On June 25, 2025, ANAC published Resolution No. 773, which "regulates the Logbook of Brazilian civil aircraft" (Diário de Bordo). It took effect on January 1, 2026 and, in Article 16, revoked Resolution No. 457/2017, the rule that was the logbook reference in Brazil for eight years.
Anyone reading 773 looking for a revolution will not find one. And that is exactly what matters: the text treats the physical and digital media as two forms of the same record, with the same requirements. The electronic logbook is no longer the exception that had to justify itself. It became the standard that paper is trying to keep up with.
What 773 says, article by article
Art. 3 — the record may be kept on physical or digital media. The condition is the same for both: ensure the integrity of the records and make any corrections evident. There is no additional requirement for digital and no extra tolerance for paper.
Art. 3, § 1 — retention for the entire life of the aircraft, and for at least 5 years and one day after registration is canceled. A notebook kept in a drawer for thirty years and a database with a backup meet the same obligation. Only one of the two survives a flood.
Art. 4 — the use of digital media is submitted to ANAC, as is its eventual discontinuation. Here 773 ties in with Resolution 458/2017, which remains in force and covers computerized systems, and with Portaria 3.220/2019, which details the technical requirements for the electronic logbook. The operator does not choose just any app: it chooses an accepted system and formalizes its use.
Art. 10, sole paragraph — the operator signs digitally, and the rule now sets a deadline:
| Operator | Deadline for the operator's signature |
|---|---|
| RBAC 121 (airline) | 2 days |
| RBAC 135 (air taxi) | 15 days |
| Other operators (RBAC 91, schools, general aviation) | 30 days |
This is the point that changes the routine the most. The logbook is no longer just the pilot's record: it is a document with two signatures and a clock. Whoever runs an air taxi has fifteen days for the responsible person to review and sign each page. On paper, that means someone going through notebooks. In digital, it means a queue of pending items that shows up by itself.
Art. 16 — revokes Resolution 457/2017. Every manual, procedures document and checklist that cites 457 as the basis for the logbook now cites a revoked rule. A review is in order.
Art. 17 — effective January 1, 2026. It is already in force.
What did not change
773 did not change what is recorded: the logbook remains the aircraft's operational memory — legs, times, hours and cycles, crew, occurrences and discrepancies. The logic of system acceptance did not change, nor did the need to keep the record intact and corrections evident. Whoever was already operating with an accepted electronic logbook keeps operating. The difference is that the foundation is now a new rule, and the operator signature deadline is explicit.
Why this is a trend, not a chapter
The logbook is the last frontier because it is the oldest and most "onboard" record there is. Everything around it has already migrated:
- The pilot's logbook became the digital CIV, issued and maintained in an ANAC system.
- Maintenance tracking is already audited by due date, not by folder: ADs, SBs, components and inspections with dates and hour-meter readings checked against hours flown — and the hours flown come from the logbook.
- The maintenance shop reports through SIGRAC, on an electronic form, not in an official letter.
- Aeronautical information — charts, NOTAMs, AIP — stopped being a printed publication years ago; the eAIP is the source, and paper is the copy.
- The aircraft's position comes from ADS-B, and the flight can reach the logbook as a draft before the pilot sits down to write.
Outside Brazil the path is the same. The FAA covers electronic signatures, electronic records and electronic manuals in a single circular, AC 120-78A, and the U.S. helicopter sector, which closed 2024 with the lowest fatal accident rate in 25 years, lists flight data monitoring among the recommendations for continuing to bring it down. Flight data can only be monitored if it is born digital.
The logic is simple: a record born on paper has to be typed in to become information. A record born digital is already information — it adds up hours, triggers due dates, calculates duty time, feeds cost per hour, opens the operator's signature queue. Every new rule that recognizes digital media as equivalent to physical takes an argument away from paper and gives none back.
What to do now
- Check the regulatory basis of your logbook procedure. If the manual cites 457/2017, it cites a rule that has been revoked since January.
- Measure the operator signature lead time in your operation. If the responsible person signs in batches, every quarter, 773 is already being silently breached.
- Verify the system is accepted and that its use has been formalized (Art. 4). A logbook in a non-accepted app is not a digital logbook: it is a note.
- If you are still on paper, the step-by-step migration guide remains the same — only the reason got stronger.
Where Alis comes in
The Alis logbook is a system accepted by ANAC, built on Portaria 3.220/2019: per-leg recording after the flight, integrity and correction history, hours and cycles that feed maintenance tracking right away, and the digital signature of the pilot and the operator, each identified and dated — which is what Article 10 of 773 asks for. For those already operating on the platform, the record was already born digital, intact and with a history: the new rule recognized what the operation was already doing.
Want to see what the digital logbook looks like with both signatures? Book a demo.
This article is informational and reflects a reading of ANAC Resolution No. 773/2025, Resolution No. 458/2017 and Portaria No. 3.220/2019 as of the publication date. It does not replace consulting the official text of the rules or the guidance of the operation's technical manager. Acceptance of a digital logbook system is an act of ANAC, and the operator must formalize its use in accordance with the regulations in force.