot (name field, can be defaulted to "SELF")
Operating Capacity (P1/P2 pull-down)
Departure (text field, pull-down)
Departure time (UTC)
Arrival (text field, pull-down)
Arrival time (UTC)
Day P1 (time, matrix format. E.g.: 1.5 for 1 hour 30 minutes)
Day P2
Day Dual
Night P1
Night P2
Night Dual
Instrument
Simulator
Total
Remarks (free text)
When DEPARTURE and ARRIVAL time field are filled, the TOTAL field should be automatically filled-in.
The logbook should be able to be synced/exported to a spreadsheet format (e.g. excel), and to be filtered monthly/annually.
The inclusion of licence validity period, legal duty period etc. in my opinion is not necessary, as different aviation authorities imply different regulations (I'm not FAA, and I'm sure there are many non-FAA pilots that are willing to invest in this program. Why limit yourself?)
+1 for an android logbook. I don't really want to wait until the second half of the year for the Logbook Pro guys to come up with one. My Palm is getting old and is going to break down!
Since us pilots have no solutions, I suggest users email this company, flogger, who have an app for IPHONE, and tell them to get with the times, and get a ANDROID app out there!
I'm not sure if the guys who expressed interest are still working on this app? If they are not, I might be interested. I'm using the Nexus One and I'm developing some Android apps at the moment.
What is the potential size of the market? Are we looking at 10 pilots with Android phones, or 100, or 1000?
The iPhone Flogger app doesn't seem to be very complex, and I suspect it only covers a subset of your requirements listed in this thread.
I'm not sure if the guys who expressed interest are still working on this app? If they are not, I might be interested. I'm using the Nexus One and I'm developing some Android apps at the moment.
What is the potential size of the market? Are we looking at 10 pilots with Android phones, or 100, or 1000?
The iPhone Flogger app doesn't seem to be very complex, and I suspect it only covers a subset of your requirements listed in this thread.
I would guess well over a 1000 for app market. I know at the airline I fly with, A LOT of people have Android phones (American Airlines).
I'm an android developer - since it looks like the original guy making the app disappeared, I started piecing together a flight logging app yesterday. Hopefully I'll have a trimmed down beta done by the end of next weekend (I know, I know - people have been saying "soon" for 2 months ) - in the meantime, it would be really useful to have some more condensed data on exactly what you folks need, since I'm not a pilot myself. There's enough good information in this thread already that I've been able to make a start, but there's a great deal of conflicting details posted so far and none of it is in a common format, so it's a bit of a pain to parse what you guys would really like to see. It would be very useful if some of you pilots could answer these questions for me (in layman's terms, remember, not a pilot):
**What kind of pilot are you? I'm guessing a lot of the variation in the other responses is going to be based on whether this is "Commercial", "Student", "Instructor", or the like
**If you're comfortable giving out a coarse location, What country are you from? Again, I'm guessing some of the other responses will correlate to this.
**What information about a flight is the most useful to you "at a glance"? I'm currently going off of "Date, Depart/Arrive times, Depart/Arrive airport codes, and Plane ID" - try to include about that amount of data as your answer.
**Most of the more detailed fields for a particular flight will be customizable based on what information you personally need to record, but some things will be general to pretty much all flights (things like the date, the time and airport of arrival/departure, flight crew...). What information would you say is generally needed by all pilots for all flights?
**Like I said, the more detailed fields will be customizable since it's pretty clear that a lot of you aren't logging exactly the same things. That said, some sensible defaults for these detailed fields will still be in place. What "detailed" fields would you personally want? Depending on how widely this varies, there might be a few different options for the defaults.
**Besides the basic "Editable list of flights" function, what other major features would you like to see out of this app, ranked in order of priority? The more details the better. I plan on eventually trying to incorporate everything that most people want, but features take time and I'd rather get a simple but polished app out soon and add to it over time than wait until everything's done. Knowing which things are absolutely key to include and which things are nice but can wait is important. Some examples I've seen people point out so far are:
-Exporting/Backing up to a computer (in some general format, like CSV)
-Generating reports of how many hours we've logged of X, Y, and Z per time periods A and B
-Being able to select flight crew from contacts OR a app-specific list
-Having separate logbooks for different types of flights
-Doing everything in my choice of local or zulu time
-Exporting to Google Docs
-E6B/flight computer - I have no idea what this would need to do, the internet is basically just telling me it's some sort of pilot's slide rule
**If you're comfortable giving out a coarse location, What country are you from? USA
**What information about a flight is the most useful to you "at a glance"? Date, Scheduled Depart/Arrive times, Actual Depart/Arrive times, Depart/Arrive airport codes, Tail Number, Approach Type, Night hours, IMC (instrument) hours
What information would you say is generally needed by all pilots for all flights? See last entry.
I'm still pounding away at it, but I've been mostly sidetracked by work this weekend
I should be able to make some more progress on it tonight/tomorrow morning. If anyone is interested in trying out/giving feedback on the alpha build, send an email to flightpad@gmail.com letting me know you're interested and I'll get back to you with download instructions when it's ready!
I'm no commercial pilot but "My Tracks" on my Droid works great for tracking my flight for casual purposes. Gives info like distance, avg speed, and even elevation profiles. You can export the track to google maps to share with people too.
I'm still pounding away at it, but I've been mostly sidetracked by work this weekend
I should be able to make some more progress on it tonight/tomorrow morning. If anyone is interested in trying out/giving feedback on the alpha build, send an email to flightpad@gmail.com letting me know you're interested and I'll get back to you with download instructions when it's ready!
E-mail sent.
Quote:
Originally Posted by b3d3g1
I'm no commercial pilot but "My Tracks" on my Droid works great for tracking my flight for casual purposes. Gives info like distance, avg speed, and even elevation profiles. You can export the track to google maps to share with people too.
Airline Pilot Logbook
(not meant to be competitive - but more collaborative). I'm finding the hardest thing is getting good ideas - building them is the easy(ier) part....
interested in developing an application for pilots
