The most common lapse in general aviation is not technical: it is the flight that ended, the aircraft that was hangared — and the entry that was left for later. Days afterward, someone reconstructs times from memory, and the divergence between what was flown and what was logged is born right there.
It turns out that, throughout that flight, the aircraft was telling its own story out loud. All that was missing was someone to listen and write it down.
What the aircraft broadcasts
ADS-B (Automatic Dependent Surveillance–Broadcast) is the aircraft's transponder continuously broadcasting, in the open, position, altitude, speed and identity. It is surveillance infrastructure — air traffic control uses it — but the signal is public, and collaborative networks of ground receivers listen to and archive it. That is how tracking sites show flights in real time: no magic, just antennas.
The identity in that trail is the Mode S code (ICAO24) — a hexadecimal address unique to each aircraft. And here comes a very Brazilian and very useful detail: the RAB publishes the transponder code along with the registration record. In other words: the bridge between the PR-ABC in your hangar and its trail in the air is public, official and searchable.
What Alis does with it
In the Alis logbook, one tap on "Import from ADS-B" fetches the recent trail of the selected aircraft and turns each flight found into a draft entry: date, takeoff and landing times and estimated airfields arrive pre-filled. The pilot opens it, reviews it, completes what only the pilot knows — role, landings, occurrences — and records it.
Three design decisions make the difference here:
- The transponder code comes from the RAB, on its own. The aircraft record in Alis already syncs with the ANAC registry; the Mode S hex is captured from there. If the RAB is out of date, it can be entered manually.
- The same flight never becomes two drafts. Each segment of the trail has a unique identity on import — fetching again duplicates nothing.
- A draft counts for zero until the pilot decides. The draft is born with no computed time: it does not add to the pilot logbook, does not move a maintenance due date, does not inflate statistics. The estimated times stay in view; the official value is whatever the pilot records.
Why a draft, and not an automatic record
The right question — and the answer is regulatory and technical at once.
Regulatory: the logbook is the pilot's record. Responsibility for the entry lies with whoever flew; no system should sign for them. The draft respects that boundary: it automates the bureaucratic part (remembering, dating, estimating times) and preserves the part that is a human act — reviewing and recording.
Technical: the public ADS-B trail is excellent, but not infallible — coverage of collaborative networks varies with region and altitude, and low flights in areas with few receivers may show up with gaps. An honest estimate presents itself as an estimate. That is why the draft's times travel in the times and remarks fields, and the official conversion of minutes to tenths happens only on what the pilot confirms.
What changes in practice
For the pilot, the end of "I'll log it later": yesterday's flight is there, waiting for confirmation — not reconstruction.
For the operator, fewer flights lost between the hangar and the system — and the classic ramp inspection discrepancy (a flight seen in the air with no matching entry) gets a safety net that works on its own.
For the school, the day's flights show up for review — and instruction has volume: thousands of flights a year that no one needs to remember to open anymore.
The feature is available in the platform's logbook, on web and in the app. If your operation still logs from memory, the conversation is quick.
This article is informational. The logbook and recording responsibilities follow ANAC regulations in force (Resolution No. 773/2025 and Portaria No. 3.220/SPO/SAR); ADS-B tracking data from public networks are estimates and do not replace the pilot's official record.