Question about computerized log books

[WrightAvia]

Do they calculate night flying time for you?

Since I have been flying for a 135 operator that provides a log printout for all my flying, I have been a lazy boy and have just stacked these things up on top of my written log book. Night currency is not an issue, as I don't carry passengers.

I have been flying 135 for over 5 years now and have logged more than my share of night time flying in lots of different aircraft and instrument conditions while flying pax and meet all the FAA rating requirements for night, a long time ago.

Just wondering if those computerized log books compute that, as I will have an awfull lot of cyphering to do, when updating the log book. It won't be hard, just tedious, as all of my flying is done on a schedule and the times are listed on the printout.

Thanks in advance for any replies.

 

[TonyC]

2 cents

Don't expect an answer from me about computerized logbooks and night time - - I'm not qualified. All I have to offer is a comment.

It seems to me that it would take an incredible piece of software to determine night time conditions based solely on date, block times, and departure and destination airports. Since official sunset and sunrise vary based on LAT/LONG and date, one would have to know the route of flight and times along that route, along with a catalog of sun phases, or a complex algorithm to derive sunrise/sunset based on LAT/LONG.

Consider a flight that departs the east coast, say, an hour before local sunset, and flies towards the west coast. At some point during the flight, the sun would catch up and night time would "begin." In order for a program to determine that specific time, it would need to know a significant amount of detail about your route and speed to calculate the beginning of night conditions. I doubt that there is such a program. Even if there were such a program, I doubt you (or any of us) have sufficiently detailed records to supply such a program with the information it would need. Shoot, it'd just be a whole lot easier to log your own night time each leg.

Now watch someone say, "Oh yeah - - I have that on my PDA. Want a free copy?"