This months Kick The Tyres column. Flight logs - do you log your flights?

[leccyflyer]

17 minutes ago, Outrunner said:

I don't log flights but I keep an excel spreadsheet of every motor setup when building a new model or if I change motor/prop. I record the model name, motor, prop, battery, esc, Watts, Amps and any other useful information. It helps me decide on motor/battery/prop/esc on new models. Quite a few entries over the years as I started in the day of brushed Graupner Speed 600 motors.

 

All very useful stuff - my master spreadsheet has a page which contains that information and, like yours, has been doing so since the days of Sp600s and 1250 Sub C Nicds. Another sheet records component weights, total AUW, wing areas, wing loadings, power loadings etc.

[J D 8 - Moderator]

 Simple answer is no, only thing I may do is make a note of something that need attention on a model.

[Mike Blandford]

I log the telemetry for every flight, and move the log files to my PC when I get home. The logging is started automatically when the motor is armed and the throttle has been at more than 20% for 2 seconds, stopping when I disarm the motor.

 

Mike

[Steve Colman]

I log all of my flights across all of my models but keep things very simple using an A5 sized notebook with hole punched pages.

Each model has it's own page on which is basic info such as motor/prop/esc/battery used/empty weight and weight with battery + the initial CG setting. After a few flights revised CG is noted.

Each flight is recorded on a grid with which battery used (they are all numbered) and I simply record how much I have to put in each battery when recharged as a basic check on it's condition. I have the Tx timer set for each model and generally fly to this with batteries discharged down to storage charge level after each flight. It's all a bit basic but works for me.

Also, knowing how many flights a model has done I find interesting. For example, my Multiplex Solius has over 500 flights ranging from 15 minutes to an hour. Bought as a kit and still flying with the original budget electronics I put in it, costing under 200 notes, works out as a very cost effective investment for the amount of enjoyment I've had flying it. This holds true for many other models too.

[Colin Carpenter]

I’ve got RC Flight Log app on I Phone. Records aircraft , lipos , tx’s. Just a note of each flight with which lipo , tx. That’s enough info for me. My wife knows a lady who writes down everything daily 😱😱Not for me I’m afraid! App was a quid from memory! Colin

[Phil Green]

Flying for me is an 'in the moment' thing so I've never logged any of it.

Never needed to refer back, never thought 'I wish I'd kept a log'  :)

I do take the odd photo and I write the purchase date on batteries,  but thats all :)

 

 

[Duncan Disorderly]

A pilot log and a plane log - both just ultra simple Notepad affairs - date/time/club/weather, then plane/flight #/duration/anything interesting. Usually about 2 mins of cut and paste with another minute of updating. I taught myself to fly so would write down what I wanted to achieve pre-flight and then fill in the day's successes and failures when I got home. It grew from there but has been stripped back to basics since, though I do note when I'm learning new manoeuvres (which is lots) or any maintenence.

 

Wishing that I'd put it all in a spreadsheet but it's probably too late now. Some of the stats are interesting - who knew that December is consistently a better flying month than June; or that spring, summer and autumn average out to be minutes apart from each other, with winter not nearly as far behind as you might think?

 

I was going to do a log for batteries too but didn't bother in the end. I'm now recharging at the field with my Li-ion briefcase masterpiece, so only need two Lipos anyway.

 

Really interesting to see what everyone else is doing.

[steve too]

5 hours ago, leccyflyer said:

Do you log your flights and if so, how do you do that?

 

Yes. I have a relational database of flights, airframes, batteries, receivers, engines, ESC, sites, events etc.

[Futura57]

No, I don't log flights or lipo charges, any more than I would log visits to the WC, despite being the place where I spend most time on this forum 🤣. Life's too short. I know which models I fly the most (e.g. my Top Quark is now over 120 flights old and no crashes in 6 months). Others I tend to fly with it, and others I fly less regularly. But I regularly rotate in the sense I will favour other models for a couple of months, whilst interspersing with less frequent others. I try to fly every model at least 10 times a year. That's for 10 fixed wing and 8 heli serviceable models. Others requiring maintenance or a major repair may lay fallow for a season. I estimate I fly 300+ flights a year, so logging would be a chore with no obvious benefit to me. And flush 😂

 

Edited January 23 by Futura57

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

Like DickW’s, my transmitter keeps a log file of telemetry data.  If I had the inclination I might investigate the possibility of exporting it to a database for detailed analysis and statistical purposes. 
 

I haven’t. 

[Jake Bullit]

Definitely not.

[Kevin Fairgrieve]

Yes and no!

Yes my TX records a log file of every flight. Do I check that? Not unless I need to see a dedicated value I.E. GPS position, height or max speed.

I also have a widget that increases each flight and calls out the number of said flight.

[Brian Cooper]

No. 

I really couldn't be bothered to keep logs of each and every flight. . Life's too short. 

 

However, my transmitter logs the total number of hours for each model, which can be fascinating to look at occasionally. 

[Paul De Tourtoulon]

No thanks

I didn't realise so many people flying had OCD 😂, now where was I,  8h22, facebook 3 comments 7minutes, RCM&E 1 answer at 8.32 am,,,,

[steve too]

I've had a look to see what the CAA say on this subject and found this:

 

(https://regulatorylibrary.caa.co.uk/2019-947/Content/AMC-GM/AMC1 UAS SPEC 050 1 d i ii.htm)

 

So, while log books aren't in the BMFA's Article 16 at the moment, it wouldn't surprise me if they appear at some point.

[leccyflyer]

That doesn't apply to model aeroplane flyers taking part in recreational hobby flying though. Given that there is no requirement for a model aeroplane flyer to have "currency", nor to provide any evidence of "currency" I'm not seeing that the CAA would ever require us to keep a logbook, in electronic form to be easily accessible by the CAA.  Why would that ever form part of our Article 16 dispensation?

[Cuban8]

1 hour ago, steve too said:

I've had a look to see what the CAA say on this subject and found this:

 

(https://regulatorylibrary.caa.co.uk/2019-947/Content/AMC-GM/AMC1 UAS SPEC 050 1 d i ii.htm)

 

So, while log books aren't in the BMFA's Article 16 at the moment, it wouldn't surprise me if they appear at some point.

OMG, don't give them that idea. Before we know it it'll be compulsory medical checks next - quite right for full size aviation  but for model aircraft......Oh pleeeze.

Beware though .....never say never, who in their wildest dreams would think we'd be pulled into the barmy registration system that we have now?

BTW, if logging every flight of one's models is thought to be worthwhile then that's absolutely fine.

Edited January 24 by Cuban8

[Wingman]

🤣

[Romeo Whisky]

Yes, I do - across several interlinked spreadsheet workpages - although I seem to be regarded rather as the club geek for doing so.  I also have a separate "static" data sheet for each model with details of its costs, electronics, AUW, TX set-up, bench-test voltmeter results, maiden flight date etc.   I also file away the data sheets/manuals for every model, motor, ESC, RX etc., and these are invaluable when items are transferred from one model to another, or when I sell a model on.

 

All my batteries are numbered and by logging every fight in terms of model, date, battery and flight-time, it means I know how many filed visits and flights I've made each year and can compare them with previous years including YTD comparisons.   I know how many flights each of my models has had and I divide the original in-the-air cost by the number of flights to work out what each model's (reducing) cost-per-flight is.  (It is surprising how much some models cost per flight on this basis).  I can also see that I have some quite expensive models that I fly much more rarely than I might have imagined.  I also log flight times for each model and generate cumulative airtimes. 

 

I number and annotate each of my flight batteries and record the date, source, weight and original cost.  I therefore know how many flights and flight-times for each each battery, and ensure that I can balance the usage of the batteries, to avoid having ageing batteries that have hardly flown and others which are overworked.  I also know which brands perform better and for longer, and the cost per flight of each battery too.  By recording battery charging data also, I can easily calculate the optimum TX countdown timer settings for each model, charger usage, and battery charge efficiency as they age.

 

It might sound as though this is an awful lot of work, but in reality it takes about 10 seconds after each flight to record the details, and about another 10 seconds back home to type the details into the spreadsheet in a simple day-book list.  All the sub-analysis and calculations are done automatically by the spreadsheet which is what they're designed for. 

 

Admittedly setting up the spreadsheet from scratch will have taken a little while - but that was a one-off job, no doubt done on one of those many wet and windy days when we couldn't fly.  I designed a simple log book for recording flights at the field and battery charging back home - attached.

[leccyflyer]

Really good RW and some excellent ideas there. I especially like the individual data sheets per model idea. My pal Jim does this for each of his models and keeps them in a loose leaf binder that he brings to the field. I've found these very valuable when I've taken one of his models on when he's wanting to dispose of it. It also contains such details as the paint colours, the trims that he found worked best, throws, CG and pretty much everything you would want in a model. I did start producing something similar when I first started out, with an A4 page per model, a photo stuck in and all the salient details, but that is all purely electronic now.

 

As you say it's nowhere near as  much work to produce these data after a day at the field as some have suggested. I don't actually take a notebook to the field, or record flight times, but it would be very easy to do so, just looking at the timer on the transmitter at the end of each flight. I check individual cell voltage before and after every flight, but don't make a record of those, unless there is something awry. I can see that some folks are making much better records of their lipo battery performance than I am doing, with my periodic reviews of the lipo stocks a few times each year.

[Learner]

Each to their own I suppose.

I push the throttle forward, if it takes off its charged if it doesn't its flat.

[Cuban8]

How about a spreadsheet recording motoring costs associated with getting to your flying site?

Miles travelled, time taken, fuel used, CO2 carbon footprint, Google Timeline showing variations in route taken,  blood pressure before and after journey? 

Sorry...😉🤭

[EvilC57]

What are all these fancy transmitters people are using that log their flight details? All my old DX8 G1 does (apart from a flight timer) is log total hours that a particular model is selected in the memory. Sounds like I’ll have to drag myself into the 2020’s sometime.

[Paul De Tourtoulon]

6 hours ago, Cuban8 said:

it'll be compulsory medical checks next

It has been here in france for a while as it is classed as a sport.

[Duncan Disorderly]

3 hours ago, Cuban8 said:

How about a spreadsheet recording motoring costs associated with getting to your flying site?

Miles travelled, time taken, fuel used, CO2 carbon footprint, Google Timeline showing variations in route taken,  blood pressure before and after journey? 

Sorry...😉🤭

 

If your hobby was travelling to your flying site, I reckon that'd be a good idea.