There is a document that follows the pilot through an entire career, decides hiring processes, supports revalidations and proves experience to the authority — and that most still keep in pen, with sums done in the head, in a notebook that has no copy.
The logbook is a database disguised as paper. And every problem of a database on paper shows up in it:
The sum that never matches. Grand total, total by role, IFR, night, multi-engine — each category is a column added by hand, carrying errors from page to page. Anyone who has checked an old logbook knows: almost none balance on the first try.
The currency nobody knows by heart. "How many landings in the last 90 days?" is a question with a regulatory deadline and a laborious answer — flip, filter, count. The pilot who flies for more than one operator adds up different sources, if lucky.
The proof that gets lost. Notebooks get wet, tear, stay in the former operator's cabinet. The experience happened; the evidence of it is fragile — and reconstructing years of flying afterwards is among the most thankless jobs of a career.
The hour that goes in wrong. The conversion from minutes to tenths has its own ANAC table — and it is not "divide by 60". Logbooks added up with the intuitive calculation carry systematic divergence.
What the digital logbook solves — when it is born from the flight
The important distinction: a digital logbook that requires retyping every flight only changes where the work happens. The one that solves the problem is the one that is born from the logbook entry: the flight logged once feeds the pilot logbook by itself.
This is how it works in Alis:
- Every flight logged in the logbook updates the pilot logbook — times, role on board, landings, IFR, night — with no second entry;
- Tenths follow the IAC 3252 table, with the whole minute stored as the source: the clock and the rule, always consistent;
- Totals and currency calculated, not added by hand — the last 90 days are a query, not an afternoon of arithmetic;
- Clean statistics by definition: simulator hours and drone (RPA) hours stay out of the pilot's flight totals — separated by design, not by the discipline of whoever is writing them down;
- Export always available — the experience is yours and leaves with you.
And the query became a message
The part that changed users' habits: the pilot logbook answers over WhatsApp. The Alis assistant recognizes you by your number:
"how many hours do I have?" "my currency" "how much IFR do I have? and night?"
An answer right away, calculated from the real flights — on the ramp, in the briefing room, in the interview. No opening a system, no flipping through a notebook.
The logbook as a career asset
The pilot who keeps a digital record from now on arrives at any process — selection, revalidation, audit — with the answer ready and the evidence intact. What was a fragile liability becomes a queryable asset: the entire career, added up right, with a trail of where each hour came from.
The best time to start was on the first flight. The second best is on the next one.
This article is informational. The formal requirements for recording flight experience and the Individual Flight Logbook (Caderneta Individual de Voo) follow current ANAC regulations — confirm the rules that apply to your license and operation.