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Electronic Log Book Advice and CrewTrac

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radarlove said:
I tried Logbook pro (I still have the original download, $45 or something) and after a couple of three-hour sessions, I gave up. It's really just a glorified database/spreadsheet program and it simply took too long to enter stuff from all of my old logbooks.

That said, making the decision to start now (and not enter all your old logbooks) might make it an easier move. The output is sharp looking, but there's no way for endorsements to be entered. That's not a big deal if you don't need them, but again, going back and transferring makes it impossible.

I tried a PDA version and gave up after the second day. It's a lot easier just to enter by hand (regular logbook) or by keyboard (computer logbook) than it is to use a PDA. In fact, although the idea sounds good, I have yet to meet anyone who actually uses a PDA daily to keep their times. Just too much of a hassle.

In the end, I think a leather Jeppesen logbook with careful entries is the best way to go.

The APDL is a complete replacement from the little red book. It does all the math for you and downloads your schedule right to your PDA. No need to do anything but enter your block times. Any pilot who has a PDA should make the switch.
 
Truckdriver said:
I have had LBPRO on my desktop for years and it works great. Got a Treo a few months back and got the LBPRO PDA version. It totally sucks and I wouldn't even waste my time with their PDA Version. It is expensive and is probably the worst PDA program I have ever seen. It doens't work on most PDA's without an extra program that runs $25. They do however own APDL which is the program with the cut and paste version of the schedule importer. It is very expensive and the customer service that they offer at that company is horrible. I would steer totally clear of any product from Logbook Pro or the APDL program. The APDL program isn't that bad but they are on my boycot list due to a customer service issue that basically cost me $75 for stuff I did not need and they wouldn't return my money because "you can try it out for free before you buy it". Watch it when you are buying stuff from them because they will load you up with crap that is useless and then not refund your money like a reputable company should do.


I agree the customer service does suck. Actually, I think it's just a one man company. It took me several e-mails to figure out the binder he sells is just a normal binder with a hundred doller price tag instead of a landscape style binder to look like a traditional logbook. Plus, he charges ridiculous amounts of money for the "special" paper for the logbook which you can get at Office Depot for 1/10 of the price he charges.
 
Zephyrhills said:
Perhaps what I am trying to do is not yet available...

I do not want to carry around a PDA with me on my flights. I am trying to get away from logging times after each leg, be it in a PDA or my trusty ol' Red Book.

I was hoping to find a logbook program that would 'sync' with our company's CrewTrac (Sabre), whereas all of my flights would be down-loadable into a logbook format. All I would have to enter is the stuff that CrewTrac doesn't include (Night, IFR, Who Flew, etc).


That's something you would have to design yourself and get the rights from AirTran to be able to download it directly to your home PC
 
Zephyrhills said:
Perhaps what I am trying to do is not yet available...

I do not want to carry around a PDA with me on my flights. I am trying to get away from logging times after each leg, be it in a PDA or my trusty ol' Red Book.

I was hoping to find a logbook program that would 'sync' with our company's CrewTrac (Sabre), whereas all of my flights would be down-loadable into a logbook format. All I would have to enter is the stuff that CrewTrac doesn't include (Night, IFR, Who Flew, etc).


I think you will end up carrying the PDA, or an LRB.

Isn't the whole purpose (or at least a major purpose) of the LRB or PDA to serve as a backup to the records the company keeps? If you only download stuff from the company, you are vulnerable to system crashes or any mistakes they might make--not saying they will, but it's possible. 99.999% of the time the company records are accurate, but if that other .001% results in unwanted attention or a denied trip trade or (my personal favorite) an extra week of OE, then it's worth it to have your own backup.

When I worked at a domestic carrier, I used ADPL and loved it. I could synch all the data to my laptop and cut and paste to my Excel logbook during my commute home after each trip, and at the end of the month I had a neat one-page summary to compare to the records the company left in my V-file each month. I haven't used LogBook Pro, so I can't comment one way or another on it, but ADPL by itself was outstanding.

Now I'm flying supplemental, and I use Excel for everything. Someone mentioned binders. I just use the legal sized binder covers you can get from Office Depot, and my logbook is formatted to print on legal paper. It is formatted to look just like the big black master super duper pro pilot logbooks you can get from Sporty's, etc.
 
SWAPoolie said:
I agree the customer service does suck. Actually, I think it's just a one man company. It took me several e-mails to figure out the binder he sells is just a normal binder with a hundred doller price tag instead of a landscape style binder to look like a traditional logbook. Plus, he charges ridiculous amounts of money for the "special" paper for the logbook which you can get at Office Depot for 1/10 of the price he charges.

The binders and paper come from MGO.ent, whoever that is. Anyhow, I think it's a separate company. Anyone find similar quality binders through a cheaper source?
 
SWAPoolie said:
How do you cut and paste from maestro? I can only do it from WBid and it doesn't download the hotels or the start and finish times. They have to be inputted by hand. Do you mean Moostro?

He flys for AWA - they use maestro as well.

But, I'm curious how the maestro-APDL-Logbook Pro syncronization works as well. I'm dying to automate.

Fate.
 
InTransit said:
The binders and paper come from MGO.ent, whoever that is. Anyhow, I think it's a separate company. Anyone find similar quality binders through a cheaper source?

I only found one source on the net that had "Landscape" binders. You can get them from any outlet that sells legal recording supplies. However, they only come in puke green. I guess lawyers like puke green. I believe the MGO.ent is owned by the same NC guy. His binders are just standard 8 1/2 X 11 with a leather cover. It sucks if you like the traditional jeppessen look.
 
FatesPawn said:
He flys for AWA - they use maestro as well.

But, I'm curious how the maestro-APDL-Logbook Pro syncronization works as well. I'm dying to automate.

Fate.

Oh, well you cannot cut and paste from the SWA maestro. I wish we had a windows based system because maestro blows. However, Cetrix is much more secure than windows environments so I can see why they picked it.

You can cut and paste from wbid but it doesn't have the functionality that other scheduling programs have. I e-mailed NC and they said they will work on it if I send them a schedule. I'm checking with SWA if it's okay to do that so NC can improve the importing of the schedule. The APDL will also calculate pay with rigs but since we are the only company that doesn't use an hourly based system that function is useless. I don't know if that will ever be programed since it doesn't seem many SWA pilots use automation. They don't use PDAs either....:)
 
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